King of Hell

  • Huaguzi – Saving the Life of the Savior

    An Youyu, an outstanding scholar from Shaanxi, was generous and loyal to his friends. He also loved to free captive animals. When he saw hunters capturing animals or birds, he would not hesitate to buy the game and set it free.

  • The Cloth Dealer

    A man from Changqing County, Shandong, lived by selling cloth. While he was in Taian, Jiangsu, he heard there was a very good fortune teller, so he asked the man to forecast his future. The fortune teller told him:”You’re in trouble. Hurry home.”

  • Encounter in Fengdu

    There was a cave outside the county town of Fengdu in Sichuan Province. It was unfathomable. It was said that this was the entrance to Hades of the King of Hell.

  • Justice in the underworld is far more impartial

    “Li Boyan” of Strange Tales from Liaozhai, tells of Li Boyan, an upright scholar from Yishui, Shandong. After suddenly falling ill, he informs his family he is summoned to the underworld as Yama (King of Hell) pro tempore. He instructs them not to bury him, awaiting his return. That day, Li dies.

  • Justice and Karmic Balance in “Wang Lan”

    Strange Tales from Liaozhai: Wang Lan recounts the supernatural journey of Wang Lan from Licheng County, Shandong.

  • Wang Lan

    A man named Wang Lan, who lived in Lijing County, in Shandong Province, suddenly died.

  • Reincarnated Three Times

    Liu, a juren, remembered things from his former lives (Note: Juren is the title conferred on those successful candidates at the provincial level in the imperial examination) and confided in my deceased cousin, Pu Wenfen, as they both became juren in the same year.

  • Why did Song Tao go to Changshan to inquire about Scholar Zhang?

    In “The Examination for the Post of City God” from Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio, why would Song Tao go to Changshan to inquire about Scholar Zhang?

  • When did Song Tao realize he was dead?

    In “The Examination for the Post of City God” from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Liaozhai by Pu Songlin, the story begins with Song Tao bedridden by illness.