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A novelistic version of a love affair between a notorious emperor and an innocent courtesan, The Emperor of China in a House of Ill Repute enjoyed remarkable popularity throughout the Qing dynasty. Its author is one of China's most famous writers. This is the first translation of the work in any language.

We are living in desperate times: nature seems to go berserk, there's warfare everywhere, and the abyss separating the poor from the rich widens every day. Late ninth-century China, as witnessed by an unknown author who called himself "Master Incapable," was no different. In the book Master Incapable wrote, he tries to explain why mankind seems to find itself spiralling downward at high speed. He also points out what every individual may do to escape from misery: liberating oneself from stifling traditions and conventions, and finding one's way back to naturalness and effortless action.

Opening up new religious and poetic worlds for readers, this anthology presents the poems of Buddhist nuns from China's late imperial period (1368-1911), a time marked by great political upheavals and social changes. Appreciation of the poems is enhanced by individual biographical accounts for each of the sixty-five nun-poets and an Introduction to the historical, religious, and literary context of these women's writing, including a concise discussion of their place in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist poetry.