SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

Tales from Liaozhai

  • A satire on superficial values in Rakshasas Kingdom

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    Strange Tales from Liaozhai: The Kingdom of Rakshasas and the Mirage (The Raksasas and the Ocean Bazaar) follows merchant Ma Ji, swept ashore the grotesque Kingdom of Rakshasas during a voyage.

  • The Raksasas and the Ocean Bazaar

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    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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    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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    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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    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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    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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    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.

  • Pian Pian

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    Luo Zifu was from Fenzhou in Shaanxi Province. His parents died early and he had to go to live with his uncle Luo Daye when he was only eight years old. The uncle was an official and was rich, but had no son. So he loved Zifu very much like a natural son.

  • The collapse of the chain of trust in “A Xia”

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    Strange Tales from Liaozhai (a Chinese Studio): A Xia narrates the tragic romance between scholar Jing and the beautiful A Xia (not a human being).