Haoqiu zhuan, usually translated into English as The Fortunate Union or The Pleasing History is a 17^th century Chinese romance, describing the story of the beauty Shui Bingxin and the scholar Tie Zhongyu. It was the earliest full-length Chinese novel to be translated into a western language – an 18^th century English translation by the merchant James Wilkinson (about ¾ of the original translated text was translated into English, with the remainder in Portuguese) followed by this later translation by John Francis Davis in 1829 for the Royal Asiatic Society. This copy was especially produced for the king, George IV, as their patron.

The Royal Asiatic Society was founded in 1823, and received its royal charter from George IV in 1824. Its main purpose was to promote the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia, under which banner it instituted the Oriental Translation Fund in 1828. The Fund was intended to publish translations, historical and new works which were not otherwise commercially viable, in accordance with its stated aims of promoting the orient.