Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
| Author | Pu Songling |
|---|---|
| Original title | 聊齋誌異 |
| Country | China |
| Language | Classical Chinese |
| Genre |
Zhiguai Chuanqi |
|
Publication date
|
1740 |
| Liaozhai Zhiyi | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 聊齋誌異 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 聊斋志异 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" | ||||||||
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Liáozhāi zhìyì |
| Wade–Giles | Liao2chai1 chi1yi4 |
Liaozhai Zhiyi (Liaozhai; Chinese: 聊齋誌異; Wade–Giles: Liao²chai¹ chi⁴yi⁴), translated variously as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio or Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is a collection of Classical Chinese stories by Pu Songling comprising close to five hundred "marvel tales" in the zhiguai and chuanqi styles which serve to implicitly criticise societal issues then. Dating back to the Qing dynasty, its earliest publication date is given as 1740. Since then, many of the critically lauded stories have been adapted for other media such as film and television.
The compilation was first circulated in scribal copies but it was not published until after the author's death. Sources differ in their account of the year of publication. One source claims Liaozhai was published by Pu's grandson in 1740. 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 earliest surviving print version of Liaozhai was printed in 1766 in Hangzhou. The Martin Bodmer Foundation Library houses a 19th-century Liaozhai manuscript, silk-printed and bound leporello-style, that contains three tales including "The Bookworm", "The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal", and "The Frog God".
The main characters of this book apparently are ghosts, foxes, immortals and demons, but the author focused on the everyday life of commoners. He used the supernatural and the unexplainable to illustrate his ideas of society and government. He criticized the corruption and injustice in society and sympathized with the poor. Four main themes are present in Strange Stories.
The first is a complaint about the skewed feudal system. The author argued that many officers and rich people committed crimes without being punished, because they enjoyed privilege and power granted to them by the government, purely by their status and/or their wealth. This theme can be found in short stories such as “The Cricket”, “Xi Fangping”, and “Shang Sanguan”. It is fairly clear that the author resents the feudal government, skewed and unfair as it was.
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Wikipedia