The stories in this book appeared some thirty years ago over a period of time in the magazine Hsien-tai wen hsueh (Modern Literature), which Pai Hsien-yung, the author, and other young writers founded, edited and wrote for in Taiwan. Published in book form in 1971 under the title Taipei jen (Taipei People), the stories in this book quickly established Pai Hsien-yung as a writer with a rare combination of artistic sensibilities, technical equipment, and a deeply moral purpose. The book has since won him a large following in Taiwan and Hong Kong and Chinese communities the world over. In 1982, Indiana University Press published the English translation of the book under the title Wandering in the Garden, Waking from a Dream: Tales of Taipei Characters, which was translated by the author and Patia Yasin, and edited by George Kao. The Chinese University Press decided to publish a bilingual edition for readers to enjoy a paragraph-to-paragraph comparison of these short stories.
