Just Finished Reading: Wailing Ghosts by Pu Songling [56pp] 

I’m not a great lover of the Horror genre (except for Vampires which I don’t really regard as horror to be honest) but, despite the micro-blurb on the back referencing macabre hauntings, monsters and magic, there was little in the way of the horrific to be had here. Despite its size we are presented with FOURTEEN tales, although one was a single page, and we are even presented with several examples of classical Chinese woodcarving artwork! There’s a LOT packed in here. 

So, what exactly are we presented with? The tales are essentially fables and morality stories in order to teach things like good manners and as explanations of luck (both good and bad). There are several tales of encounters with strangers who turn out to be spirits, gods, demons and so on. How these people are treated – in ignorance – results in good or bad things happening. In other words, treat strangers kindly because you never know who they might be. I couldn’t help drawing the parallel with similar Greek tales. Another theme – involving actual ghosts this time – again looked at the appropriate behaviours around ancestors and the unexpected rewards that occurred, such as staying overnight in a suspected haunted house and being invited to a ghostly wedding ceremony and receiving a silver cup as a gift. This cup turns out to be a long-lost family treasure of the local big wig. 

These are more interesting for their cultural differences than anything else. There’s no great character development or involved storytelling. They are, mostly, about a person having a strange experience, telling other people about it, and everyone learning a life lesson by it. So, parables. Interesting stuff especially as the author died in 1715 so there’s a historical aspect interwoven with the cultural one. 

Translated from the Chinese by John Minford.