John & Alex Dent-Young 
Broken Seals 

When Marshal Hong breaks the seals which generations of Taoist Masters have placed on the temple doors to hold back 108 incarcerated Demon Princes, powerful forces of disorder are released. One after another, brave men fall out with officialdom and are obliged to join the brotherhood of the rivers and lakesa"the mixed company of heroes and vagabonds who live by their wits and their fighting skills. The story of The Broken Seals branches this way and that, following first one hero, then another, as their paths converge and part, until finally 108 bravea"but not entirely admirablea"men are united at the outlaws’ stronghold in the Marshes of Mount Liang. The story takes us through the vast landscope of imperial China. We hear of epic duels, gargantuan feasts, and cunning ambushes, and we witness injustice, betrayal, murder and revenge. We are told also of the beauty of the moon during Mid-Autumn Festival or of the snow, crisp underfoot on a stormy night in the country.This volume consists of the first twenty-two chapters of the full 120-chapter version of the classic Chinese novel by Shi Nai’an and Luo Guanzhong. It is the first English translation based on this version and including much of the verse. It offers the English reader something of the liveliness and humour of a work which has delighted generations of Chinese readers. John Dent-Young graduated from Cambridge University and has taught at universities in Burma, Spain and Thailand and at the University of Bath. He is a writer and translator now working from his home in England.Alex Dent-Young graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University and University of Chicagp. He now lives in London.