Ghosts of the Qing Dynasty live on
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| Pu Songling (1640-1715 AD) was a first-rate raconteur who won the admiration of iconic writers such as Franz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges through his captivating, supernatural stories that conjured a magical realism that has endured since the Qing Dynasty. |
Pu Songling (1640-1715 AD) was a first-rate raconteur who won the admiration of iconic writers such as Franz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges through his captivating, supernatural stories that conjured a magical realism that has endured since the Qing Dynasty.
Like most great storytellers, Pu excelled at listening and observing. It is said that he ran a teahouse near his home and offered tea free to travelers from whom he then gathered material for his tales that featured scholars, court officials and Taoist exorcists entangled with ghosts, vixen spirits and beasts. Yet Pu's ghosts often act boldly and are trustworthy, while humans languish—weak, indecisive and easily manipulated—which reflected Pu's disillusionment with society.
He grew up in a landlord-merchant family from Zichuan, now Zibo City, Shandong Province. His "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" or "Liaozhai Zhiyi," remains his best known work, though he produced 491 stories in classical Chinese.
His stories have been adapted into numerous movies and TV series, and Pu was recently featured in the People's Daily overseas edition. His former residence and Liaozhai Garden are popular tourist destinations.
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