"When the Wandering Soul Returns" Author: [French] Cheng Baoyi Publisher: The Commercial Press

Cheng Baoyi used the form of classical tragedy and the historical story of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin as a blueprint to compose a "soul song". The whole play has five acts and an epilogue. Each act begins with a chorus and is followed by a monologue by the characters. The author conceived the role of Chunniang between Jing Ke and Gao Jianli. Through the monologues of the three protagonists, the tragedy of friendship, love, and separation between them unfolds.

Cheng Baoyi (1929-), formerly known as Cheng Jixian, was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. He is the first and only Chinese academician of the French Academy. Cheng Baoyi introduced Chinese culture in French writing and translated classic works of China and France. He is known as "the tireless ferryman between Chinese and Western culture". His major works include "Talking about the Soul", "Five Meditations on Death", "Virtual and Real - A Study of Chinese Painting Language", etc.

Pei Cheng (1959- ) holds a PhD in philosophy from the Sorbonne University in France. He is currently the Director of the Special Collections Planning Department of the National Library of France. In 2017, he was awarded the "Knight of the Order of Literature and Arts" by the French Ministry of Culture. His research areas include philosophy, comparative literature, translation studies, and the history of Sinology. His main translations include Technology and Time, Rousseau and Voltaire, and When the Wandering Soul Returns.