Catching a Golden Tortoise.
Beating the Gold Bough.
Two Chinese plays translated by Charles Budd, Tung Wen Kuan Translation Office, Shanghai, 1913. Short and mildly interesting plays, translated partly for the purpose of aiding Chinese who wish to learn English.
Chinesische Schattenspiele. Übersetzt von Wilhelm Grube, herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Berthold Laufer, Verlag der königlich bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. München, 1915.
A huge volume containing in translation the entire repertoire of a company of shadow players which Berthold Laufer, Curator of the Field Museum, had bought in Peking in 1901 and which were translated by the famous German sinologue. Though these plays are not presented on the stage, but recited by shadow players to accompany the movements of their puppets that cast shadows on a screen, yet the plots are the same as those of the theater. The book thus serves as a wonderful source for some one wishing to familiarize himself with Chinese plays. Berthold Laufer has prefaced the book with a meaty introduction.
Pekinger Volksleben. Wilhelm Grube. Berlin, 1901.
Sociological studies on popular customs and usages in Peking. A chapter is devoted to the theater in which numerous summaries of modern plays are given. The author also deals with related subjects: acrobats, story-tellers, annual ceremonies of guilds, etc.
Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur. Wilhelm Grube. Leipzig, 1909.
Several chapters are devoted to the drama. Professor Grube, in his discussion of Yuan and Ming plays, is using Bazin’s translations, but in his evaluation of modern plays he is drawing on his long and intimate experience with the theater in Peking.