Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio: Story Edition 2

The Master did not speak of strange and supernatural things, but Pu Liuxian alone delighted in writing of them.

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio records ghosts and fox spirits, recounts uncanny events, depicts every facet of human life, and paints countless scenes from the netherworld. Some stories feature affectionate fox maidens, others wronged vengeful ghosts, immortals and demons battling, or spirits beguiling mortals. For the most part, the tales use ghosts and monsters to comment on the world and the underworld to speak of human feelings. Each tale is told on its own, some in just a few lines, others in a thousand words, all drawn from unofficial histories and the hearsay of villagers and elders.

The prose is elegant and refined, the ideas curious and uncanny. The stories do more than depict the terror of ghosts and monsters; they also reveal the warmth and coldness of the human heart. Reading them, one may be startled or moved, saddened or amused, as if standing in an abandoned temple beneath a night window's lamplight, witnessing a fox spirit appear beneath the moon or a ghost pour out its grievance by candlelight.

The world's strange happenings often lie beyond the written word; the feelings of ages past are all found within Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.