The Book of Swindles

The Book of Swindles (Piàn jīng 騙經), also known by its longer title, A New Book for Foiling Swindlers, Based on Worldly Experience (Jiānghú lìlǎn dùpiàn xīnshū 江湖歷覽杜騙新書), is said to be the first published and printed Chinese short story collection about fraud. Written and compiled by Zhang Yingyu (張應俞), a man who lived in the early to mid 16th-century, it was published in Fujian province in or around 1617, and most of its stories are set during the latter part of the Ming dynasty.

To each story the author adds a commentary that offers a moral lesson. In some cases, Yingyu even notes the cleverness of the con while pointing out the foolishness of its victim.

Modern editions have been entitled both The Book Against Swindles (Fan Pian Jing 反骗经) and The Book of Swindles (Pian jing 骗经). A selected English translation, The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection, translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk, was published by Columbia University Press in 2017.