瘟楊 STRANGE 等翻 STORIES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO by Pu Sung- ling Translated by Herbert Giles 3rd edition.1916 Scanned by Todd Compton The Demons of Blackwater River Carry Art from E.T.C. The Flying Umbrellas Away the Master Werner,Myths and Legends of China Preface by Todd Compton Introduction by Hebert Giles Section 1:Stories 1-25 Section 2:Stories 26-57 Section 3:Stories 58-103 Section 4:Stories 104-164 and Appendices
STRANGE STORIES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO by Pu Sungling Translated by Herbert Giles 3rd edition, 1916 Scanned by Todd Compton The Demons of Blackwater River Carry Away the Master Art from E.T. C. Werner, Myths and Legends of China The Flying Umbrellas Preface by Todd Compton Introduction by Hebert Giles Section 1: Stories 1-25 Section 2: Stories 26-57 Section 3: Stories 58-103 Section 4: Stories 104-164 and Appendices
Scanner's Preface Following is a web-publication of the 3rd edition of Herbert Giles'translation of P'u Sung-ling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio,published in 1916.I read ghost stories in the Halloween season every year,and last year decided I would read P'u Sung-ling's Strange Stories,and then,since it wasn't available on the web (as far as I could see),thought I would scan it as I read it,and put it on my website.I include Giles'notes,introduction and appendices.The notes for each story are found after the story. No scan is ever perfect,so if readers catch typos,please contact me at toddmagos [at] yahoo [dot]com. I have tried to follow Giles'text exactly,including diacritical marks.In proper names, the apostrophe sometimes is and sometimes'.Since accent marks in Giles' transliteration system always refer to the letter before,it actually makes no difference whether the apostrophe is"forward"or"backward"-looking.(In Giles'text,the apostrophe is always . My editing is minimal.However,Giles uses very big paragraphs,and I thought the book would be more readable if these were broken up into smaller paragraphs.Very occasionally,I add a footnote,for which I use capital letters(e.g.,[A],[B]),to distinguish it from Giles'footnotes. Giles was a great sinologist,but published the first edition of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio in 1880,during the Victorian era.1[1]Thus,he left out many stories that were erotic or which were viewed as offensive,and he excised erotic or offensive passages from the stories he did translate.Two fine modern translations of P'u Sung- Ling will give the reader a much more"complete"view of P'u:Denis C.Victor H. Mair's Strange Tales from Make-do Studio (Beijing:Foreign Languages Press,1989) and John Minford's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio(Penguin Classics 2006).2[2] For examples of passages excised from stories,see "The Painted Wall"and "The Painted Skin"below,in which I have included some of the excised passages,as translated by the Mairs and Minford,in footnotes. Nevertheless,Giles,for all his Victorian reserve,is a great translator,and his notes are superb,offering us an erudite,sometimes practical(as Giles lived for many years in China),and always fascinating introduction to Chinese culture,literature,philosophy, folklore and history. Of course,the translator's notes are secondary to the Strange Stories themselves These stories are almost all fantastic,but nevertheless offer a panoramic and almost realistic view of Chinese culture,from government hierarchy to the examination 1[1]Incidentally,this early edition is available at http://www.archive.org/details/strangestoriesfr00pusuuoft 2[2]See also Pu Sung-ling,Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio,3 vols.(Beijing: People's China Publishing House,1997),which includes 194 tales
Scanner’s Preface Following is a web-publication of the 3rd edition of Herbert Giles’ translation of P’u Sung-ling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, published in 1916. I read ghost stories in the Halloween season every year, and last year decided I would read P’u Sung-ling’s Strange Stories, and then, since it wasn’t available on the web (as far as I could see), thought I would scan it as I read it, and put it on my website. I include Giles’ notes, introduction and appendices. The notes for each story are found after the story. No scan is ever perfect, so if readers catch typos, please contact me at toddmagos [at] yahoo [dot] com. I have tried to follow Giles’ text exactly, including diacritical marks. In proper names, the apostrophe sometimes is ‘ and sometimes ’. Since accent marks in Giles’ transliteration system always refer to the letter before, it actually makes no difference whether the apostrophe is “forward” or “backward”-looking. (In Giles’ text, the apostrophe is always ‘.) My editing is minimal. However, Giles uses very big paragraphs, and I thought the book would be more readable if these were broken up into smaller paragraphs. Very occasionally, I add a footnote, for which I use capital letters (e.g., [A], [B]), to distinguish it from Giles’ footnotes. Giles was a great sinologist, but published the first edition of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio in 1880, during the Victorian era.1[1] Thus, he left out many stories that were erotic or which were viewed as offensive, and he excised erotic or offensive passages from the stories he did translate. Two fine modern translations of P’u SungLing will give the reader a much more “complete” view of P’u: Denis C. & Victor H. Mair’s Strange Tales from Make-do Studio (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1989) and John Minford’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Penguin Classics 2006).2[2] For examples of passages excised from stories, see “The Painted Wall” and “The Painted Skin” below, in which I have included some of the excised passages, as translated by the Mairs and Minford, in footnotes. Nevertheless, Giles, for all his Victorian reserve, is a great translator, and his notes are superb, offering us an erudite, sometimes practical (as Giles lived for many years in China), and always fascinating introduction to Chinese culture, literature, philosophy, folklore and history. Of course, the translator’s notes are secondary to the Strange Stories themselves. These stories are almost all fantastic, but nevertheless offer a panoramic and almost realistic view of Chinese culture, from government hierarchy to the examination 1[1] Incidentally, this early edition is available at http://www.archive.org/details/strangestoriesfr00pusuuoft. 2[2] See also Pu Sung-ling, Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio, 3 vols. (Beijing: People’s China Publishing House, 1997), which includes 194 tales
system to religion and ceremonial actions to favorite methods of relaxation(drinking bouts through the night,often with supernatural visitants,are common)to typical patterns of family life. For example,P'u offers considerable insight into the marriage customs of China.As readers of my website will know,I have written about nineteenth-century Mormon polygamy.Polygamy was widespread in China,and P'u Sung-ling's Strange Stories often give penetrating insight into what this marriage system was like.In story LXI., "The Husband Punished,"a man named Ching has a liaison with a mysterious beautiful young woman,A-hsia.At one point,she demands marriage,and Ching is agreeable to the idea,but thinks that his first wife will be a problem: Then Ching began to reflect that if he married her [A-hsia]she would have to take her place in the family,and that would make his first wife jealous;so he determined to get rid of the latter,and when she came in he began to abuse her right and left.His wife bore it as long as she could,but at length cried out it were better she should die;upon which Ching advised her not to bring trouble on them all like that,but to go back to her own home.He then drove her away,his wife asking all the time what she had done to be sent away like this after ten years of blameless life with him.Ching,however,paid no heed to her entreaties,and when he had got rid of her he set to work at once to get the house whitewashed and made generally clean, himself being on the tip-toe of expectation for the arrival of Miss A-hsia. Ching expects problems,serious tensions between the wives,in polygamy,so gets rid of the first wife. Concubines were an established part of the Chinese marriage system.In a note to story LVI,"Dr.Tseng's Dream,"Giles writes,"It is not considered quite correct to take a concubine unless the wife is childless,in which case it is held that the proposition to do so,and thus secure the much-desired posterity,should emanate from the wife herself."However,the concubine lacked the status and legal safeguards of a full wife.In "Dr.Tseng's Dream,"the male protagonist has been reborn as a female (and the narrator continues to call him"he"even though he had become a"she"!): At fourteen years of age he was sold to a gentleman as concubine;and then,though food and clothes were not wanting,he had to put up with the scoldings and floggings of the wife,who one day burnt him with a hot iron. Later,the wife falsely accuses him/her of murder,and he/she is tortured to death Story XLI.,"Ta-Nan In Search Of His Father,"begins with these sentences: HSI CH'ANG-LIEH was a Ch'eng-tu man.He had a wife and a concubine,the latter named Ho Chao-jung.His wife dying,he took a second by name Shen,who bullied the concubine dreadfully,and by her constant wrangling made his life
system to religion and ceremonial actions to favorite methods of relaxation (drinking bouts through the night, often with supernatural visitants, are common) to typical patterns of family life. For example, P’u offers considerable insight into the marriage customs of China. As readers of my website will know, I have written about nineteenth-century Mormon polygamy. Polygamy was widespread in China, and P’u Sung-ling’s Strange Stories often give penetrating insight into what this marriage system was like. In story LXI., “The Husband Punished,” a man named Ching has a liaison with a mysterious beautiful young woman, A-hsia. At one point, she demands marriage, and Ching is agreeable to the idea, but thinks that his first wife will be a problem: Then Ching began to reflect that if he married her [A-hsia] she would have to take her place in the family, and that would make his first wife jealous; so he determined to get rid of the latter, and when she came in he began to abuse her right and left. His wife bore it as long as she could, but at length cried out it were better she should die; upon which Ching advised her not to bring trouble on them all like that, but to go back to her own home. He then drove her away, his wife asking all the time what she had done to be sent away like this after ten years of blameless life with him. Ching, however, paid no heed to her entreaties, and when he had got rid of her he set to work at once to get the house whitewashed and made generally clean, himself being on the tip-toe of expectation for the arrival of Miss A-hsia. Ching expects problems, serious tensions between the wives, in polygamy, so gets rid of the first wife. Concubines were an established part of the Chinese marriage system. In a note to story LVI, “Dr. Tsêng’s Dream,” Giles writes, “It is not considered quite correct to take a concubine unless the wife is childless, in which case it is held that the proposition to do so, and thus secure the much-desired posterity, should emanate from the wife herself.” However, the concubine lacked the status and legal safeguards of a full wife. In “Dr. Tsêng’s Dream,” the male protagonist has been reborn as a female (and the narrator continues to call him “he” even though he had become a “she”!): At fourteen years of age he was sold to a gentleman as concubine; and then, though food and clothes were not wanting, he had to put up with the scoldings and floggings of the wife, who one day burnt him with a hot iron. Later, the wife falsely accuses him/her of murder, and he/she is tortured to death. Story XLI., “Ta-Nan In Search Of His Father,” begins with these sentences: HSI CH‘ANG-LIEH was a Ch‘êng-tu man. He had a wife and a concubine, the latter named Ho Chao-jung. His wife dying, he took a second by name Shên, who bullied the concubine dreadfully, and by her constant wrangling made his life
perfectly unbearable,so that one day in a fit of anger he ran away and left them.Shortly afterwards Ho gave birth to a son, and called him Ta-nan;but as Hsi did not return,the wife Shen turned them out of the house,making them a daily allowance of food. Clearly,in medieval China,the concubine was often treated badly by the full wife or wives. There is a happy polygamous family in story LXVI,"The Tipsy Turtle."Feng,the hero,is thrown in jail by a Prince Su and is released because one of Su's daughters has fallen in love with him.In a western fairy tale,he might now marry the Princess, end of story;but in this Chinese fairy tale,there is a complication:he is already married,and he refuses to become a polygamist out of consideration for the first wife: Feng was accordingly liberated,and was also informed of the determination of the Princess,which,however,he declined to fall in with,saying that he was not going thus to sacrifice the wife of his days of poverty,and would rather die than carry out such an order.He added that if His Highness would consent, he would purchase his liberty at the price of everything he had. So Feng must be arrested once again,and one of the palace concubines prepares to murder the first wife: The Prince was exceedingly angry at this,and seized Feng again;and meanwhile one of the concubines got Feng's wife into the palace,intending to poison her.Feng's wife,however, brought her a beautiful present of a coral stand for a looking- glass,and was so agreeable in her conversation,that the concubine took a great fancy to her,and presented her to the Princess,who was equally pleased,and forthwith determined that they would both be Feng's wives. Giles notes that this kind of happy resolution often occurs in Chinese fiction, but rarely in real life. For another perspective on Chinese polygamy,see Zhang Yimou's 1991 film Raise the Red Lantern,which is based on the novel Wives and Concubines (1990)by Su Tong.This provides a profoundly bleak view of relations between wives in plural marriage But the Strange Stories are above all a wild phantasmagoria of ghosts,were-foxes, were-tigers (even one were-turtle),demons,sorcerors (often,in P'u,Taoist priests), psychic transmigrations,and journeys into the underworld and other levels of reality (as in the famous "Painted Wall").These kinds of stories were very popular in China, and had been so for centuries,perhaps millennia.3[3]The literary tradition goes back to the early A.D.centuries,but the popular tradition probably goes back much earlier 3[3]See Anthony C.Yu,"Rest,Rest,Perturbed Spirit!'Ghosts in Traditional Chinese Prose Fiction,"Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 47,No.2 (Dec.1987): 397-434;Michael Loewe,Chinese Ideas of Life and Death:Faith,Myth and Reason
perfectly unbearable, so that one day in a fit of anger he ran away and left them. Shortly afterwards Ho gave birth to a son, and called him Ta-nan; but as Hsi did not return, the wife Shên turned them out of the house, making them a daily allowance of food. Clearly, in medieval China, the concubine was often treated badly by the full wife or wives. There is a happy polygamous family in story LXVI, “The Tipsy Turtle.” Fêng, the hero, is thrown in jail by a Prince Su and is released because one of Su’s daughters has fallen in love with him. In a western fairy tale, he might now marry the Princess, end of story; but in this Chinese fairy tale, there is a complication: he is already married, and he refuses to become a polygamist out of consideration for the first wife: Fêng was accordingly liberated, and was also informed of the determination of the Princess, which, however, he declined to fall in with, saying that he was not going thus to sacrifice the wife of his days of poverty, and would rather die than carry out such an order. He added that if His Highness would consent, he would purchase his liberty at the price of everything he had. So Fêng must be arrested once again, and one of the palace concubines prepares to murder the first wife: The Prince was exceedingly angry at this, and seized Fêng again; and meanwhile one of the concubines got Fêng’s wife into the palace, intending to poison her. Fêng’s wife, however, brought her a beautiful present of a coral stand for a lookingglass, and was so agreeable in her conversation, that the concubine took a great fancy to her, and presented her to the Princess, who was equally pleased, and forthwith determined that they would both be Fêng’s wives. Giles notes that this kind of happy resolution often occurs in Chinese fiction, but rarely in real life. For another perspective on Chinese polygamy, see Zhang Yimou’s 1991 film Raise the Red Lantern, which is based on the novel Wives and Concubines (1990) by Su Tong. This provides a profoundly bleak view of relations between wives in plural marriage. But the Strange Stories are above all a wild phantasmagoria of ghosts, were-foxes, were-tigers (even one were-turtle), demons, sorcerors (often, in P’u, Taoist priests), psychic transmigrations, and journeys into the underworld and other levels of reality (as in the famous “Painted Wall”). These kinds of stories were very popular in China, and had been so for centuries, perhaps millennia.3[3] The literary tradition goes back to the early A.D. centuries, but the popular tradition probably goes back much earlier. 3[3] See Anthony C. Yu, “‘Rest, Rest, Perturbed Spirit!’ Ghosts in Traditional Chinese Prose Fiction,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 47, No. 2 (Dec. 1987): 397-434; Michael Loewe, Chinese Ideas of Life and Death: Faith, Myth and Reason
P'u Sung-ling's tales are the culmination of this tradition of supernatural and strange tales.P'u's"strange stories from a leisure studio"are told beautifully,with great concision and elegance.The heroes and heroines spring to life in just a few paragraphs.The Western reader will be continually surprised both by fantastic turns of plot and by unexpected elements of Chinese culture that often serve as the basis for the development of the fantastic situation. The heroes of the Western tradition of fantasy are often kings or warriors (or adventurous peasants or hobbits).But many of the heroes of P'u Sung-ling's tales are scholars down on their luck,who have not risen to prestige through the examination system,often because the system is corrupt.(For example,see story XCII."Smelling Essays.")It is refreshing to see scholars who can cap a verse in a drinking bout or write a brilliant essay at the drop of a hat as dashing protagonists.As something of a scholar down on my luck myself(entirely due to the failings of our present academic system,of course),I am very fond of these scholars who are driven to tutoring or fortune-telling to survive financially The reader of Western ghost stories will find many ghosts and (were)foxes and malevolent supernatural beings in these tales;but he or she will undoubtedly be surprised at how often P'u combined the ghost story with romance(an ancient Chinese theme).Our scholar heroes often marry the beautiful revenants who visit them as they are trying to study(Chinese ghosts are usually quite corporeal,not see- through wraiths at all).And these ghost-brides often make good wives,who work hard and are dutiful daughters-in-law to their husbands'mothers.They also bear fine children. Hopefully,this scan of the Strange Tales will help introduce readers to the endlessly entertaining and enlightening world of P'u Sung-ling.4[4] in the Han Period (202 B.C.-A.D.220)(London:George Allen and Unwin,1982); Karl S.Y.Kao,ed.Classical Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic: Selections form the Third to the Tenth Century(Bloomington:Indiana University Press,1985):Y.W.Ma and Joseph S.M.Lau,Traditional Chinese Stores:Themes and Variations(Boston:Cheng Tsui Co.,1986);Alvin P.Cohen,Tales of Vengeful Souls:A Sixth Century Collection of Chinese Avenging Ghost Stories(Taipei-Paris- Hongkong:Institut Ricci,1982);and Kenneth J.DeWoskin and J.I.Crump,Jr.,In Search of the Supernatural:The Written Record(Stanford:Stanford University Press. 1996),a translation of a book written by Kan Pao in approximately 335-345 A.D. 4[4]For further on P'u Sung-ling,see Chun-shu Chang and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang. Redefining History:Ghosts,Spirits,and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640-1715(Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press,1998);Judith T.Zeitlin, Historian of the Strange:Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale(Palo Alto: Stanford University Press,1997);H.C.Chang,tr.,Tales of the Supernatural,3rd volume in the series Chinese Literature (New York:Columbia University Press, 1984),which has a valuable introduction
P’u Sung-ling’s tales are the culmination of this tradition of supernatural and strange tales. P’u’s “strange stories from a leisure studio” are told beautifully, with great concision and elegance. The heroes and heroines spring to life in just a few paragraphs. The Western reader will be continually surprised both by fantastic turns of plot and by unexpected elements of Chinese culture that often serve as the basis for the development of the fantastic situation. The heroes of the Western tradition of fantasy are often kings or warriors (or adventurous peasants or hobbits). But many of the heroes of P’u Sung-ling’s tales are scholars down on their luck, who have not risen to prestige through the examination system, often because the system is corrupt. (For example, see story XCII. “Smelling Essays.”) It is refreshing to see scholars who can cap a verse in a drinking bout or write a brilliant essay at the drop of a hat as dashing protagonists. As something of a scholar down on my luck myself (entirely due to the failings of our present academic system, of course), I am very fond of these scholars who are driven to tutoring or fortune-telling to survive financially. The reader of Western ghost stories will find many ghosts and (were)foxes and malevolent supernatural beings in these tales; but he or she will undoubtedly be surprised at how often P’u combined the ghost story with romance (an ancient Chinese theme). Our scholar heroes often marry the beautiful revenants who visit them as they are trying to study (Chinese ghosts are usually quite corporeal, not seethrough wraiths at all). And these ghost-brides often make good wives, who work hard and are dutiful daughters-in-law to their husbands’ mothers. They also bear fine children. Hopefully, this scan of the Strange Tales will help introduce readers to the endlessly entertaining and enlightening world of P’u Sung-ling.4[4] in the Han Period (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1982); Karl S.Y. Kao, ed. Classical Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic: Selections form the Third to the Tenth Century (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985); Y.W. Ma and Joseph S. M. Lau, Traditional Chinese Stores: Themes and Variations (Boston: Cheng & Tsui Co., 1986); Alvin P. Cohen, Tales of Vengeful Souls: A Sixth Century Collection of Chinese Avenging Ghost Stories (Taipei-ParisHongkong: Institut Ricci, 1982); and Kenneth J. DeWoskin and J.I. Crump, Jr., In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), a translation of a book written by Kan Pao in approximately 335-345 A.D. 4[4] For further on P’u Sung-ling, see Chun-shu Chang and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang, Redefining History: Ghosts, Spirits, and Human Society in P’u Sung-ling’s World, 1640-1715 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998); Judith T. Zeitlin, Historian of the Strange: Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1997); H. C. Chang, tr., Tales of the Supernatural, 3rd volume in the series Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984), which has a valuable introduction