Name: Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
Author: Pu Songling

How you explore Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
A feed, not a wall of text. 25 characters, 12 places, 12 objects and 6 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 30 passages of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Pu Songling wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on Pu Songling instead.

9:41

The Cast

Pu Songling

Main · collector-scholar

A poor scholar writes by lamplight, gathering devils, foxes, ghosts, and officials into one private archive.

Locations

The Chinese Studio

private study

In a poor scholar's night study, devils, foxes, ghosts, and human folly all get written down.

Passage

He turns rumor into literature, raising the question of where truth ends.

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The Author’s Pen

Collecting Tales Into Stories

For my talents are not those of Yü Pao, elegant explorer of the records of the Gods; I am rather animated by the Spirit of Su Tung-p‘o, who loved to hear men speak of the supernatural. I get people to commit what they tell me to writing, and subsequently I dress it up in the form of a story; and thus in the lapse of time my friends from all quarters have supplied me with quantities of material, which, from my habit of collecting, has grown into a vast pile.

Reading

Pu Songling is careful to describe himself as a collector, not an inventor. He turns down comparison with the scholar who explored the records of the gods and claims instead only an appetite: like Su Tung-p'o, he simply loves hearing about the strange. What he adds is the dressing up, the shaping of other people's raw tales into stories, and he is honest that the real bulk of the work came from friends handing him material year after year until it became a pile too large to ignore.

World Index

The Plot

Pu Songling gathers strange accounts at a roadside tableFox spirits enter the scholar's room - and they are not what he expectedThe underworld runs on the same rules as the living world - which is the problemThe Lo-cha country - a land where ugliness is considered beautyThe cricket - a boy dies for a court game and is reborn as the championPu Songling closes - still at the roadside table, still listening

The Cast

Pu SonglingSung TaoWang’s WifeThe Painted Skin DemonJudge LuChu Erh-tanMiss Ying-ningMiss Chiao-noMiss Lien-hsiangMa Chün / Lung-meiThe Fighting Cricket FamilyWangChuMr. WangTaoist Priest of Lao-shanSung Tao’s MotherChang Ch‘iGod of WarTaoist Priest from “Painted Skin”Wang Tzu-fuKungThe Pear-tree TaoistBuddhist Priest of the Painted WallThe Painted MaidenSupernatural Examiners

Locations

Gardens and Flower SpacesJudge Lu’s CourtLao-shan MonasteryLo-ch’a Country and the Sea MarketThe Chinese StudioThe Fighting Cricket HouseholdThe Fox HouseholdThe Official YamenThe Painted Wall TempleThe Public MarketplaceThe Supernatural Examination HallWang’s House

Objects of Note

Book of FateExamination PaperFighting CricketLamp and Writing BrushMagic MirrorManuscript PileOfficial SummonsPainted SkinPainted WallPear TreeThe Lao-shan WallWhite-foreheaded Horse

Core Concepts

Appearance and desire turn surfaces into trapsBureaucracy continues beyond deathDevils and foxes are less strange than peopleFailed ambition turns wonder into humiliationFox-women test human categories of danger, care, and marriageMoral consequence is real, but rarely tidyObjects become thresholds of truthPublic comedy exposes social crueltyScholarship is both aspiration and woundThe strange reveals what ordinary society hidesTravel into the strange satirizes homeWomen and households bear the cost of male error

The Author's Pen

We Marvel at DevilsPiecing Together My TalesThe Guardian AppointmentThe Book of FateThe Unbound Haired FairyThe Paper MoonThe Priest's WarningThe Devil Becomes the GirlThe Barrow Handle Pear TreeDirected to One Who CanThe Judge Brought InThe Bride Who Could Not KneelYing Ning Laughs No MoreYing Ning in the TreeThe Fellow With Wicked EyesBreath and the Red PillThe Return ProposedSome Foxes Are HarmlessBuried TogetherThe Midnight DareAn Invitation to the JudgeTaken for a DevilA Vast Pile of StoriesWang Against the WallThe Mirror and Her VanishingThe Cricket Is LostA Secret RefugeThe Changed CoiffureA Country Ruled by Beauty

Plot point 01

Pu Songling gathers strange accounts at a roadside table

A failed scholar sets a pot of tea by the road and asks passing strangers for their strangest story - and writes every one down.

Objects of Note

Manuscript Pile

A private heap of ghost stories, kept alive by a scholar the state passed over.

The Cast

Sung Tao

Main · scholar-official candidate

A sick scholar is summoned from his coffin to sit for an examination beyond life.

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Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Pu Songling

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

The Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

Pu Songling gathers strange accounts at a roadside table
Fox spirits enter the scholar's room - and they are not what he expected
The underworld runs on the same rules as the living world - which is the problem
The Lo-cha country - a land where ugliness is considered beauty
The cricket - a boy dies for a court game and is reborn as the champion
Pu Songling closes - still at the roadside table, still listening

The author's pen in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The passages themselves, Pu Songling's own words, as Literah maps it.

Collecting Tales Into Storiesch. 1
We Marvel at Devilsch. 1
Piecing Together My Talesch. 1
The Guardian Appointmentch. 1
The Book of Fatech. 1
The Unbound Haired Fairych. 1
The Paper Moonch. 1
The Priest's Warningch. 1
The Devil Becomes the Girlch. 1
The Barrow Handle Pear Treech. 1
Directed to One Who Canch. 1
The Judge Brought Inch. 1
The Bride Who Could Not Kneelch. 1
Ying Ning Laughs No Morech. 1
Ying Ning in the Treech. 1
The Fellow With Wicked Eyesch. 1
Breath and the Red Pillch. 1
The Return Proposedch. 1
Some Foxes Are Harmlessch. 1
Buried Togetherch. 1

The characters of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Pu Songlingmajor
Sung Taomajor
Wang’s Wifemajor
The Painted Skin Demonmajor
Judge Lumajor
Chu Erh-tanmajor
Miss Ying-ningmajor
Miss Chiao-nomajor
Miss Lien-hsiangmajor
Ma Chün / Lung-meimajor
The Fighting Cricket Familymajor
Wangmajor
Chumajor
Mr. Wangmajor
Taoist Priest of Lao-shanmajor
Sung Tao’s Mothersupporting

The locations in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

The Chinese Studioprivate study
The Supernatural Examination Hallunderworld bureaucracy
The Painted Wall Templetemple
Lao-shan Monasterymountain monastery
Wang’s Househousehold
Judge Lu’s Courtunderworld court
The Fox Householdsupernatural household
Gardens and Flower Spacesgarden
The Official Yamenmagistrate office
Lo-ch’a Country and the Sea Marketstrange country
The Public Marketplacemarketplace
The Fighting Cricket Householdhousehold

The core concepts in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

The strange reveals what ordinary society hides
Devils and foxes are less strange than people
Appearance and desire turn surfaces into traps
Bureaucracy continues beyond death
Fox-women test human categories of danger, care, and marriage
Failed ambition turns wonder into humiliation
Objects become thresholds of truth
Public comedy exposes social cruelty
Moral consequence is real, but rarely tidy
Scholarship is both aspiration and wound

The objects of note in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

Manuscript Pile
Lamp and Writing Brush
Official Summons
White-foreheaded Horse
Examination Paper
Book of Fate
Painted Wall
The Lao-shan Wall
Painted Skin
Fighting Cricket
Magic Mirror
Pear Tree

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How you explore Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio on Literah

The plot of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The author's pen in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The characters of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The locations in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The core concepts in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

The objects of note in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Explore this world. And 127 more.

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