SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

Daoist transcendence

  • Celestial encounters and earthly choices in “Bai Yuyu”

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    In Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio – Liaozhai: Bai Yuyu, the gifted scholar Wu Qing’an (also named Wu Jun) attracts attention in his youth for literary talent. A court historian promises his daughter’s marriage if Wu succeeds in imperial exams. After failing the county-level examination, Wu perseveres in studies.

  • Maternal devotion and Daoist transcendence in “Fairy Su”

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    In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: Su Xian(Su Immortal or Fairy Su), a woman surnamed Su from Chenzhou, Hunan, washes clothes by a river when she sees mystical green moss coils around the huge stone she is standing on. She later discovers she is pregnant.