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“Lin Siniang”(Fourth Lady Lin) is one of the most poignant chapters in Strange Tales from Liaozhai), rich in the sorrow of the rise and fall of dynasties. It tells the story of a female ghost’s interaction with a governor, and through her singing, laments the downfall of a lost dynasty.
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There was a man surnamed Zhang in Henan Province whose ancestors were from Shandong. During the latter part of the Ming Dynasty, when Shandong was in wide-spread turmoil, his wife was captured and taken away by Manchu soldiers. After that, as Zhang often used to travel to Henan, he decided to settle down there.
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During the last years of the Ming Dynasty, there were many bandits in the territory of Jinan, Shandong Province. Troops in the various counties were reinforced and they killed all they arrested.
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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.
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When Master Yu was young, he was a chivalrous character and was fond of martial arts. He was so strong that he could hold up a huge tea kettle full of water with one hand and twirl it around.
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In Western Halloween traditions, pumpkins are carved into lanterns to ward off wandering spirits, symbolizing a fear or aversion to ghosts. Yet in Journey to the West, Chinese ghosts and underworld kings are depicted as fond of pumpkins—a curious contrast.
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If you visit the Forbidden City in Beijing, you might encounter cats. It is said that nearly 200 cats live there.