Novels like Strange Tales of the Yellow River
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Strange Tales of the Yellow River, best match first.
- 1 Walking Between Yin and Yang, I Took Two Vengeful Ghosts as Aunts 行走阴阳，我认了两个厉鬼作姑姑 [Supernatural + Horror + Ghost Stories + Urban + Ghost Hunting + Taoist Magic] He was punching ghost dolls and kicking fox spirits at the age of three, and you tell me that's reasonable? He's a yin-yang master who took two vengeful ghosts as his aunts, and you tell me that's perfectly normal? You can already fly on a sword, and now you're telling me to believe in science and reject superstition? Beating up evil spirits at the funeral home, making a water ghost copy out the Tao Te Ching, and sicc 81Reads6.2Score—14d adds
- 2 The Yin Tattooist 纹阴师 Tattoos are said to be mysterious totems carried on one’s back. I’m a traditional tattoo artist. Over the years, strange things have happened while I tattooed my clients. The terrifying secrets weighing on my heart have kept me tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Now I’ll tell you, bit by bit, what I experienced firsthand. Some tattoo designs inked on the body might actually be living things that can move. 531Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 3 The Blood-Binding Corpse Scripture 血引尸经 The world of Changbai’s demons, home to the northern immortals. I was just an ordinary village boy from Changbai Mountain until I accidentally obtained the strange books Blood Guide to the Corpse and Soul-Eating Blood Eyes. I wanted to save people, yet somehow I was always killing them. My father’s bizarre sect legacy, the thousand-year secrets of the Twelve Strange Sects, the shadowy depths of the Tomb That Moves Mountains. Just how many plots and mysteries are hidden all around me? The bronze 1.1kReads8.8Score14214d adds
- 4 Old Tales of the Dead Village 死人村旧事 Chen Ergou holds a stalk of grass and gently pokes at the paper money still smoldering in front of him. Behind him, a dense crowd of “people” from the village and beyond stands packed together... Hanwa, his belly slit open and his tongue hanging down to his chest; Sufen, naked, with raw flesh exposed; the Fat Taoist, whose limbs and head are covered with tightly packed stitches at the joints; Tian Da, his body stiff, a walking stick jutting from his wide-open mouth; Xiao Zhao, pale-faced and dri 185Reads8.4Score10914d adds
- 5 Folktales of the Northeast: The Household Guardian Immortal 民间故事之东北保家仙 In folk tradition in Northeast China, people believe in household guardian spirits. Those who worship them receive blessings, and my job is to help people invite these spirits into their homes… 339Reads8.2Score10014d adds
- 6 Lighting the Sky Lantern 点天灯 Just how terrifying is corpse-driving in western Hunan? After failing the college entrance exam, I stumbled into the corpse-driving trade. Who could have guessed that on my very first job, I would run into... 712Reads8.3Score10314d adds
- 7 The Haunted Shroud 诡寿衣 My family sells burial clothes. Every seven days, a woman comes to order a set. Only at the end did I discover she had been ordering burial clothes for all four members of my family. 1.1kReads8.8Score11714d adds
- 8 Hearse 灵车 A hearse is a vehicle used to transport coffins or urns. You could also call it a vehicle exclusively for the dead. I was a bus driver for four years, and for all four years I kept a secret bottled up inside. Now I'll tell you firsthand about the terrifying things that happen on trains, things you don't know about. Maybe you've never heard of hearses being converted into buses, but the buses you've ridden may not have carried only the living... 1.5kReads8.0Score14114d adds
- 9 One Hundred Ways to Encounter a Ghost 见诡一百法 The day my eldest uncle died, all our relatives and friends went to his funeral. My cousins wailed as they finished burning the joss paper. When it was my turn, I just couldn't cry. I could have faked it, but no tears would come, and my aunt's family looked displeased. That wasn't really a big deal. The problem was that when I tossed paper money into the brazier, the flames, which had been burning fiercely, went out in an instant! I tried several times, and it happened every time. It was creepy, 1.9kReads8.5Score13414d adds
- 10 The Unlucky Heavenly Master Walks the Mortal World 冤种天师走人间 The Maoshan Celestial Master holds yin and yang in check, slays ghosts, banishes demons, and dispels ill omens. A three-foot peachwood sword, a stick of incense for virtue! My fate is unusual: I court death but never die, so my master took me in as a disciple and taught me the secret arts of Maoshan. After descending the mountain, I met a beautiful older girl I knew as a child, and she led me down a road of no return. A beauty in an ice coffin, a snow-mountain witch, a fox spirit beneath the moo 714Reads7.4Score10114d adds
- 11 The Ghost King Is Sealed Inside Me, Yet I’m a Good-for-Nothing 体内封印鬼王，我却是个废柴 A rainy night in a cemetery, a man-eating black cat, a man searching for his late daughter, a school guard hanged on the stairs, a wedding coffin sealed with red paper, a grotesque face hiding in a mirror... What secrets lie behind it all? What other mysterious events will Wang Shier, the gravekeeper, have to face? As terror and dread slowly close in, those secrets seem to be steering his fate. (The stories in this book are all adapted from real events. If anything sounds familiar, it is pure co 7Reads6.4Score—14d adds
- 12 I Am Not a Paper Spirit 我不是纸仙 A paper effigy is made by folding paper into the shape of a person, so it can take on another's sins, endure their punishment, and bear the consequences of their karma. I was an orphan from a young age, adopted by my master. He was a paper effigy maker, and when I was nineteen, I learned his craft. That set me on a road of no return and turned me into a jinx. Before long, I brought about my master's death. Through one mistake, I turned a “Lovers' Fold” into a “Life-Damaging Fold,” creating a pap 50Reads7.6Score—14d adds
- 13 The Heavenly Master 一代天师 Forty years ago, a husband and wife ignored their ancestors' warning and died horribly at the entrance to their village. The woman's eyes were gouged out, and her body was hung from the old ginkgo tree in the ancestral hall. A year later, a young man from out of town unearthed a strange clay figure and was plunged into a deadly calamity, only to be saved by an old Daoist. Forty years later, a mysterious letter drew attention back to that village. No one knew that opening it would mean opening th 6.8kReads9.2Score96314d adds
- 14 The Vengeful Spirit Notebook 凶灵笔记 I've slept in a coffin since I was little. It wasn't until the woman in red appeared that I learned the truth. I was born on Ghost Festival. I don't want to die. 1.3kReads8.7Score22314d adds
- 15 The Grave Relocation Master 迁坟师 You've heard of yin-yang masters, fortune-tellers, and feng shui masters. But have you ever heard of a grave relocation master? Do you know how relocating a grave can affect the deceased's descendants? My name is Chen An, and I'm a grave relocation master. I've spent my whole life dealing with graves and bones. I've seen clients strike it rich after relocating a grave. I've seen clients rise to high office after relocating a grave. I've also seen clients whose entire clan died out after relocati 10.5kReads9.0Score91514d adds
- 16 When the Funeral Dance Begins, the Living Must Flee 丧舞起，活人避 The Red Luan chapter of The Book of a Thousand Autumns, also known as Red Luan Ferry [Folk Professions + Southern Yunnan Mysticism + Paranormal Folklore + Strange Tales] I was supposed to die when I was six, but I joined a sect to prolong my life. A folk sect in southern Yunnan: warding off evil spirits and guiding the dead. There are countless rules and taboos in our line of work. “When the funeral dance begins, the living must stay away.” When the funeral dance is performed, the living must tu 200Reads—Score—14d adds
- 17 Ferryman of the Underworld 黄泉摆渡客 My sister was abused to death by her husband. Even after she died, her resentment kept her from resting in peace. To help her find peace, I became a ferryman traveling between the worlds of the living and the dead. From then on, I strode between yin and yang as if walking atop a hanging coffin. The strong live, the weak die. I will be the one to decide who lives and who dies! 885Reads8.6Score11714d adds
- 18 Crime Psychology: Ten Unsolved Cases 心理罪：十宗悬案 A woman drowns in her own toilet... A black cat embarks on a quest to claim lives... A hidden evil lurks in a fog-shrouded town... A madman dreams of becoming an immortal... A beloved pet dog kills out of jealousy... 4.8kReads8.9Score78414d adds
- 19 Borrowing Yin Lifespan 借阴寿 Have you ever slept wearing burial clothes? Don’t try it. I did once, and that night... My name is Li Yiliang. I was born with a shortened lifespan, and my birth caused my mother to die in childbirth. But one night when I was eighteen, my mother came back and said she wanted to take me with her... My grandfather told me to sleep in burial clothes, then gave his own life to help me escape that fate. From then on, my life was never free of strange and uncanny things... 4.7kReads8.9Score41114d adds
- 20 Tales from the Northern Horsemen 北马见闻录 I’m a spirit medium. What do I need brains for? As long as I’m stubborn enough, those weasels can’t get the better of me. This is a story full of blood and heart, and the legend of a spirit medium’s life. Whether it’s life or human nature, the wise will eventually find the answers meant for them. A record of strange encounters, and half the history of the Ma family. Folk legends, chilling mysteries, and uncanny wonders, all within... 3.5kReads8.9Score28714d adds
- 21 Ghost Messenger, Don't Run 鬼差你别跑 The sequel to "The Underworld Calls Me Little Mister", picking up perfectly from the final chapter of the first book. Hilarious ghost-hunting power fantasy! Every member of the main cast is an overpowered carry, and they won’t put up with even the slightest injustice! An invincible protagonist, with payback served the very same day! Packed with all kinds of superstitious trivia from Taoist classics, along with knowledge from the other Hundred Schools of Thought. 18.9kReads9.3Score2.1k14d adds
- 22 Coffin Shop No. 44 44号棺材铺 Everyone knows what a coffin shop is, but would you dare enter one where someone has died? Ever since I took over a coffin shop, strange things have been happening all around me. Only then did I realize that the people who come to buy coffins aren't necessarily alive… 2.2kReads8.0Score25314d adds
- 23 The Underworld Bureau of the Yellow Springs 黄泉阴司 When I was a kid, I went to the back hill of the village to play and pick up human bones. There I stumbled upon a ghost opera and nearly lost my life. Luckily, a green snake saved me, but the snake also began a strange, shadowy romance. Ghost operas, spirit summoning, yellow-skin spirits' yin graves, peachwood seals against evil: the bizarre folk customs of southern Guizhou and chilling, uncanny tales of the worlds of yin and yang are coming your way. Warning: Not for the faint of heart!!! 5.8kReads8.4Score58214d adds
- 24 The Last Daoist Lord 最后的道君 Ever since my mother got pregnant with me, strange things kept happening at home. First, a hedgehog came into the house, a long snake coiled around the beams, and a weasel dug a burrow in the vegetable patch out back. Then foxes from the mountains joined in, showing up at our doorstep every few days to peer inside. Now the five immortals were all gathered: Hu, Huang, Liu, Bai, and Hui. Anyone in the know would recognize this as the Five Immortals entering a home. Any one of the five entering 10.8kReads9.1Score97814d adds
- 25 The Dead Man's Makeup 死人妆 The old folks often say, “Men shouldn’t be born on the first day of the lunar month, and women shouldn’t be born on the fifteenth.” I was born on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with the fate of an iron broom and a destructive bone marrow. The living despise me, and I bring death to my whole family, yet demons and ghosts have their eyes on me! Because of him, I also broke a taboo and became a woman of yin fate... To save me, my mother-in-law taught me the art of applying makeup to th 2.5kReads9.1Score33014d adds
- 26 The Miaojiang Gu Chronicles 苗疆蛊事 The calamity of witchcraft and poison is spoken of only by people in the countryside. Many people who are unknowingly caught up in it have no idea it exists. Friends, do you really think there are no extraordinary people in this vast land of China? You do? No! No! No! Do you want me to tell you that I’m a poison-raising practitioner from the Miao borderlands? All right, come on in and let’s dish… 13.8kReads9.3Score2k14d adds
- 27 Taboo of the Living 2 活人禁忌2 Heaven Official's Blessing, no taboos under heaven. The second installment of Living People’s Taboos! 7.9kReads9.1Score1.2k14d adds
- 28 Borrowed Corpse, Stolen Life 借尸命 When a plague swept through my mother’s village, she was the only one who escaped alive and made it to Chen Village. My mother was graceful and beautiful, but after arriving in the village, she went mad. There’s something wrong with this village. Every night, we hear strange noises. My father’s name is Chen Jiu, and mine is Chen Lintian. I suspect he isn’t my real father... 1.8kReads9.0Score13014d adds
- 29 One Haunting a Day 一日一诡 Like people, supernatural entities can be good or bad, so the author can’t promise that every story will have an off-the-charts scare factor that keeps you up at night. The only guarantee is that all the stories are entirely fictional. If anything seems familiar, you’re on your own! 354Reads—Score10114d adds
- 30 Incense Ashes: I'm a Yin-Yang Medium 香灰：我是阴阳女先生 If someone asks to borrow money from you in a dream, promise me you won’t lend it. Because what you’re lending isn’t money, it’s your life. … Grandma called me a debt-collecting demon, and Mom called me a bringer of bad luck. All because, when I was born, a fire broke out at home for no apparent reason, and the villagers rushed over to help put it out. But no matter what they did, they couldn’t extinguish the flames. The fire only slowly died down after half the village had burned to the ground. 6.9kReads9.1Score82514d adds
- 31 A Record of Supernatural Events in the Countryside 乡村灵异事件薄 My new work is out! You can read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you enjoy it. Your support is what keeps me writing, and I'll do my best to tell every story well! 475Reads—Score—14d adds
- 32 Disciple of the Maoshan Sect 茅山门徒 A strange antique shop where the owner uses his ghostly eyes to appraise treasures and spends a fortune buying ghost bones! Think the owner only knows how to appraise antiques? Think again. He can read beautiful women, too! The domineering female CEO, the hottest star, an unconventional beauty, the pure-hearted campus belle, the girl next door… He can see right through you with a single glance! 7kReads9.0Score64814d adds
- 33 I Run a Paper Effigy Shop 我有一间扎纸店 I Have a Paper Effigy Shop tells the story of the protagonist, Liu Dabao, who runs a shop making paper effigies. One day, a guy named Li Xunhuan asked me to burn him a villa and gave me a jade pendant, saying someone would come to collect it later. That evening, a woman came to pick up the pendant and gave me a thousand yuan. But who could have guessed that the next day, the money vanished and turned into a pile of white paper! Was it ghost money for the dead? Were Li Xunhuan and that woman both 124Reads8.7Score1314d adds
- 34 The Living Must Keep Away 活人回避 Originally titled Living People, Keep Away. An antique set me on a desperate path. From then on, just to stay alive, I became a yin walker who dealt with the dead and the walking corpses. Three years searching for dragon veins, ten years locating acupoints, roaming between yin and yang, dealing in ghosts and spirits. I kept walking, struggling my way to where I am today. 2.7kReads8.9Score33114d adds
- 35 Folk Tales: One Chapter, One Horror Story 民间怪谈一章一个恐怖故事 [Anthology of stories] [Folklore horror] [Supernatural horror] [Village legends] [Chinese-style horror] [Old-time storytelling] There is no overarching plot. Each chapter is a standalone horror story adapted from folk tales, with eerie, unsettling plots that grow more terrifying the more you think about them. Note: This story discourages superstition and encourages belief in science. It is entirely fictional, so just enjoy it as a bit of fun. 25.6kReads7.5Score1.1k14d adds
- 36 The Last Soul-Quelling Master 最后一个镇魂师 I grew up at my grandfather's house in the countryside. He was the most respected suona player in our village. One day, Li Dashan, a fellow villager, beat his pregnant wife to death and came to ask my grandfather for help. My grandfather tried everything he could, but still couldn't calm the resentment of Li Dashan's wife. In the end, he had no choice but to play a suona dirge to forcibly pacify her soul. On the night of the Lantern Festival, Li Dashan and his family turned into vengeful ghosts 116Reads8.5Score1014d adds
- 37 I Have 36,524 Folk Horror Stories 我有36524个民间恐怖故事 [Standalone stories] [Supernatural suspense] [Folk horror] [Mountain spirits and monsters] [Adapted from real cases] [Rural legends] There is no main storyline. Each chapter is a self-contained story adapted from folk rumors, with eerie, gripping plots. Note: This story discourages superstition and encourages belief in science. It is entirely fictional, so just enjoy it as entertainment. 4.2kReads8.8Score21714d adds
- 38 The Years I Spent as a Funeral Mourner 我当哭丧人的那些年 Some people must be mourned loudly when they are laid to rest. Otherwise, according to old folk customs, it is considered an act of filial impiety. After I was born, everyone in my family except my grandfather died because of me. My grandfather fell gravely ill, and to earn money for his treatment, I had no choice but to join Zhang the Elder, a man from my village, as a professional funeral mourner. From then on, I set out on a path of mourning with no return! 126Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 39 Corpse-Walking Notes 2: The Myriad Forms Celestial Palace 《赶尸笔记2》万象天宫 Corpses driven along by corpse herders are known in the martial world as "corpses traveling ten thousand miles." It is said that in the Xiangxi region, some people make a living herding corpses. The Corpse Sect is one such group. Qin Shuang runs a funeral business; Brother Jiu has ties to both the underworld and the police; Haozi has just gotten out of prison; Baldy makes his living robbing and relocating tombs; and mute A-Wu is a skilled fighter shrouded in mystery. What kind of extraordinary s 122Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 40 The Heavenly Coffin 天棺 Because of a joke, my grandmother’s spirit refused to leave after her death and insisted on taking me with her to the grave. Otherwise, my whole family would die. To save my family, I went into the grave with my grandmother... 21.8kReads9.0Score1.9k14d adds
- 41 The Midnight Gravekeeper 午夜守墓人 A desolate mountain. An ancient tomb. A woman in white. A blood-red moon at midnight. A corpse monk on the move. I’m a high school senior. With the college entrance exam just around the corner, I suddenly came down with a fever that wouldn’t break and missed the test. After recovering at home for more than half a year, I found a job guarding the gate at a cemetery. Seeing how frail I was and how weak my yang energy was, Old Zhang, the gravedigger, found me a protector. But she wasn’t human. She 5.6kReads8.5Score30414d adds
- 42 No Living People Allowed 活人勿近 [Inspired by real events, but the setting is entirely fictional] [No cultivation] [Supernatural horror only] The countryside is different from the city. Rural areas are vast and sparsely populated, with too little human presence to suppress what lurks beneath the ground. That's why ghost stories and strange legends keep cropping up. Ask anyone from a village in Sichuan, and they'll have plenty to tell you about supernatural happenings in the mountains and fields in years gone by. Some people 97.2kReads9.3Score8.8k14d adds
- 43 Terror in the Haunted Dorm 诡寝惊魂 I got a job as a dorm supervisor in a university women’s residence, but the girls there were a little too friendly… Crying in the middle of the night, dorm rooms catching fire, rooms that don’t exist. Hidden in the deepest corners of memory is a bizarre and fantastical world… The night is deep, the dream unfinished. A mountain spirit blows out the lamp. Where can a lonely soul return? 10.4kReads8.5Score1.1k14d adds
- 44 Tales of Folk Taboos 民间禁忌杂谈 A pig butcher never slaughters a pig with five toes. The village guardian never guards a village with a temple. A feng shui master never selects a lair of an evil dragon. A midwife must wash her hands in rooster’s blood. There are three hundred and sixty trades in the world, and every one has its rules. Are these ancient, mysterious rules really nothing more than empty formalities? If I told you that some rules must never be broken, because breaking them means death, would you believe me? 9kReads8.0Score1.2k14d adds
- 45 The Corpse Collection Files 收尸档案 Since ancient times, the dead have been left with their bodies. But few people know that corpses hold many secrets that remain hidden from the world. Cursed corpses, living corpses, bodies left where they fell, vengeful corpses, bisected corpses... Every corpse has a story of its own! My name is He Yongheng, and I collect bodies for a funeral home. 3.7kReads9.0Score38414d adds
- 46 Grandpa, I Was Reborn, I Swear I'm Not Possessed 爷爷，我是重生，真不是鬼上身 [Traditional Mystery and Supernatural Fiction] [One Female Lead] [Period Novel] [A Funeral Master’s True Accounts] [Northeastern Chinese Funeral Customs] [Rural Life] Adapted into the short drama Eighties Funeral Master (Disclaimer: The folk techniques in this book, including Zhuyou healing rituals, are entirely fictional. Please do not imitate them. The author bears no responsibility for any problems that may arise.) Good grief, I’ve been reborn in 1986, and from the start Grandpa thinks I’m a 58.1kReads9.3Score4.8k14d adds
- 47 Folk Feng Shui Secrets 民间风水秘术 This story focuses on practical feng shui and fortune-telling. If you're looking for made-up drama, this isn't for you! Feel free to skip the first four chapters and start reading from Chapter Five. The adaptation will also start from Chapter Five, which should make it much easier to adapt. Thank you for understanding! (Traditional, no System, no wild flights of fancy, funny, not saintly! A technical, skill-focused story!) I was born in a poor mountain village. From a young age, I traveled aroun 28.8kReads9.4Score4.1k14d adds
- 48 Taboo of the Living 活人禁忌 When I was nine, I found myself in mortal danger! To save me, my grandfather made a decision that would change my life forever... 16kReads9.2Score2.2k14d adds
- 49 Yellow Springs General Store 黄泉杂货铺 At the end of a street on a quiet, late-night evening stands a grocery shop with old-fashioned decor. Getting something for nothing is simple: just agree to do a ghost a favor, and it'll make it happen. 14.8kReads8.8Score1.6k14d adds
- 50 Bureau 747: Special Affairs Division Nine 747局之特殊事物处理九科 Do you really know the colleagues around you? What about your classmates and family? The person you've lived with for years, the one you know best, might not even be human! In this world, humans and demons coexist. Demons can live among you in all sorts of ways. “They” might be the man selling jianbing on the street, or they might be your boss! If a top special forces soldier hadn't awakened his family's bloodline in a panic while carrying out a highly classified special mission, and then joined 728Reads7.1Score—14d adds
