A Complete Read of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is a collection of short stories written by Pu Songling during the Qing Dynasty. It is filled with all kinds of strange and bizarre tales, many involving demons, ghosts, fox spirits, and other supernatural beings. Though the stories concern the supernatural, they ultimately reflect the many facets of human life.

The stories cover a remarkably broad range of subjects. Some expose the dark side of feudal rule at the time, such as "The Cricket." Set during the Xuande reign of the Ming Dynasty, it tells of an emperor who loved cricket fighting, so the authorities imposed the task of supplying crickets on the people. The protagonist, Cheng Ming, could not afford to provide one and was beaten nearly to death by the officials. After his family finally managed to catch a cricket, his son accidentally killed it. Terrified, the boy threw himself into a well, and after his death, he became a formidable cricket. Thanks to this cricket, Cheng Ming's family escaped their plight. The story lays bare the ugly face of the feudal ruling class and its exploitation of the people.

Other stories criticize the rottenness of the imperial examination system. Pu Songling suffered greatly under the examination system himself, which made his writing on the subject especially incisive. Take "Ye Sheng," for example. Ye Sheng was exceptionally talented, and his prose and poetry were considered peerless in his day, yet he repeatedly failed the examinations. Later, he met his kindred spirit, Ding Chenghe. With Ding's help, Ye's writing won recognition, but then he discovered that he had been dead for a long time, and everything he had experienced was merely his soul's journey. The story powerfully exposes how the examination system buried talented people.

Many other stories are about love, depicting young men and women resisting feudal ethics and pursuing love freely. In "Ying Ning," for instance, the scholar Wang Zifu falls in love with Ying Ning at first sight. Ying Ning is a fox spirit, innocent and carefree, and she loves to laugh. She and Wang Zifu fall in love, but because