Yuan Ke (袁珂) (1916–2001) was a Chinese scholar, one of the most important specialists on Chinese mythology. His first important work was Zhongguo Gudai Shenhua, a ground-breaking volume on the topic first published in 1950. A second edition, revised and substantially expanded, appeared in 1957. The book was translated to several languages, including Japanese (in 1959) and Russian (1965). Some of Yuan Ke's work was translated into English, i.e. in Dragons and Dynasties: An Introduction to Chinese Mythology by Kim Echlin and Nie Zhixiong.