Strange Tales from Liaozhai: Wang Lan recounts the supernatural journey of Wang Lan from Licheng County, Shandong.
After his sudden death, Yama (King of Hell) discovers his soul was wrongly seized. Though offered revival, Wang’s corpse has decayed. Persuaded by a demon attendant, he consumes an elixir of immortality crafted by an immortal fox, gains eternal life and supernatural abilities, and returns to his family.
Wang then partners with his friend Zhang to heal a wealthy man’s daughter by retrieving her lost soul, rejecting conventional medicine. Their success brings wealth but also suspicion. As greed and societal pressures mount (epitomized by the gambler He Cai), divine intervention ultimately delivers justice:
- Wang Lan is pardoned for his unintended transgressions.
- He Cai faces punishment for his moral corruption.
Allegorical Meaning
Triumph of Cosmic Justice:
Actions — however concealed — receive impartial judgment, as seen in Wang’s redemption and He Cai’s downfall.
Human Complexity:
Explores greed (He Cai) versus compassion (Wang Lan), revealing how choices shape destiny.
Moral Admonition:
Stresses integrity and warns against greed’s blindness, exemplified by He Cai’s self-destructive spiral.
Supernatural as Social Mirror:
Uses soul-therapy and resurrection to critique societal obsessions with wealth, power, and status.
Karmic Causality:
Weaves the principle that “deeds dictate fate” — from Wang’s revival to He Cai’s ruin.
In essence, Wang Lan merges fantasy with profound reflections on ethics, reminding readers that every choice bears consequences.
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