SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

  • The Raksasas and the Ocean Bazaar

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    Ana

    Ma Ji, also known as Dragon Messenger, was a merchant’s son. He had striking good looks and in his untrammeled youth gave himself up to the pleasures of singing and dancing. He frequented the Pear Garden, where he amused himself in the company of the actors. Wrapping his head in a brocade turban he…

  • The enigmatic scholar Yu De

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    Ana

    In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: Yu De, Yin Tunan of Wuchang rents his vacation home to a young, elegant scholar named Yu De. Yu lives shrouded in mystery: his exceptional cultural refinement and lavishly decorated residence — featuring mirror-smooth walls, golden lion censers burning rare incense, jade vases filled with phoenix and peacock feathers,…

  • Yu De

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    Ana

    Yin Tunan of Wuchang had a second house, just outside his own residence. The house had been rented by a scholar. Yin had not bothered to see the house or his tenet for the last six months.

  • Exploitation and oppression in “The Black Beast”

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    Ana

    In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: The Black Beast, an elder named Li Jingyi recounts an incident near Shenyang: A gentleman hosting a banquet on a mountaintop witnesses a tiger carrying an object in its mouth. The tiger digs a pit, buries the object (a dead deer), and leaves. The gentleman sends men to retrieve…

  • Black Animal

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    Ana

    Grandpa Li Jingyi said: A gentleman living in Shenyang once gave a feast atop a mountain, looking down, he saw a tiger with something in its mouth. After digging a pit with its paws and burying the thing, the tiger went away.

  • Redemption among Immortals in “Pianpian”

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    Ana

    Strange Tales from Liaozhai: Pianpian, recounts the fantastical love story between Luo Zifu and the immortal maiden Pianpian, weaving themes of redemption, family, and the duality of mortal and divine realms.