| Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Pu Songling |
| Original title | 聊齋誌異 |
| Translator | Herbert A. Giles, John Minford, etc. |
| Country | China |
| Language | Classical Chinese |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy short stories |
| Publication date | 1740 |
| Published in English |
1880 |
| Media type | Scribal copies/Print |
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio or Liaozhai Zhiyi (also Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Strange Tales of Liaozhai, simplified Chinese: 聊斋志异; traditional Chinese: 聊齋誌異; pinyin: Liáozhāi zhìyì) is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling in Classical Chinese[1] during the early Qing Dynasty.
Pu borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating, colorful stories, where the boundary between reality and the odd or fantastic is blurred. The cast of characters include magical foxes, ghosts, scholars, court officials, Taoist exorcists and beasts. Moral purposes are often inverted between humans and the supposedly degenerate ghosts or spirits, resulting in a satirical edge to some of the stories. Ghosts and spirits are often bold and trustworthy, while humans are on the other hand weak, indecisive and easily manipulated, reflecting the author's own disillusionment with his society.
The stories differ broadly in length. Conciseness is the key, with the shortest stories under a page in length.
Contents |
The compilation was first circulated in manuscript form before it was published posthumously. Sources differ in their account of the year of publication. One source claims the "Strange Tales" were published by Pu's grandson in 1740. However, the earliest surviving print version was printed in 1766 in Hangzhou.
Pu is believed to have completed the majority of the tales sometime in 1679, though he could have added entries as late as 1707.
The main characters of this book apparently are ghosts, foxes, immortals and demons, but the author actually focused on people’s real life. He used those oddities to illustrate his ideas of the society and the government. He criticized the corruption and unjustness in the society and sympathized on those poor people. There are four main themes in this collection.
First is to complain the feudal system where everyone is not equal. The author exposed that many officers and rich people committed crime without punishment just because they had privilege. This theme can be found in these stories, such as “the Cricket”, “Xi Fangping”, and “Shang Sanguan” The author was angry with the unfairness of the feudal government.
Secondly, the author disclosed the rotten examination system at that time. Because Songling had taken imperial exams, he had real experience and found that the exams were unfair. Many students cheated and bribed to examiners or the officers who graded their paper. In addition, this education system has destroyed the scholars’ mind and ruined their creativity. Stories, such as “Kao San Sheng”, “Ya Tou”, and “Scholar Wang Zi-an”, contain this theme.
Third theme is to admire the pure and faithful love between the poor scholars and powerless women. Songling wrote many stories about the love between beautiful and kind female ghosts and poor students. The author highly praised those women who helped their lovers or husbands to achieve success and took care of their husbands’ life. Readers can find those good-looking and kind-hearted female ghosts or foxes in the stories like “Lian Xiang”, “Yingning” and “Nie Xiaoqian”.
Fourth is to criticize people’s immoral behavior and to educate people by those stories. The author embedded some moral standards and Taoist principles into the stories, so they are like parables, such as “Painted Skin” and “The Taoist of Lao Mountain”.
Franz Kafka admired some of the tales in translation; in a letter to Felice Bauer (Jan 16, 1913) he described them as "exquisite". Jorge Luis Borges also strongly admired the story "The Tiger Guest", writing a prologue for it to appear in his Library of Babel, a collection of writings on his favourite books.
Liaozhai Zhiyi has inspired many Chinese film adaptations, including those by King Hu (Painted Skin), Ching Siu-tung (A Chinese Ghost Story series) and the Taiwanese director Li Han-Hsiang.[3]
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