A Collection of Strange Tales from the Yellow River

The Strange Affairs of the Yellow River: A Folk Paranormal Archive of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan is a long suspense novel blending folk legends and supernatural tales with an episodic structure. The story unfolds along an abandoned course of the Yellow River, near the border where the three provinces of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan meet. The protagonist, Zhao Jiuhe, is the fourth-generation “Keeper of the Yin” in the Zhao family. He inherits the ancestral Record of Yin Contracts and the ability to see spirits, and is tasked with settling disputes over “yin contracts” between humans and nonhuman beings.

The novel begins with the ghost coffin incident on the Yellow River and links its main plot through nine standalone stories. From retrieving corpses from the river and fox spirits worshipping the moon to weasels demanding titles and souls trapped in shadow puppetry, each story draws deeply on local legends from Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, creating a distinctive regional sense of mystery. Zhao Jiuhe’s team includes Liu Sanniang, a lazy, sharp-tongued innkeeper who is a snake spirit, and Qian Chuanzi, a levelheaded, cautious village doctor. Together they contend with Chen Banxian, a villain coveting the Record of Yin Contracts. The main mystery advances at a brisk pace through the episodic stories, showcasing hard-edged folk details about traditional ways of warding off evil while exploring the boundaries between humans and nonhumans, as well as themes of protection and inheritance. The novel is suited to free-reading platforms and adaptation into a short-form drama.