Asian studies in Lithuania
Original language: Chinese
Translated from: (Lietuvių) kinų
Composers: Jian, LingLing, Wang, Jing Yang
Translated by: Bylienė, Regina
ISBN: (Lietuvių) 9786099582801
Published in: (Lietuvių) Kaunas
Published on: 2016
Publisher: (Lietuvių) Archimetras

„Royal tiger fur cape“ is an old Chinese folktale which was written by Jian Ling Ling and Wang Jing Yang. Regina Bylienė translated it to Lithuanian. The book is written in two languages, Chinese – Lithuanian and because of that it is a great language learning tool. Also the drawings are worth my mention. Unfortunately, the book is not available in English yet.

Plot of the story is quite simple and the Chinese folk is everywhere. There was a poor family and mother gave a birth to a kid who grew up bigger than his father in half a day. The kid, who was named Kunan understood that his family won‘t be able to take care of him, so he decided to leave home. Kunan met khan and he gave kid a quest – to bring back him a dead royal tiger. Khan was obsessed with the idea of having a cape made of royal tiger fur.

This Chinese folktale has some deep meanings which are worth mentioning nowadays. On his way to royal tiger cave Kunan met many people and decided to help them. All of them showed gratitude to Kunan and their treats saved him. What goes around comes around. Another idea of this tale is that you must achieve some goals only by yourself. Mighty Kunan had no problems with bringing khan royal tiger back, but as soon as khan put on the royal tiger cape he turned into an awful giant tiger. Kunan had to kill khan and probably it happened because khan didn’t deserve to wear the royal tiger cape.

Minor details add-up and it makes the book even more awesome. First of all, the book is written in two languages. On top of the page we can read it in Lithuanian, and the bottom is written in Chinese. Because of that, top of the page can be read by anyone who understands Lithuanian, and the bottom is a great material to anyone who is studying Chinese. Secondly, the illustrations are simply amazing. Every page is full of drawings drawn by Gražvyda Andrijauskaitė. Even a person who is not into arts, will pay attention to the work done by this artist.

To sum it up, “Royal tiger fur cape” is a must-have book for anyone who is interested in Chinese folk and their culture. The story is really simple, addictive and the illustrations will make the younger readers love the book.

Initiators of the project: Japan foundation VDU
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