Mencius warns against slaying others’ kin. Killing someone’s father or brother triggers retaliation against your own family. Though you do not kill your relatives personally, the tragic outcome barely differs from direct murder.
Fan Zhen (c. 450–c. 510 CE) was a prominent materialist philosopher of the Southern Qi and Liang dynasties during the Southern Dynasties period. His courtesy name was Zizhen, and he was a native of Wuyin, Nanxiang Commandery (in present-day northwestern Biyang County, Henan).
“Huaguzi” in Strange Tales from Liaozhai recounts a love story between a human and a supernatural being (a woman transformed from a musk deer spirit), filled with fantastical elements and profound moral symbolism.
Strange Tales from Liaozhai’s “The Cloth Merchant”(or “The Cloth Dealer”) tells a peculiar yet touching story about a cloth merchant and a ghost.
“The Willow Scholar” is a symbolic short story from Strange Tales from Liaozhai. Blending myth, fable, and social concern, it explores the relationship between humans, nature, and spirits through the resolution of a locust plague.
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).
Strange Tales from Liaozhai (a Chinese Studio): Gong Mengbi explores enduring friendship, gratitude, and karmic justice through the bond between wealthy Liu Fanghua of Baoding, Hebei, and his steadfast friend Gong Mengbi from Shaanxi.