This version of the Cinderella story, in which a young girl overcomes the wickedness of her stepsister and stepmother to become the bride of a prince, is based on ancient Chinese manuscripts written 1000 years before the earliest European version.

Born in New York City, AI-LING LOUIE graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and received her graduate degree from Wheelock College. After teaching school near Boston, she returned to the New York area, moving to New Jersey. The tale ofYeh-Shen had been told in her family for three generations when, to her surprise, a research trail led Ms. Louie to the Cinderella of her grandmother's story as recorded in an ancient Chinese manuscript, which is reproduced in this book. Further research confirmed that the story had been told in China since the days of the T'ang dynasty (618-907 A.D.), whereas the earliest known European version is an Italian tale dating from 1634.ED YOUNG was born in Tientsin, China, grew up in Shanghai, and came to the United States when he was in his late teens. A graduate of the University of Illinois and the Los Angeles Art Center, he has illustrated many beautiful books for young people, among them The Emperor and the Kite, a Coldecott Honor Book (written by Jane Yolen);Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes (translated by Robert Wyndham); The Terrible Mung Gwama: A Chinese Folktale;Bo Rabbit Smart for True: Folktales from the Gullah (by Priscilla Jaquith); andHigh on a Hill: A Book of Chinese Riddles. The artwork for Yeh-Shen was more than two years in the making, and Mr. Young made two trips to China to do his careful research into the traditional costumes and customs of the people in the area in which this tale is set.