Chinese Æsop:

Ji Gong is a monk not going on a vegetarian diet. He sometimes pretends to be insane, but sometimes not; sometimes easy, sometimes serious. And he does not give up wine and meat. His medicine for the villagers comes from the dirt of his body and it cures every disease. He plays exorcism and has never let the villagers down. His carefree style has only led to his high prestige among the people. He was once appointed as the housekeeper of Tai Bei Mansion of Ling Yin Temple (beside West Lake,Hangzhou). His senior fellow has been in bad relations with him. He frames Ji Gong up by setting a fire on Tai Bei Mansion. Ji Gong is thus punished to raise fund for rebuilding it. He was given a deadline of 49 days, raise the fund to rebuild the mansion or leave Ling Yin Temple forever. Why did his senior fellow set 49 days deadline? 7 multiply 7 equals 49 days, the 49th day in Buddhism is the most important day for the dead, it is believed that in the 49th day some of dead may go the Western World ...

Wang Zhaojun was one of the four China’s ancient beauties, and is perhaps the best known of China's "political brides". According to this article , during the reign of Emperor Yuan (48-33BC), Wang Zhaojun, entered the imperial harem willingly to save her father, a scholar-official, from persecution.  At that time, the Han emperor chose concubines from his vast harem of lady-in-waitings by being first presented with portraits of all the possible women. As a result of this practice, it had become the custom for palace ladies to offer large bribes to court artists to ensure that they painted a flattering likeness. Wang Zhaojun, however, refused to bribe the court painter Mao Yanshou. As a result Mao Yanshou painted an unflattering picture of her. From the finished portrait, she seemed to be the ugliest of all the palace ladies, Wang Zhaojun's portrait was either never viewed by the Emperor, or was not in its true form, and therefore the Emperor overlooked her. The prince...

Jigong was born a mortal, but believed to be a living Buddha who was the incarnate of the Taming Dragon Arhat, he was also called "Mad Monk", or "Crazy Monk". Unlike a traditional Buddhist monk, he ate meat and drank wine. Other monks in the monastery, bewildered and fed up with his behavior, expelled Ji Gong from the monastery. From then on, Ji Gong roamed the streets and helped people whenever he could. Ji Gong was depicted as smiling in his tattered monastic robes, and usually carries a bottle of wine in his right hand, and a fan which was believed to be magical in his left hand. He wears a hat with the Chinese character Fo, meaning "Buddha". He can also be seen holding his shoes in his right hand. Bellow is the theme song of The Legend of Ji Gong Television series，describing his eccentric yet benevolent and compassionate nature and his peculiar way of cultivating in the Buddha's teaching : Shoes worn, Cap torn, My cassocks are worn out. You laugh...

King You of Zhou was the twelfth sovereign of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty and the last of Western Zhou Dynasty. In 779 BC, Baosi entered the palace, became loved by King You, and had a son Bofu born. King You deposed Queen Shen and Prince Yijiu. He made Baosi the new queen and Bofu the new prince. Baosi did not like to laugh. After failing many methods, King You tried to impress his favorite queen Baosi by fooling the nobles with the beacon into thinking that there was danger of enemies attacking. They came to the castle only to find themselves being laughed at by Baosi while there were no enemies. Once King You impressed Baosi, he kept abusing the beacon, but he would then lose the trust from the nobles so they would disregard his lightened beacon. Deposing Queen Shen and Prince Yijiu upset Queen Shen's father who would get outside force to attack King You. Eventually, when danger did come, King You called for the nobles with the already abused beacon but none came, thinking that the...

Lord Jiang, before becoming the Lord Chancellor of the future King, went fishing with a hookless fishing rod. The future king walked by everyday and saw this old fisherman fishing with a hookless rod. One day, curiosity finally compelled him to go up and talked to this old fellow. The fellow told him that : "I am not fishing for fish, but I am fishing for man." You see, this old fellow is waiting for the right person to come along. Nowadays, the saying that Lord Jiang goes fishing simply implies that " those who wants to get caught, gets caught. " Jiang Ziya (dates of birth and death unknown) was a Chinese historical and legendary figure who resided next to the Weishui River about 3,000 years ago. The region was the feudal estate of King Wen of Zhou. Jiang Ziya knew King Wen was very ambitious, so he hoped to get the king's attention and gain a position in his court. He often went angling at the Weishui River, but he would fish in a bizarre way. He hung a straig...

ZI Xia, a disciple of Confucius, was going to his post as a county magistrate in the state of Lu. Before his departure, he came to Confucius and asked him how the affairs of the government should be run.  Confucius knew that the trouble with Zi Xia was that he tended to focus his attention only on the immediate interests and was impetuous. He therefore said to him, "Whatever you do, do it step by step instead of pursuing mere speed. Don't focus your attention only on the immediate interests. The more haste, the less speed. Attention to minor and immediate interests prevent one from accomplishing great things."

A man from the state of Chu was crossing a river. In the boat, his sword fell into the water. Immediately he made a mark on the boat. The boat man was very curious and asked the swordsman. "This is where my sword fell off," he said. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to look for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. The boat had moved but the sword had not. Is this not a very foolish way to look for a sword?