Complete and unabridged, with 27 full-page plates by Wang Hui, Chen Hongshou and Zhou Lianggong. The Chinese pantheon set out in order - the gods of thunder, of the walls and ditches, of literature and the hearth - with the stories that go with them. Werner spent decades in the Chinese consular service and worked from Chinese sources rather than from other Europeans. This edition adds a gallery of 27 plates of Chinese painting and decorated porcelain, with works after Chen Hongshou and images of Laozi and Ci Fei, alongside 32 illustrations restored and coloured for this volume.