Chineseliterature Stories

In Search of the Supernatural: The First Great Chinese Collection of Ghosts, Gods & WondersWritten seventeen centuries ago, this is the fountainhead of Chinese supernatural fiction - the book that seeded every ghost story, fox spirit, and demon legend that followed. Gods descend from heaven, the dead rise from their graves, and ordinary people encounter the impossible. Gan Bao's classic is a fascinating window into ancient Chinese beliefs and the ancestor of the entire xianxia and ghost-story tradition. Twenty complete books of marvels, miracles, and the macabre. (Public domain; by Gan Bao, 4th century.)

In this world where gods and demons existed and were told of amongst the humans, and the leader of the human world proclaimed himself the Son of Heaven, why would the Immortals not involve themselves? They might proclaim themselves above such things, but I have lived over a thousand years. The Immortals are a hypocritical bunch, but sensitive to violence; the Canonisation was a blood-letting of such epic proportions that rivers of blood still stained all of China. Supernatural forces still intervened now and then. Demons and spirits had conscripted in the armies of the Han and the Western Chu. Diao Chan had seduced Lü Fengxian into murdering his foster father. Political power and the prosecution of demons had historical links; inside and outside of China are the same. This humble servant had assisted Prime Minister Li Si and the King Zheng in the founding of the Qin dynasty. Our great Tang dynasty was no exception, is no exception, and will not be an exception. CROSSPOSTED ON AO3 AND FICTIONPRESS

Four years ago, Shen Wanning left Linhai and convinced herself she had taken everything she needed with her. This summer, she comes back. The town is smaller than she remembers. Her grandmother's apartment has an ironing board where her childhood bed used to be. The sea is still somewhere beyond the rooftops. And Xu Chuan the boy she thought she'd left behind with everything else is suddenly standing in the courtyard, older, familiar, and impossibly difficult to forget. She tells herself she's only staying for ten weeks. But some summers aren't meant to be forgotten. Some people aren't either.

"The Complete Legend of Zhong Kui" is this epic supernatural novel from the Qing Dynasty, split into two parts: Zhong Kui the Ghost-Slayer and Zhong Kui Conquers the Underworld. Here's the tea: Back in the Tang Dynasty, this scholar named Zhong Kui kept failing the imperial exams 'cause everyone thought he was too ugly. Mad frustrated, he ended up smashing his head against the palace steps and died. But plot twist-his ghost got a mission from the Jade Emperor to investigate the underworld. He went through all nine levels of hell, met the Ten Kings of the Underworld, slayed some mountain demons, and even caught a bunch of chaotic bats. The King of Hell was so impressed that he made Zhong Kui the "Marshal Who Pacifies Demons" and sent him to this place called Ten-Thousand-Men County to wipe out a ghost rebellion. After an absolute victory, Zhong returned to the underworld a legend, and the Jade Emperor crowned him an actual god. Pretty epic stuff-ghost battles, underworld drama, and major glow-up vibes.