1 h 49 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A clever answer can save you from trouble—or show just how foolish you are.
In Xie Duo, Shen Qifeng brings together short Chinese tales of wit, morality and human folly. Qing dynasty China provides the setting: markets, teahouses, busy courts and villages shaped by the farming year. Scholars, officials, merchants and families face the small scrapes of daily life, where a quick mind can help—or hurt.
The collection draws on a storytelling tradition that makes people laugh, then makes them think. Clever remarks, foolish choices and sly bargains bring questions of right and wrong close to home. Honesty, kindness and fair dealing sit beside greed, vanity and cruelty. The pleasure lies in seeing how comedy gives a moral question its edge.
What you’ll discover
- Wit with a sting Discover how a clever answer can offer escape, while too much cleverness invites trouble.
- The comedy of ordinary lives Meet students, clerks, servants and neighbors in stories rooted in everyday scrapes.
- Morals beneath the laughter Consider honesty and kindness through tales that place human faults beside familiar virtues.
- A world of small encounters Enter markets, teahouses and villages where daily life provides the ground for humor.
- Short tales, pointed pleasures Enjoy brief stories whose clever remarks and foolish choices leave you something to consider.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy ghost stories, fables with a sting, and sly humor about scholars, officials and lovers, and anyone curious about daily life and imagination in Qing dynasty China.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Animals and spirits who talk like scholars
- Loyalty can look strange and still be true
- Vanity and flattery get exposed by jokes
- Talented women carry the weight of expectation
- Scholars and examinations are favorite targets
- Warnings against wine, lust, wealth and anger
- Brave people who keep their word
- Ghosts, gods and the underworld mirror our own world
- Dreams, strange lands and the way the book is told
Who’s who
- NingA stern, book-loving scholar who boasts that foxes cannot charm him and soon welcomes a learned visitor into his study.
- Huo XiaoyingA beautiful girl from Qinchuan whose promise to wed her father's avenger brings an unusual husband to her door.
- Old JiaA middleman in land sales who is teased into believing his dull son is destined for high rank.
- Ma DianA gifted but unknown poet from Wu who tries a daring trick to make rich Yangzhou patrons read his poems.
- Fang ZhiA Qinhuai courtesan who chooses a husband for what his painting shows of his character, not his reputation.
- Yin LanA twelve-year-old opera student who works in the theater only to pay for his sick mother's medicine.
- ShuerA maid who cannot thread a needle but has hidden skills that a bandit-filled road will test.
- Chang YangmengA magistrate of Yuanhe known for settling lawsuits with cunning and a sense of justice.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 1 h 49 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Xie Duo in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Xie Duo
by Shen Qifeng · 1791
A scholar who scorns foxes lets one into his study, a tiger courts a widow's daughter, and a hen starts to crow.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens when a proud scholar lets a fox into his study, or a hen decides to crow before the rooster? Xie Duo gathers tales from twelve volumes, each closed by a sharp comment from the teacher Duo.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Animals and spirits who talk like scholars
The book opens with creatures that argue like people. In A Fox Charms a Man, the stern scholar Ning boasts that foxes cannot touch him, since he loves only books. A woman steps from behind a screen and lectures him on history until he asks her to study with him.
The lesson is in how she wins him. She does not offer beauty or money. She finds what he loves and uses it, and the two read the Book of Changes together while his strength slowly fades. Her learned talk makes his confidence in his own judgment seem less secure.
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What is Xie Duo about?
Xie Duo is a collection of short Qing dynasty tales with a comment by the teacher Duo after each. They poke fun at scholars, officials and lovers, and sometimes honor loyalty and courage, using animals, ghosts and dreams.
What does the title Xie Duo mean?
Duo's teasing and often moral comments guide the reader through the tales.
Is Xie Duo a single story or many?
It is a collection of around a thousand short pieces in twelve volumes, each a self-contained tale. You can open at any volume and read one at a time, since the stories do not depend on each other.
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