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.
- 151 The Curse of the Graveyard 坟地咒怨 Zhang Fushan was the village's great benefactor. Every household in the village had received his help. His pregnant daughter-in-law died. The villagers wanted to notify his son, who lived in the city, but he refused and had the body burned instead. Zhang Fushan stared at his pregnant daughter-in-law's corpse in the flames. "Heh heh, let's see what you can do to me." The next day, someone found that eight women's graves in the cemetery behind the mountain had split open. 348Reads—Score414d adds
- 152 A Fetus in a Living Corpse 活尸孕胎 As she ran, Widow Sun shouted, "Oh my! This is terrible! There's a child's bones by the river at the village entrance!" Widow Sun raced ahead without looking and crashed straight into Lin Dong as he came around the corner. "Auntie Sun, what's wrong?" Widow Sun didn't dare look back. She pointed to a spot not far behind her, off to one side, but was so terrified she couldn't get another word out. She was in a hurry to get back to the village and report what she'd seen. She ran so fast that she ne 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 153 Rule Horror: Escaping Death in a Haunted Hospital 规则怪谈：我在诡异医院死里逃生 On my first day trapped in the hospital, I realized: The rules here can kill! The smell of disinfectant mingled with blood filled my nostrils. The eyeless doctor made rounds every day, while bloodstained nurses roamed the halls with knives. Two of the eight rules contained fatal errors. I had to figure them out to survive: I watched a fellow patient get stabbed through the heart by a nurse, and I personally sent a traitor off on a death stretcher. The traitor’s dying words were: “Pet, Rule Four. 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 154 Ghostly Romance 鬼运桃花 “Don’t let the female ghost touch the red thread around your wrist.” Clutching the demon-catching bottle my grandfather left me, I rushed into the mourning hall. Thick black blood was seeping through the crack in Qin Qi’s coffin. Beside his name, the pool of blood twisted into two characters: “Liu’er.” Three days ago, when I returned to the village to drive out a ghost, I never imagined that the vengeful spirit who had haunted him for three lifetimes would be one I’d released with my own hands. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 155 Rule Horror: Beastmen Keep Humans as Livestock? I Pretend to Have Amnesia and Strike Back! 规则怪谈：兽人圈养人类？我靠装失忆反杀！ I was kept as a pet by beastfolk in a “paradise,” surviving each day by pretending to have amnesia. When I crawled out of the CT scanner, my parents were sitting at the dining table, gnawing on bloody raw meat. Rules suddenly appeared before my eyes: [Do not enter the kitchen] [When danger appears, hide in the study for two hours] One moment, I was enjoying a warm breakfast with Mom and Dad. The next, their skin was crawling with eerie talismans, and they were forcing me to enter the forbidden k 18Reads—Score—14d adds
- 156 Surviving the Deadly Amusement Park by Exploiting Rule Loopholes 我在死亡游乐场，靠规则漏洞求生 Welcome to the Strange Amusement Park Happy Valley Daytime Visitor Rules: 1. Visitors must keep the park clean. Littering is prohibited. 2. Visitors must follow staff instructions to make management easier. 3. Visitors must queue in an orderly manner. Cutting in line is prohibited. 4. Smoking and bringing flammable or explosive items into the park are prohibited. 5. If you see a clown, you must greet them and accept a balloon. One of the rules above is false. Find it before 6 p.m., or die! 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 157 The Last Piece of Fox Meat 最后一块狐狸肉 When I chopped off the white fox's right hind leg, what flowed from its wound wasn't blood, but the cries of the landlady's missing beloved cat. Three days ago, when Boss Zhou forced me to butcher the spirit fox, he never could have imagined that the lump of meat in the kitchen freezer, which would never rot, was a death sentence for every diner. At that moment, Uncle Li's compass needle suddenly began spinning wildly. The last piece of fox meat on the stove was oozing thick black liquid. The po —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 158 Drowning Terror 溺水惊魂 When I opened my eyes, I'd become a plainclothes policewoman, standing by a bridge and looking down. In the river below, a bald middle-aged man was about to sink beneath the surface. The onlookers desperately tried to stop us. “Officers, don't save that murderer! Let him die!” But suddenly, a voice rang in my ears: “Get the drowning man to shore within 10 minutes, or die!” But I can't swim at all! —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 159 The Secret Buried in the Mountains 被埋葬在山里的秘密 Never answer a dead person's call. That night, my old classmate Shi Shoupeng suddenly called, saying he'd found five million yuan buried on Phoenix Mountain thirty years ago. But Zhao Shuang and the others insisted we'd killed him long ago. His body was stuffed in a suitcase, buried right beneath my feet. My phone was clearly out of battery, yet I heard the rasp of bones grinding together from the receiver. “Lu Liang... You said... if we couldn't find the money... you'd leave me to die in the mo 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 160 Village of Sin 罪恶村庄 After Lu Yan returned from an out-of-town interview, it was as if he were possessed. Wherever he stayed, everything before his eyes would turn into ruins after sunset! He went for a medical examination, but nothing was wrong. There seemed to be no explanation for any of it. But he didn't know that from the moment he became a cold, detached observer, his fate was no longer in his own hands... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 161 The Bronze Ritual Cauldron 青铜法鼎 Chen Junsheng has been seeing ghosts lately. While walking down the street, his vision would suddenly warp, and then he'd see a woman in a red traditional wedding gown. But he'd done plenty of good deeds in his life, so why would a ghost come after him? It wasn't until he sought help from an expert that he learned someone had made him take their place in death. Before long, he would die a sudden, violent death... 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 162 Soul-Locking Pavilion 锁魂阁 My hand trembled slightly as I clutched the diagnosis report. The clinic's heating was turned way up, but cold sweat had soaked the lining of my down jacket. The robed man before me slid over a cup of blood-red tea. The miniature carved pavilion in his palm glowed faintly. “The Soul-Locking Pavilion has recognized you as its master. That means the original owner of your heart was sacrificed alive.” Amid the crisp clink of the teacup against the table, he suddenly leaned in close: “Trade the glor 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 163 The Deadly Incense-Switching Pot 致命转香壶 Song Shiyan suffers from a strange illness, yet every medical examination comes back completely normal. A year has passed, and she's even lost her sense of taste. At her mother's suggestion, she seeks help from a mysterious shaman and receives a mandarin-duck aroma pot said to cure her illness. But this is the beginning of karmic retribution and the cycle of good and evil... 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 164 Horror Taboo: Returning the Soul Beneath the Coffin 恐怖禁忌，压棺回魂 The dead open their eyes, ghosts come to claim souls, the living borrow lifespans, and the dead press down on their coffins... One bizarre, uncanny experience after another keeps resurfacing in my mind like a nightmare. The strange tales in this book are mainly based on Yang Jian’s firsthand experiences... A warning: the actions in this book are for entertainment only. Do not imitate them! There are three kinds of people who read this book: thrill-seekers who aren’t easily scared... those who pu 973Reads6.2Score10114d adds
- 165 The Divine Seer and the Eerie Doctor 神相诡医 Zhang Fan grew up with his grandfather, who ran a coffin shop. Blessed with peerless skills in face-reading, medicine, and the supernatural, he makes his way through the city. He can read the faces of the living and the dead, treat both human ailments and ghostly afflictions, take on local bullies, and capture evil spirits as he writes the story of a legendary life! 4.5kReads8.7Score58914d adds
- 166 So What If I'm Out of a Job as a Male Model? I Can Exorcise Demons! 男模下岗咋了？老子会驱魔！ [Paranormal + Exorcism + Episodic Stories + No Female Lead + No Romance + No Harem + Brotherhood + Growing Up] Male model and drinking companion Sun Yu gets plied with drinks and groped by rich women in private rooms every night. He curses under his breath but still has to smile, thinking he’s doomed to spend his whole life trapped in drinking parties. Then he finds a busted piece of wood hidden by his adoptive father, and a big brother from an exorcist family suddenly shows up! Now the winegla 32Reads—Score—14d adds
- 167 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
- 168 The Vanishing Her: Who Is My Girlfriend, Really? 消失的她：我的女友究竟是谁 I'm a corporate wage slave. I've noticed my girlfriend has been acting strangely lately. She often dances in front of the mirror in the middle of the night and makes all sorts of eerie expressions. Worried about her, I started investigating her in secret. I discovered that she has a twin sister with dissociative identity disorder. The hospital staff said her sister went missing a month ago. My girlfriend seems to have changed completely around the same time. Just as I sat at my computer, feeling —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 169 The Death Camera 死亡相机 I don't like digital cameras. I like old-fashioned film cameras. After my grandfather's funeral, I inherited one of his belongings: an unused roll of film. My grandfather once said, "Don't touch the future, or you'll be caught up in an unknown disaster." I didn't understand what he meant then, not until a short while later, when I used that roll of film to photograph a murder. A murder that had yet to happen. 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 170 A Sheet of Human Skin 一张人皮 When beads of blood seeped from the claw marks on Li Jun's back, I recognized their shape: they were fingernail marks, exactly like the ones on the female corpse at the crematorium thirty years ago. Three days earlier, when he tremblingly handed me that faded pellet drum, the smiling faces of the boy and girl painted on its surface had suddenly split open, revealing locust-wood grain writhing beneath the skin. Now the lights above the emergency room flickered, and black blood was flowing through 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 171 A Dead Man Fathers a Child 死人生子 Zhang Ni was the prettiest girl for miles around. Yet even though she was old enough to marry, not a single matchmaker came to ask for her hand. Some said she willingly sneaked off into the fields with the village chief's son. Others said the village chief followed right behind his son as soon as he went in. Smack! A slap landed on Zhang Ni's rosy cheek. "I've nearly settled the bride price, and now you're telling me you don't want to marry him?" Marry whom? This was going to be the death of the —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 172 Becoming Uncle Jiu’s Disciple: Awaken the Ten Primordial Fierce Beasts from the Start! 拜师九叔：开局觉醒太古十凶！ Lin Qiusheng transmigrates into Uncle Jiu’s world. He becomes one of Uncle Jiu’s disciples. At the same time, he awakens the Ten Ferocious Beasts System! He gains the powers of the ten ancient ferocious beasts from the world of novels! From the start, he gets the power of the Skyhorn Ant, granting him incredible strength! Zombies!? I’ll crush them all with sheer strength and steamroll my way through!! Kunpeng! True Dragon! Heavenly Phoenix! Nine Nether Ao! … Every one of the Ten Ferocious Beasts 2kReads8.2Score18414d adds
- 173 Horror Revival: Sign-In for a Gatling Gun from the Start 恐怖复苏：开局签到加特林 Horror has returned, and ghosts and monsters are running rampant. Humanity has no way to guard against them! Huang Shaofeng had only just transmigrated when he ran into a vicious ghost. Luckily, at the crucial moment, he awakened a System and embarked on the path of physical exorcism. The great and merciful Gatling, delivering all beings to salvation! Three thousand six hundred rounds a breath, and all six roots are cleansed. Physical exorcism is the deadliest kind. 675Reads7.8Score10514d adds
- 174 The Heaven-Chosen Horse-Riding Immortal 天命出马仙 The day I was born, a blood moon appeared in the sky. Roosters crowed and dogs barked, foxes bowed to the moon, and all nine stars in the heavens fell. As soon as I came into the world, I caused my mother’s death, then scared my father out of his mind. Everyone said I was a bringer of calamity reborn, but only my grandfather said I was chosen by heaven and destined for great things. When I grew up, I took over a shaman’s altar to investigate the mystery of my birth, only to be dragged into an ev 2.2kReads9.1Score17414d adds
- 175 The Life of a Spirit Medium’s Disciple 出马弟子的人生 A novel about real experiences and nothing but facts, centered on the real practice of spirit-mediumship! I hope you enjoy it! No fantasy power trips or immortal cultivation: every bit of it is based on real experiences! 259Reads8.1Score—14d adds
- 176 Fish Woman 鱼女 My father was a famous fisherman in the villages around us. Whenever he went out to sea, he always caught more fish than anyone else. He gutted countless live fish, scraped off their scales, and chopped off their heads. Then one day, he brought home a sea fish as tall as a person, and the entire village came to gawk. He turned down a merchant's offer to buy it, killed the fish himself, and put on a feast for the villagers, serving every part of it. The banquet lasted all night. The next day, the 51Reads—Score—14d adds
- 177 The Secret of Dad's Death 爸爸死亡的秘密 When I was seven, my dad died. An accident sent me back to the 24 hours before his death. I did everything I could to save him. But I never could have imagined it. This time, the one who killed my dad was... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 178 The Real Lunatic and the Fake Patient 真疯子假病人 In my dream, I thought it was nothing more than a dream. But when I woke up, someone beside me was lying on the ground, clutching their arm and crying out in pain. Now, I've dreamed of the crime scene once again. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 179 Lover in a False World 虚假世界的爱人 My wife has been acting strangely lately. She keeps pestering me, saying she wants me to stay by her side forever. I can't help finding it a little funny. "Of course I'll stay by your side forever and ever, honey." But whenever she hears me say that, her body stiffens noticeably. Then she goes back to her room alone and locks the door. No matter how I try to coax her from outside, she refuses to open it. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 180 Longevity Soup 长寿汤 When I was little, Liu Laoer’s family in the village made a living selling goat-horn powder. The powder came from the horns of female goats. Though those horns were short and slender, Liu Laoer would skin and butcher female goats alive right after they gave birth. Then he would cut off their horns and grind them into powder. He would add the powder to soup made with freshly slaughtered lamb. They said drinking it regularly could help you live a long life. 16Reads—Score—14d adds
- 181 The Destined Immortal-Boned Female Face Reader 天命仙骨女相师 I was born with the bones of a phoenix. Chen the Half-Immortal, who had spent half his life telling fortunes in the village, said I was the reincarnation of the living Bodhisattva worshipped in the village shrine. That was why I had a natural gift for discerning yin from yang and driving out ghosts and spirits. But before I turned six, I was an idiot, because someone had stolen my spiritual root with a forbidden art that defied heaven. Only after a master who came to ask my adoptive mother for h 245Reads9.3Score20614d adds
- 182 The People Around Me and I Had the Same Dream 我和周围人做了一样的梦 I knew I was dreaming, but everything in the dream was strange. When I woke up, I discovered that my coworkers and I had all shared the same dream. It turned out to be a monster's trap. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 183 An Unremarkable Jumping Death Case 不起眼的跳楼案 My fiancé, who had been overseas for three years, called to tell me he was coming back the day after tomorrow. I went to meet him at the airport. On the way home, he proposed, and I said yes. But this morning, he disappeared again, because I had once more returned to the day he called me. I've already relived these three days seven times. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 184 The Life-Extending Money 借寿钱 After a friend dies in a bizarre car accident, could a hundred-yuan bill inscribed with “Borrow your years to buy my life” really be a deadly curse? At the funeral home, he uses “life-borrowing money” to buy an urn, only to be haunted by the dead man's mother in a strange way. A talisman hides a sinister plot, and three life-borrowing bills appear out of nowhere at midnight! A locked kitchen, boiling water, knives falling for no reason... Who is controlling this deadly game? 273Reads—Score314d adds
- 185 Thirty Years on Maoshan 茅山三十年 ♥ Don’t let the rating fool you, my book is top-notch! A feel-good story about a Taoist priest who descends the mountain to catch ghosts and drive out evil. No romance, no saintly do-gooder. Traveling far and wide to vanquish demons and uphold the Dao. No padding, no rambling, no romance. 9.3kReads8.8Score75714d adds
- 186 My Master Says I'm Born to Deal with the Dead 师傅说我天生吃阴饭 Born with yin-yang eyes, I always walk down the middle of the road! A quick hand gesture and a single divination, and even the big shots follow me around! What? Money? Hold it right there. I’m not telling your fortune. 814Reads8.9Score11014d adds
- 187 Infinite Flow: The Midnight Horror Bus 无限流之午夜恐怖公交车 A bus packed with passengers travels along the highway. After passing through a fog-shrouded tunnel, the beautiful and gracious attendant turns into a terrifying female ghost and announces to everyone, “Congratulations! You’ve been lucky enough to begin an adventure.” The heroine is crazy, so proceed with caution if that bothers you! Wiping tombstones in a graveyard is just the appetizer. There are more instances to come, including residential compounds, hospitals, and hotels. I guarantee every 1.4kReads8.5Score13914d adds
- 188 Northern School Tomb Raiders: Raise the Coffin, Make a Fortune 北派盗墓:升棺发财 [Tomb Raiding and Treasure Appraisal + Jianghu Adventures] I have seen an immortal corpse in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, encountered a giant moray eel in the South Sea, and witnessed a mysterious ghost city in the desert. Over the past ten years, I have lost everything and found myself in peril time and again, surviving by the skin of my teeth. I have some hard-won experience from making my way through the world of tomb raiders, so I dare to tell you about this dangerous underworld. 5.3kReads8.7Score33814d adds
- 189 Suppressing Yin and Yang 镇阴阳 [Supernatural The Underworld Comedy No female lead Not human] I used to think I was just an ordinary person. But on the day I was born, Yama sent a child into the world, ten thousand ghosts entered my body, and every ghost within a hundred miles hid in fear. The Underworld’s gods of the dead avoided me like the plague. In this life, I shall command yin and yang and tread the cycle of reincarnation. I only hope this song of sorrow ends in splendor… 3.9kReads9.0Score35914d adds
- 190 Maoshan's Strange Immortal: The Ghost-Realm Yama 茅山异仙之鬼道阎罗 [Rural Maoshan Taoism] [Taoist Arts] [Cultivation] [Overwhelming Victories All the Way] [One Female Lead] I was born a stillborn. My grandfather borrowed my life for me. He said I was born from death, destined to become a king of the underworld. Taoists respectfully call me “Peng the Immortal,” while ghosts, demons, and monsters know me as the Ghostly Yama! Weasel: Do I look like a human or a god to you? Me: You look like the Celestial Worthy of Universal Transformation of Thunder of the Nine He 8.1kReads7.6Score65314d adds
- 191 The Death Inn 死亡民宿 On the first night after checking into the guesthouse, the owner died. But at midnight that same night, Lu Shou actually received a text from the owner. “Please be sure to follow the rules of the Deerhorn Guesthouse. Find the landlady’s dowry box before five tomorrow morning, and you can leave with the deputy manager, an orange cat.” “Otherwise, you’ll be stuck here forever.” Lu Shou broke out in a cold sweat, utterly baffled. “I clearly took his phone. How can he still text me?” —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 192 Who'd Have Thought This Guy Was a Ghost-Catching Taoist Master? 这货居然是捉鬼天师 The protagonist, Wang Yang, is a gifted Taoist with a fragment of Emperor Fengdu's soul hidden within him. He has trained in the mountains since childhood, and Black and White Impermanence are his childhood friends. One day, after blowing up his master's alchemy furnace out of sheer boredom, he is kicked off the mountain to gain experience. At the foot of the mountain, he meets his martial uncle. On the way, he hears that the Taoist world is holding a new disciple tournament, so he heads there t 1.4kReads8.2Score—14d adds
- 193 The Silent Echo 沉默的回声 Five years ago, in Room 601 of Ningchuan High School, a girl was found hanged from a bathroom pipe. Her eyes bulged, her tongue was missing, and strange words had been written in blood on the mirror: “He… is back.” Five years later, the sealed cold case was suddenly reopened. Trainee criminal investigator Qin Chuan took over the investigation, never expecting that this bizarre murder would also uncover another buried case: the “South Campus Disappearance.” A deadly game of hunting, lying dormant 57Reads—Score—14d adds
- 194 Snowfall: A Record of Strange Tales from China 惊雪：中华异事录 This isn't a traditional ghost-hunting horror novel. It blends Taoist arts, high martial arts, mysteries, and more. I'm writing it for myself, OvO [Ghost Hunting, Taoist Arts, Mysteries, Martial Arts, Ensemble Cast] * The eldest disciple of the head of the Shangqing sect of the Zhengyi school, exceptional in martial arts and profound in Taoist arts... * A master of the Swallow Sect, known in the martial world as Li San the Swallow... * A Nationalist spy, clever and calculating, cold as ice... Du 249Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 195 The Horror Night-Duty Booth 恐怖值班亭 Back around the 2000s, I worked as a security guard at an apartment complex. The complex had a strange rule: [After midnight, do not leave the security booth.] It made no sense, but I always kept it in mind, until the day one of my coworkers died! That night, a woman in a skirt knocked on the security booth window… 31Reads—Score114d adds
- 196 After I Lost My Memory, a Woman Just Like Me Appeared at Home 失忆后，家里出现和我一模一样的女人 I've lost my memory. Since then, people have kept showing me all kinds of evidence and implanting all sorts of memories in my mind. But I feel like an outsider looking in on my own past, unable to relate to any of it. One day, I came home and found a woman fast asleep on the sofa. What terrified me was that she looked exactly like me! 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 197 Paper Bride 纸新娘 Rumor has it that I tried to seduce the Lin family's young master, failed, and then killed him in the village's paper-offering shop. To save my life, I agreed to marry Master Lin, who had raised me for ten years. On our wedding day, Master Lin laid his hands on me. "Darling, did you know I've wanted you for many years?" Of course I knew. I'd been looking forward to this day even longer than he had. 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 198 Crimson Wish 绯红之愿 I bought a cursed object, hoping to summon a ghost and make a pact with her so I could go to the Ghost City and find out what happened to my missing master. The summoning went unusually smoothly, but the moment she appeared, the powerful yin energy pouring out of the magic circle sent me flying several meters and knocked me to the ground. She stood quietly in the middle of the circle, dressed in a bright red bridal gown and phoenix crown, with her red veil neatly covering her head and her hands —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 199 Summer Vacation of Terror 暑假惊魂记 I can see things other people can't. I've never let it show. I didn't want anyone to think I was a freak. Until that summer vacation... Two classmates and I made plans to go swimming. I saw something in the water. I was terrified. But they insisted on going in, and I couldn't stop them... —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 200 The Secret of Chaoxiao 朝校的秘密 In the village where my family lives, every household's first child has to be a girl. The day after their tenth birthday, these girls are sent to a place called Chaoxiao on the other side of the mountain. They say it's a paradise for girls. That is, until a black cat appeared in the village. 7Reads—Score—14d adds
