明朝隆慶年間，流傳著一則李良雨化女的奇異傳說，這件事究竟是真是假，現在實在難以得知。不過，在明清的文人作品中，卻總是煞有其事的記錄與描寫。由現存的紀錄中可以發現，李良雨的故事除了故事的主軸「男化女」沒有改變外，其他的故事情節、時間、地點與人物，都有著極大的差異性。隨著撰寫人的不同，故事的內涵也有著或多或少的差異，在時間、情節與人物的出入頗大。正因如此，李良雨的故事根據言說者的不同，呈現出多元的面貌，在主要的故事架構上，言說者都可以根據自己的聽聞來自我表述，陳述出自己「想像」或「虛構」的李良雨男化女的故事。

During the Longqing Emperor's reign in the Ming Dynasty, a folk tale of Li Liang-yu's magical transformation from a man to a woman circulated. The authenticity of this tale and peculiarity of Li's physiological structure that enabled the sex transition are yet unverified. However, scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties generated several versions of this tale by embellishing each one with imaginary details and descriptions. A literature review shows that except for the backbone of the tale (i.e., Li's transformation from a man to a woman), other elements (i.e., plot, time, location, and character) include great disparity. The tale varies with the teller by featuring extremely different times, locations, and characters; for instance, the various versions examined in this study include Xianbo Bian (Things Seen and Heard when Meeting Elite and Erudite People), Jiean Laoren Manbi (Notes of an Old Man in Jiean), Xing Shi Yan (Words to Shape the World), and Vol. 7 of Jian Hu Ji (Tough Gourd Collection). These are various versions that tell the same tale in different manners. Each teller imagines or fabricates a distinct version based on the original tale and his or her personal experiences.