Pu Songling ( zh, t= , 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, best known as the author of ''
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi'').
Biography
Pu was born into a poor merchant family from
Zichuan (淄川, in
Zibo, Shandong). At the age of 18, he received the Xiucai degree in the
Imperial examination
The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...
. It was not until he was 71 that he was awarded the ''
Gongsheng'' ("tribute student") degree for his achievement in literature rather than for passing the Imperial exam.
He spent most of his life working as a private tutor, collecting stories that were later published in ''
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' in 1740. Some critics attribute the
Vernacular Chinese
Written vernacular Chinese, also known as ''baihua'', comprises forms of written Chinese based on the vernacular varieties of the language spoken throughout China. It is contrasted with Literary Chinese, which was the predominant written form ...
novel ''
Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan'' ("Marriage Destinies to Awaken the World") to him.
Translations of his work
* ''Strange Tales from Liaozhai'', 6 volumes (tr. Sidney L. Sondergard). Jain Pub Co., 2008-2014. .
* ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (tr. John Minford). London: Penguin, 2006. 562 pages. .
* ''Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio'' (Zhang Qingnian, Zhang Ciyun and Yang Yi). Beijing: People's China Publishing, 1997. .
* ''Strange Tales from Make-do Studio'' (Denis C. & Victor H. Mair). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1989.
* ''Strange Tales of Liaozhai'' (Lu Yunzhong, Chen Tifang, Yang Liyi, and Yang Zhihong). Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 1982.
* ''Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures'' (George Soulié). London: Constable, 1913.
* ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'' (tr.
Herbert A. Giles). London: T. De La Rue, 1880. .
* ''The Emperor of China in a House of Ill Repute: Songs of the Imperial Visit to Datong'' (tr. Wilt L. Idema). Oxford University Press, 2023.
In popular culture
In ''
The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang'' (2019),
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...
portrays Pu Songling.
Dao Lang has released an album based on his folk stories, called "There are Few Folk Songs" (
山歌寥哉). The tracklist includes "
Luosha Haishi" (罗刹海市), a song based on
The Raksha Country and the Sea Market, which is compared to "
Gangnam Style
"Gangnam Style" () is a K-pop song by South Korean singer Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term "Gangnam Style" is a n ...
" for its virality and watching records.
References:
*
Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, Pu Sung-ling
*
Death of Woman Wang 1978, Johnathon D Spence
Further reading
* Chun-shu, Chang, and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang (1998) ''Redefining History: Ghosts, Spirits, and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640–1715''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
* Judith T. Zeitlin (1993). ''Historian of the Strange : Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale''. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, xii, 332p. .
* Owen, Stephen, "Pu Song-ling (1640–1715), ''Liao-zhai's Record of Wonders''," in Stephen Owen, ed. ''An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911''. New York:
W. W. Norton, 1997
p. 1103-1126Archive
.
*
Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pu, Songling
1640 births
1715 deaths
17th-century Chinese novelists
18th-century Chinese novelists
Chinese male short story writers
Collectors of fairy tales
Qing dynasty short story writers
Short story writers from Shandong
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
Writers from Zibo
17th-century Chinese musicians