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The Haunted House
From Liaozhai, this uncanny tale unfolds in Mr. Li’s haunted mansion. Shape‑shifting phantom household objects emerge, and tutor Wang Junsheng witnesses a horrifying miniature ghost‑funeral procession which vanishes after he shouts in terror.
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A Comment on “The Monster in the Buckwheat Field”
This commentary analyzes The Monster in the Buckwheat Field. Drawing on The Art of War, it interprets the tale: complacency after partial victories, isolation and lost vigilance lead to disaster, warning against persistent cunning adversaries.
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The Monster in the Buckwheat Field
From *Liaozhai*, this grim tale depicts old farmer An’s repeated run‑ins with a huge red‑haired demon in his buckwheat field. Though they drive it off with spears and crossbows, the beast fatally bites An, then vanishes without a trace.
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Catching the Fox
From *Liaozhai*, this light‑toned tale tells of fearless Old Man Sun catching a shape‑shifting fox‑spirit that causes sleep paralysis. The fox shrinks and swells its body, then mysteriously slips away before he can kill it.
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Biting the Ghost
“Biting the Ghost” blends horror with everyday domestic life. The old man’s quick thinking (pretending to sleep, then biting) turns him from a passive victim into an active fighter – a rare moment of agency against supernatural terror. The story also plays on the tension between belief and scepticism, and the uneasy boundary between…
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The Pupil-Bound Spirits
The Pupil-Bound Spirits is both a cautionary story about the dangers of lust and a fable about moral transformation. The grotesque yet whimsical image of tiny spirits chatting inside the eyes gives it a unique place in Chinese supernatural literature.