Novels like Tales of the Strange in China
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Tales of the Strange in China, best match first.
- 1 The Mysterious Department 神秘部门 There’s no monster-slaying and leveling up, no love and hate. Just watch Qiu Tian deal with all those... unbelievable situations. Take your time... savor every detail... The perfect pick when you’ve run out of books. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 2 The Divine Tomb of Kunlun 昆仑神墓 In the Kunlun Ruins, lightning flickers and the magnetic field is in disarray. Who could be powerful enough to bury himself in the legendary palace of the Yellow Emperor? After I barely survived and dug open that tomb, I found my own ancestor lying inside. 394Reads—Score—14d adds
- 3 Special Incident Investigation Bureau 特殊事件调查局 Heaven has its yin and yang, and the earth has two sides. Our society is no different. Joining the Special Investigations Bureau means living alongside the dark side of this world. Murderous curses, midnight phone calls, Meng Po’s soup... Behind these chilling cases, are we dealing with supernatural forces, or is there a mastermind pulling the strings? The Special Investigations Bureau exists to stir up the turbulent currents of this shadowy world and uncover the black hand reaching out beneath 11Reads7.5Score—14d adds
- 4 The Imperial Mausoleum of Qin 大秦皇陵 A mysterious Taoist priest and the soul of an emperor from a thousand years ago gradually uncover the mystery surrounding the First Emperor’s bizarre death a millennium earlier. Ghosts taking the place of the living, an ancient map made of human skin, an immortal village, the Nine Provinces Cauldron... What lies behind each of these mysteries? Who was the ultimate winner of the game played a thousand years ago? And what is the strange figure in a bamboo hat up to now, and what are they so determ 1.3kReads8.4Score20414d adds
- 5 Supernatural Affairs Management Bureau 超自然事务管理局 Chu Yu's job is simple: take care of business and beat people up. The business: supernatural incidents such as the Death Zone at 30 degrees north latitude, the gray “space-time gate” in Antarctica, a fog-shrouded border swarming with corpses, and the return of the Dead Mound Incident. The people: reborn individuals, transmigrators, System users who use their powers to pick up women, and energy-based lifeforms that glow all over and claim to be gods. Every last one of these freaks falls under Chu 36Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 6 The Boy in the Hemp Robe 麻衣少年 [Ma Yi Divine Physiognomist, Young Feng Shui Master, Defying Fate] The year I was born, torrential rain fell from the heavens, and hordes of weasels swarmed into my home. To save me, my father leapt into the flood. When I was seven, my grandfather took in five female disciples, and they all became my senior fellow disciples. My bizarre story begins with these five senior sisters. 2.5kReads8.6Score23714d adds
- 7 The Secret Record of Tomb Robbing 摸金秘记 [A premium, exclusive Tomb Raiding novel] [Zhang Jia Sishu's latest masterpiece of 2016, set to become the ultimate Tomb Raiding novel!] The appearance of an exceptionally beautiful female corpse shattered my ordinary life. Armed with a family-inherited secret art of Tomb Raiding, I opened an ancient imperial mausoleum sealed for a thousand years, seeking rare treasures buried underground and unraveling a mystery beyond anyone's reach. 184Reads6.6Score—14d adds
- 8 The Bureau of Foreign Affairs' Strange Tales 外事局诡闻录 All the petty affairs of the world are interactions between people. Whether good or bad, they belong to the realm of internal affairs. Anything beyond ordinary human life, anything ordinary people cannot accept, belongs to external affairs. That is the meaning behind the name of the External Affairs Bureau. Skin-Human Ravine, the Five Barbarians' Ghost Cave, a thousand corpses vying to steal fortune, a mother and daughter possessed by yin spirits, a ghostly yang infant... I experienced all kinds 3.1kReads8.7Score25114d adds
- 9 Bureau of Paranormal Investigations 特异事物调查局 [Mystery + horror + sci-fi + adventure + wild imagination] Before graduating, forensic science student Ren Lin dissects a beautiful female corpse. Not long afterward, he meets a woman who looks exactly like the corpse, with a horrifying scar beneath her neck. A voice keeps echoing in his ear: “Did the corpse you dissect feel pain?” This is only the beginning, just the tip of the iceberg! Ren Lin joins the Bureau of Special Affairs and rises from a low-ranking agent to a legend! 42Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 10 Great, the Whole Village Is Haunted, and I’m Beyond Saving 太好啦，全村都是诡，我没救了 [Horror + Body Collection + Comedy + Plot Twists] On the day I graduated from college, I got a call saying my dad had skinned himself and died. My mother said she had to meet her daughter-in-law before my dad was buried, so I had no choice but to pay a fortune to hire the campus belle to pretend to be my girlfriend. But when I returned to the village, I discovered that no one there was human! They were all corpses... After narrowly escaping death, I became a corpse collector. The first one I col 982Reads5.6Score10714d adds
- 11 The Orthodox Unity Taoist Acolyte 正一小道爷 My master vanished without a trace. As the sect’s last heir, I have the sect’s treasured spirit sword and a purple-gold spirit talisman brush. One man, one sword, one brush: I descend the mountain to subdue demons and ghosts. Note: Some events in this book are based on real experiences the author has had, and some of the methods are quite authentic. Do not attempt to imitate them! 592Reads6.1Score10014d adds
- 12 Southern Mao, Northern Ma 南茅北马 With one sweep of my staff, I’ll wipe out every demon under heaven! I take life and death in stride, and if you won’t submit, I’ll fight! I’ll prove my Dao through killing, endless yet never extinguished! Yang Wujin is a man with no past life, only this one! The day he was born, the Azure Dragon offered a sacrifice, and a hundred ghosts were put to rout! 147Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 13 The Imperial Tomb Guardian 皇陵守墓人 Last century, a team of archaeological experts discovered an ancient tomb in the Qinling Mountains and organized dozens of the country's top archaeologists to excavate it. Before long, however, the team mysteriously vanished without a trace, and none survived. After decades of research, Professor Wang Xuan discovered that the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor concealed a shocking secret. He led four students deep into a small county in the mountains of Bashu, embarking on an extraordinarily biz 4.9kReads5.9Score32114d adds
- 14 The Feng Shui King of the Underworld 江湖风水之王 On the day I was born, ten thousand demons emerged from the mountains, a hundred ghosts clawed their way out of their graves, and an immortal corpse guarded the way. My master, Daoist Jingxian, took me from a tomb and raised me for twenty years, only to fall under a curse and die a horrible death, skinned alive. Knowing he was going to die, my master left me a letter. First, he warned me not to seek out the killer. Then he urged me to stay away from the world. But I chose a third path, resolute 125Reads7.1Score—14d adds
- 15 Four-House Village 四户村 I live in Sihu Village, a place sheltered on all four sides. Just as its name suggests, Sihu Village has exactly four households, no more and no less. There is no life or death here, only reincarnation, once every twelve years. The rules of Sihu Village are simple: the master must not leave the village, and guests must not stay overnight. Then one day, I really did leave the village, breaking the rules... 12Reads—Score—14d adds
- 16 My Years as a Tomb Raider 我盗墓的那些年 Years ago, my father injured himself falling while gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains to pay for my tuition. With the mounting medical bills, I had no choice but to go tomb-raiding with someone. I thought I was just going to make a quick buck, never imagining I’d fall into an abyss so deep I could never climb back out. Over the years, the things I experienced while raiding tombs have often come back to me when I least expect it: a Peach Blossom Spring unlike any other, a tomb afflicted b 581Reads7.0Score10714d adds
- 17 The Northeast Ma Family 东北“马”家 Do you know what a spirit horse is? Do you know what a spirit hall is? Do you know who the guardian spirits of the Northeast are? Do you know the Four Beams and Eight Pillars? Do you know the Qingfeng spirits? Whether you do or not, this book will lead you through a strange doorway and introduce you to the world of spirit mediums in Northeast China. For the first twenty-five years of my life, I thought I was just an utterly ordinary speck of dust in this little county town. I never imagined that 51Reads9.1Score—14d adds
- 18 The Yin-Yang Geomancer’s Legacy 阴阳地师传 At ten years old, I slew a white serpent and subdued a hundred ghosts. The generals of the underworld called me “little brother.” Using feng shui, the art of Qimen, and Taoist magic, I solved one strange murder case after another! It all began with the corpse of a man in a cornfield! 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 19 It's Not My Fault I Can See Ghosts 我能见鬼不是我的错 A girl who can see ghosts saves a little ghost with a drop of blood from her fingertip, and her life is turned upside down from that moment on. Ghosts appear in droves to test the limits of your nerves, jolting every dormant sense awake! Eerie, thrilling, and full of mysteries... Leng Yuhan sobs: “It's not my fault that I can see ghosts. Could every disaster really be because of my jinxed tongue?” 44Reads7.2Score—14d adds
- 20 The Underworld Descends 阴司降世 The day Han Luoxuan was born, the Underworld sent guardians to protect him, a hundred ghosts surrounded his home, and rogue cultivators came to claim his life. The independent Han clan, the Fox Immortals of the Northeast, and the Buddhists joined forces to save him. Born with unusual bones and naturally gifted with Yin Eyes, he carries his family's karmic burden and is guided by destiny. He becomes the focus of a struggle in this world. Hunted by a hundred ghosts and parted from his loved ones, 16Reads—Score—14d adds
- 21 The Three Months I Was Trapped at My Girlfriend's Best Friend's Home 我被困在女友闺蜜家的那三个月 My girlfriend’s eerie home is the stuff of nightmares. This time, I’ve mysteriously found myself trapped in her best friend’s house, where she makes an utterly baffling demand... Two heroines + well-crafted suspense + scheming characters + sweet romance + twists + written by the author, not AI 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 22 Bureau of Anomalous Biology Investigations 异常生物调查局 The day after my grandpa died, everyone in town showed up… 528Reads8.2Score10214d adds
- 23 Chronicles of Strange Events 异事簿 When I was eight, I accidentally drowned. The village's mad Taoist came to my house and told my parents to give me a grand seven-day funeral with gongs and drums. After seven days, I would return to life. During the funeral, lightning flashed every day and the rain poured without stopping. Everyone in the village said it was a bad omen. On the seventh day, strange phenomena suddenly appeared in the sky. The mad Taoist returned to my house, told me to take the moon in the sky as my godmother, and 35Reads—Score—14d adds
- 24 Severing the Dragon Vein 断命龙脉 The men of the Gu family never live past forty. After his father, Gu Mingyuan, dies, Gu Chenchuan follows a train ticket to Baihe, a bloodstained compass, and a few unfinished last words into the old trails of the Changbai Mountains. But the deeper he digs, the more he realizes that the Gu family has not simply been haunted or cursed. They have been caught in a living account, buried for many years, that refuses to let go. From Baihe to Tamen Peak, from the Changbai Mountains to an old well in t 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 25 Forbidden Ground for the Living 活人禁地 Seek out the world's rare treasures, and plunder its hidden relics. The living should stay away from these places... 1.5kReads7.2Score13114d adds
- 26 Strange Feng Shui Affairs 风水异事 My grandfather is a feng shui master. While he was away, a woman came looking for him. After I greeted her, I saw purple-black veins of blood on her face, writhing on their own… 1.7kReads8.8Score52014d adds
- 27 I'm Not Trying to Undermine the Military Statistics Bureau, I'm in a Hurry to Catch an Onmyoji 不是坑军统，是着急抓阴阳师 When people act strangely, there must be a ghost about. When things go against the norm, there must be a monster at work. Qin Chuan transmigrates to the Republican era and becomes a combat vanguard in a cross-world struggle. A big shot from the Juntong asks him to catch Japanese spies. He says he has no time for now: the Japanese onmyoji are a greater threat, and they must be dealt with by burning everything, killing everyone, and taking everything. The onmyoji are divided into two branches. One 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 28 There Are No Such Things as Ghosts 哪有什么鬼 (Urban supernatural, talismans and Taoist arts, yin-yang and feng shui, two male leads, mysterious agency) One of the male leads is a complete novice, forcibly carried to victory by a lecherous old man, a chubby chatterbox, and an internet-addicted loli. Together, they form the ultimate demon-hunting team. The other is a celestial master from Mount Longhu, the first in a century to emerge from seclusion. But after predicting that he will die at 28, he gives up and spends his days playing around. 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 29 A Working Stiff's Ghost-Hunting Diary 牛马捉鬼日记 Mystery + Supernatural + Comedy. Slow burn; impatient readers, enter at your own risk!!! My name is Qin Fang. I was an ordinary, downtrodden wage slave, until one day, on a whim, I spent a whopping five hundred yuan at a street stall on a nine-story pagoda ornament. My peaceful life was turned upside down. Now, on top of slaving away at work all day and suffering for a measly few thousand yuan, I have to serve the pagoda spirit, Lord Bai, every night. I’m forced to hunt ghosts and subdue demons 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 30 A Tomb Raider's Life 盗墓生涯 In 2013, I unexpectedly went bankrupt, and my girlfriend left me. With no other options, I took this path, and a strange, eerie world opened up before my eyes. Beneath a mysterious thousand-year-old tomb, half were tomb raiders, and the other half were... 558Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 31 Bureau of Supernatural Investigations 超自然事件调查局 A bizarre murder case draws me into the investigation of mysterious supernatural events: crew members on a deep-sea fishing vessel inexplicably slaughtering one another, immortals hiding in the city, legendary vampires, Nazi doomsday troops of a godlike race and their Aryan holy city, and a gigantic human-face structure on Mars. We are not alone in the universe, and human society is just as complicated. 345Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 32 I Deliver Takeout to the Underworld, From the Start I Earn Billions 我给阴间送外卖，开局奖励亿万 Humiliated in public by his ex-girlfriend while delivering takeout, with his seriously ill mother in the hospital and urgently needing money, Jiang Chen hits rock bottom. Just as he reaches the brink of despair, his phone chimes, and an app called Yin-Yang Delivery mysteriously installs itself! “Order from: a girl who drowned; item: a letter that was never sent; reward: underwater breathing (10 minutes).” “Order from: a chef who died in a car accident; item: a family recipe; reward: god-tier coo 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 33 The Sixth Man's Strange Tales 老六诡事 A collection of true stories about all kinds of inexplicable, supernatural events personally experienced by people around me. Just think of it as my attempt to pass off some tales as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio! Not for the faint of heart! Not for the faint of heart! Not for the faint of heart! I’m repeating it three times because it’s important! I don’t make up stories. I’m simply passing them along! 62Reads—Score—14d adds
- 34 Tales of Tomb Raiding in Southern China 南派盗墓往事 [Tomb Raiding + Adventure + Suspense] In the 1990s, I was just a minor antique dealer who traded in bones. Then I mistakenly bought a burial object, and from that moment on, I embarked on a one-way journey across a thousand years... To find the answers, I had no choice but to wander between the worlds of the living and the dead, crossing mountains and seas and traversing deserts and wastelands. At the very source of it all, I finally uncovered the truth behind the baffling mystery... 1kReads7.3Score13814d adds
- 35 The Mystic Arts Curse Master 玄门咒神 On the day Yang Xuan was supposed to get engaged, a blood-red coffin inexplicably appeared in his home. Inside lay a beautiful woman with skin like jade. On the first day, his father died. On the second day, a yin-yang master told Yang Xuan: If he wanted to survive this calamity, he had to consummate his marriage with her... 115Reads—Score—14d adds
- 36 Old Ninth, the Tomb Raider 盗墓老九 [Tomb raiding + adventure + treasure hunting] A centuries-old mystery ordained by Heaven, the fabled ancient kingdom of Loulan, the secrets behind the ancient Silk Road, and even the Black Mountain, where legend says the rocks, plants, rivers, and soil are all black, shrouded year-round in an air of death... I was just an antique dealer in Panjiayuan, but somehow I got swept up in one strange adventure after another. It all began with my grandfather, a eunuch from the previous dynasty... 320Reads5.4Score—14d adds
- 37 Legends of the Strange in Beiling 北岭怪谈 Legend has it that deep in the Greater Khingan Range lies a tomb for the living. Every year, people venture into the remote, treacherous mountains under the pretext of digging for ginseng: knife fighters from Hebei, bandits from the Northeast, treasure seekers from Shanxi... But I know they all have just one goal: the Immortal Tai Sui. 1.5kReads8.0Score19314d adds
- 38 Paranormal Encounters: What I Saw and Heard 灵异事件之所见所闻 No System + no transmigration + no power fantasy + no harem + no invincible protagonist + no sweet romance + no clichés + no female lead + no cultivation. Important notice: if this isn’t for you, don’t read it. If this isn’t for you, don’t read it. If this isn’t for you, don’t read it! Do you believe there are things in this world that science cannot explain? Have you ever experienced anything supernatural yourself? Treat the events in this novel as stories, and remember: Fear and respect the sp 129Reads—Score—14d adds
- 39 My Days as a Disciple of the Spirit Mediums 我当出马弟子的时光 A true account of spirit-medium practices, giving you an authentic look at every little detail! Every story and every person in this book is based on real events! 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 40 A Record of Funerals in a Small Town 小城丧葬录 In 2020, Rongcheng was battered by torrential rain. At 32, Chen Yan hit rock bottom after falling from a government post. Forced to resign over an air-gun incident, he crashed while hauling freight, went unpaid by an advertising agency, broke his leg at a construction site, and eventually became a food delivery rider, scraping by between his mortgage and daily expenses. One rainy night, he stopped to help someone and stumbled into the Xiao An Funeral Parlor, where he met Old Yang, who secretly c 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 41 Tales of Feng Shui, Tomb Raiding, and the Supernatural 风水盗墓灵异录 The Grave Robbers' Chronicles, tomb raiding, feng shui, the supernatural, tomb exploration, retrieving corpses from water, suspense, pranks, ghost hunting, coffins, ghosts and monsters, the Eight Trigrams and other esoteric arts, dragon seeking and acupoint locating, sorcery, adventure, warding off evil, metaphysics His grandfather left Li Qing an old tomb-raiding journal, a bronze compass, a soul-suppressing staff, and a jade gourd. At midnight, at the bottom of the corpse-filled valley in Yang 42Reads—Score—14d adds
- 42 Carrying the Dragon Coffin 抬龙棺 The First Emperor's coffin was called the Dragon Coffin. By rights, everyone who carried the Dragon Coffin should have been buried alive with him. But my ancestor somehow escaped. Was the elixir of immortality really just a legend? And where did Xu Fu go after sailing east? My ancestor was the only person who knew the secret of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum... 3kReads8.5Score30514d adds
- 43 Paper Cutting to Prolong Life 剪纸续命 Three days after his master's death, Chen Zhi's name was pressed into a paper-cut figure. Someone cut paper outside his door late at night. A paper figure bearing his name appeared at the doorstep, and from then on, the blue-black mark on his hand began to seep inward along his veins. Paper can ward off evil and bind souls. And the darkest art of the Paper-Cutting Sect is called Name Binding. To stay alive, Chen Zhi can only follow the torn pages his master left behind, the black sand beneath t 12Reads—Score—14d adds
- 44 The Golden Coffin Tomb Beast 金棺陵兽 Zhang Xiaobian, a tomb raider, accidentally stumbles into the tomb of a former dynasty’s imperial consort. There he sees a golden coffin, encounters a mysterious stranger, obtains a strange book, and survives a series of bizarre dangers, learning secrets never passed on to outsiders. He cracks the mystery of “turning people into livestock” and leads the Yan Battalion in a great battle against the Taiping Army. Every time danger strikes, a mysterious figure known as “The Old Ghost in the Woods,” 1.3kReads9.3Score22714d adds
- 45 The Yin-Yang Inn 阴阳旅店 From the day I was born, underworld soldiers came to drag my soul away. At eight, I arrived at the Yin-Yang Inn and began working as a guide for the dead. From then on, I guided both the dead and the living. Every ghost or living person who came to the inn had a secret they couldn't tell. The Yin-Yang Inn has strange rules. Ghosts must sign a contract, while the living must stay the night. Whether or not their request is fulfilled, their payment is never refunded. Even so, guests keep coming one 257Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 46 Ghost-Hunting Yin-Yang Master 捉鬼阴阳师 On the day I was born, the clear sky suddenly filled with lightning and thunder. A bolt struck a tree in our yard, and everyone in the village decided my birth was an ill omen. They all kept their distance. One villager accidentally offended me, and that night he mysteriously hanged himself. The body could only be taken down if someone knelt before me. On the day of his funeral, his brother died a violent death and the coffin fell to the ground. That was how the whole story began… 214Reads8.8Score10014d adds
- 47 Human Courage Is the Greatest Hymn 人类的勇气是最伟大的赞歌 Hello, human. By the time you read this book, humanity will have gone extinct four times over. Now, twelve million years of human history are about to reach their end once again. There is only one way to survive, but I have forgotten what it is. Still, I’m certain of one thing: you, the person reading these words, will survive. 212Reads9.2Score—14d adds
- 48 The Strange Realm Archives 诡域档案 Six years ago, Comrade Peng Gang, an outstanding investigator in the Ministry of State Security of Huaxia and deputy director of the Seventh Bureau, met a strange death while on a mission. Six years later, several investigators go missing one after another. The case they were investigating is deeply strange and has countless connections to the case from six years ago. In response, the mysterious investigation team, Fifth Bureau, Ninth Division, begins looking into a series of cases in the realm 332Reads9.1Score—14d adds
- 49 The Celestial Master’s Verdict 天师决 The living have their police, and the dead have their ghost officials. By a twist of fate, an old ghost who has lost all memories of his previous life joins the nation's paranormal affairs department and begins a journey of capturing ghosts and growing stronger. One battle after another awakens all of his memories. A thousand ghosts, a thousand forms; ghosts roaming the night; Xingluo's voodoo curses; Japanese shikigami; Western demons; rebels from the Underworld. One by one, a conspiracy target 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 50 Case Files of Unusual Investigations 异案调查录 Throughout the vast world, from ancient times to the present, there have always been mysterious events that humans cannot explain. And there is a group of people who endure countless hardships in their pursuit of the truth. The cases they investigate are all considered paranormal… 501Reads7.4Score—14d adds
