Twelve Towers is a collection of a dozen vernacular Chinese short stories by the renowned seventeenth century fiction writer, dramatist, and drama critic Li Yu, often identified by his tzu, Li Li-weng (1611-1680). It presents a vivid and realistic picture of Chinese society in the seventeenth century and a wide-ranging yet detailed study of characters with the traditional themes of Chinese fiction. These are stories of idyllic charm, bedroom farce and innocent romance. The plots are full of surprises and sexual crises. These features have made the collection immensely popular in China. Now Nathan Mao and Weiting R. Mao have rendered the twelve stories into modern English for the benefit of a larger audience.

《十二楼》是清代著名孤本白话短篇小说集，共十二卷，每卷写一个故事。因为每个故事里都有一座楼阁，人物命运和情节展开往往与楼有关，故全书命名为"十二楼"，由此可看出李渔作小说之匠心。《十二楼》生动而逼真地呈现了一个17世纪的中国社会，广泛而详尽地表现了中国小说传统主题的特点，曾被译为英、法、德、俄等多种文字，在国外广为流传。