The satirizes of greed and tyranny are vivid
Overview
Chinese Name: 聊斋志异
English Name: Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Other Name: Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Liaozhai Zhiyi
Author: Pu Songling 蒲松龄
Originally Published: In 1636-1912 (Qing Dynasty 清朝)
Genre: Collection of short stories
Brief Introduction of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio 聊斋志异 is a collection of short stories in classical Chinese written by Pu Songling 蒲松龄, a famous novelist and litterateur of the Qing Dynasty 清朝. It was evaluated as “The satirizes of greed and tyranny are vivid”.
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio means recording strange stories in his study room. Liaozhai 聊斋 is the name of the author’s study room, “Zhi” 志means narration and “Yi”异 means strange stories. The book, which has nearly 500 chapters, can be divided into the following types according to its subject matter: About love, attack the rigid and decadent imperial examination system, expose the exploitation of the people by the rulers.
First, love stories occupy the largest proportion of the book. Most of the main characters in the stories bravely pursue free love without fear of feudal ethics, and also express the author’s ideal love. Such works as Lian Xiang 莲香, Xiao Xie 小谢and Lian Cheng 连城 are representative works of this kind.
The second is to attack the imperial examination system to the destruction of scholars, such as Ye Sheng 叶生, Wang Zi ‘an 王子安.
The third is to expose the cruelty of the ruling class and the oppression of the people, which has social significance, such as Promoting Fabric 促织 and Dreamwolf 梦狼.
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio reveals the darkness of the society at that time, political corruption, the abuse of corrupt officials, the tyrant and the people, which are reflected in this book. It takes ancient Chinese short stories to a new level, since then, classical Chinese novels have gone into decline.
Since the 1920s, there have been more than 70 versions of films and TV plays adapted from the original novel, most of which show the content in Strange Tales from a Studio in the form of people’s delight. Popular films and TV plays such as A Chinese Ghost Story 倩女幽魂 and The Flower Spirit 花姑子 are masterpieces among them.
Author of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Pu Songling (1640-1715), also known as Mr. Liaozhai, was a native of Zibo city 淄博市, Shandong Province 山东省. He was an outstanding writer and short story writer in the Qing Dynasty.
Pu Songling was seldom famous. He took many imperial examinations, but never did well in them. He was a private school teacher and a staff member.
It took him several decades to write Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, and he constantly revised and added. In addition, Pu Songling had written a large number of poems, plays, agricultural and medical works, totaling nearly 2 million words.
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio became popular after it was published. In the following period, imitated works emerged and legends of strange and strange stories flourished again. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio went to the world early, and Pu Songling created valuable spiritual wealth for China and the world.
Excerpts From Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
我有佳儿，不羡贵官； 我有佳妇，不羡绮纨。
I have a good son, I don’t envy those rich people, I have a good wife, I don’t envy those who wear fine clothes.
凡戏人者，皆笑人之愚，以炫己之慧。
Those who tease others show off their intelligence by laughing at others stupidity.
宜勤勿懒，宜急勿缓；迟之一日，悔之已晚。
Should be diligent not lazy, should be urgent not slow; One day too late, it’s too late to regret.
Evaluation of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Pu Songling’s talent, to be fair, I really less than ten thousandth of him.
Ji Xiaolan 纪晓岚
“Writing ghost writing demon is superior to others and the satirizes of greed and tyranny are vivid”
Guo Moruo 郭沫若
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio is tortuous and euphemistic in its description, using the style of writing legends to describe strange things.