Liaozhai — Reality in Mirror
In the tales of Liaozhai (Strange Tales from Make-do Studio), the demarcation between the realms of spirits and humanity dissolves seamlessly. Within the evocative prose of Pu Songling, enigmatic pavilions, and towers, along with rare, exotic beasts, manifest and vanish from the human sphere. The exact moments and locations remain elusive; yet, they gracefully submerge readers into the extraordinary world conjured by Pu Songling's pen.
In this strange and fantastic world of ghosts and supernatural beings, there are always some enduring themes. For example, the interweaving of reality and illusion, the struggle between goodness and evil. In the midst of these contrasts, every ghostly tale we read seems to be closely related to the era in which Pu Songling lived, and even to our contemporary society.
Now let’s take our first glance into the world of Liaozhai.
The Stories
They appeared and vanished:
"The City on the Mountain"
"The Horse in the Painting"
In these two stories, Pu Songling showed us his illastartory techniques in writing strange tales.
Fata Morgana, nowhere to be found:
"The Rakshas and the Sea Market"
Now, Pu Songling has led us into his imaginary world of the Rakshas country, the Sea market, and the Dragon's palace... The above two stories incorporated peculiar occurrences into reality, while this tale narrates the experiences of a human youth venturing into a fictional realm. It allows readers to catch a glimpse of the supernatural world in Liaozhai.
Humans or demons? Demons or humans?
"A Dream of Wolves"
"Xi Fangping"
Through the tales of ghosts and supernatural beings, Pu Songling reflects the darkness of human nature in a distorted society. In these two stories, he guides us to glimpse into the obscure era where the boundary between humans and beasts becomes indistinguishable.
They appeared and vanished...
The City on the Mountain
“Young master Sun Yunian and his companions were drinking in a pavilion when they suddenly noticed a lone pagoda standing high on the mountain and towering into the deep blue sky. Suddenly a great wind blew up clouds of dust that hid the city in obscurity. After the wind settled down and the sky cleared, all was gone but the single lofty tower that touched the very clouds. People were coming and going busily on the tower, while some leaned or stood, all in different poses. After a while, the tower grew lower and the top became invisible. Gradually it diminished into a regular storied building, then to the size of a tall house, and then quickly into something the size of a fist, then a bean, till finally it dwindled to nothing”
In just a few words, Pu Songling outlined the emergence of a fairyland. Between its appearance and disappearance, Sun caught a glimpse of the brightly lit city on the mountain. Who were these people? Were they immortal Taoist priests, celestial beings from the heavens, or denizens of another realm?
Before long, the towering celestial tower gradually vanished. While Pu Songling vividly described its disappearance, he didn't explicitly state the reason, leaving readers to wander through their own speculations. Perhaps the city was shrouded in clouds and mist, or maybe it continuously floated and ascended. We don't know when it will suddenly reappear or vanish again, but it has certainly left behind a lingering fascination in our minds.
Amidst these transformations, the line between reality and illusion becomes blurred. Although the mountain city is a creation of fiction, the lifelike depiction irresistibly leads me to believe that perhaps it did exist at some point. As the story ends:
“An early morning wayfarer once saw habituations and market shops on the mountain that were no different from those of this world, for which reason the apparition was also named the ‘city of ghosts.’”
The Horse in the Painting
Each morning, scholar Cui saw a horse with pure black coating, white marking, and a burnt tail. Cui wanted to go to Shanxi to visit a friend. He decided to ride the horse. Upon his arrival, the horse disappeared.
Where did it go?
“They (Cui and friend) went in the house, where the sergeant saw an equestrian painting by Zhao Meng-fu (1254-1322) hanging on the wall. One of the horses was exactly like the one he was after, both in the color and the texture of its coat. The tail area had been burnt by a stick of incense. It was clear now that the horse was a painting come to life.”
This is another interesting little story in Liaozhai. It also employs a narrative structure that blends reality and illusion. The story revolves around the scene where the horse in the painting comes to life, cleverly mirroring the burnt tail of the painted horse with the scorched tail in reality.
The mentioned Zhao Mengfu is a historical figure in reality. He was a leading painter in literati painting and calligraphy during the late Song and early Yuan dynasties. His depictions of horses are particularly well-known. Interestingly, despite being of royal descent from the Song dynasty, he served in the Yuan dynasty after it overthrew the Song dynasty. Moreover, his most famous works feature the steeds of Mongolian riders.
Some art historians believe, because of that reason, he is not included among the "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty" (the four most famous painters of the Yuan dynasty, including Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Ni Zan, and Wu Zhen). The Yuan dynasty was dominated by the Mongols, with the status of the Han people being relatively low. The Four Masters were renowned for their landscape paintings inherited from the Song dynasty, a spirit that Zhao Mengfu did not entirely follow.
Although these two stories are brief, their occurrence and ending are filled with surprises. The first story does not have a definite reason for why the mountain tower showed, while the second one does not explain why the horse came out of the painting, leaving a space for the readers to interpret. Perhaps the horse is running out to escape from the burn. In addition, the combination of the third-person and first-person narrative techniques enhances the story's sense of time, as if those dynamic events had truly unfolded in the past.
The Rakshas and the Sea Market
It is a story of young lad Ma Ji’s adventure to the Kingdom of Rakshas and the palace of Dragon. In the country of Rakshas, people value beauty, not literary accomplishments. The most handsome men are appointed ministers. However, when the villagers pointed to the prime minister, Ma saw him with “his ears drooped forward in flaps with three nostrils, and his eyelashes covered his eyes like a screen.” This is a country where ugliness is considered beautiful. The people will be despised if they look “beautiful” once born, and some of them were abandoned immediately after birth. This has led to extreme poverty among the villagers.
Ma then met the captain of the imperial guard of this country and performed Chinese traditional music, which delighted the captain: “It is like the cries of phoenixes or dragons!” Ma also performed a sword dance in the role of Zhang Fei (a famous general in the period of the Three Kingdoms) with smeared coal on his face. The captain thought that was so handsome and then recommended Ma to the king and the officials. However, officials treated him coldly when they realized that Ma’s face was painted. Ma then went back to the poor villagers and granted them treasures and gold. From the villagers, Ma heard of the Sea Market, where jewels and merchants from all nearby countries are traded.
Ma went on the journey again. In the Sea Market, he met the Third Prince of Dongyang and was brought back to the dragon king. Ma Ji, with a captivating article describing the Sea Market, captured the appreciation from the Dragon King. He was then promised to marry the Dragon King's daughter, and he did.
In "Records of the Grand Historian: Book of Celestial Officials (《史记-天官书》)," there is a sentence that goes, "Beside the sea, mirages appear as towers across the vast plains, the qi forms palaces and pavilions. Clouds and qi take on the semblance of mountains, rivers, and people gathered in the land (海旁蜃气象楼台；广野气成宫阙然。云气各象其山川人民所聚积)." This is an ancient explanation for the phenomenon of mirages or Fata Morgana. People in the past believed that the towers appearing out of nowhere were the breath of giant clams by the seaside, the palaces were formed by the qi gathered from the expansive wilderness, and the crowds in the mirages were shaped by the ever-changing weather.
The term "海市蜃楼", or "mirage" in English, has extended literary meaning, serving as a metaphor for things that are illusory and unreal. The use of "海市", or Sea Market as part of the title in this story is a highly ironic metaphor. In the inverted world of beauty and ugliness in the Rakshas, where knowledge is disregarded, ordinary people can only seek wealth in the Sea market. Although the story describes a market where one can exchange treasures from all nearby countries, in our reality, the mirage does not exist. Oppressed by bureaucracy, the yearning for a better life among the people in Pu’s society can only be likened to a mirage.
Pu Songling uses the concept of the seaside market as a mirror, reflecting the fictional Raksha country and the real society. In the words of the Dragon King and the Raksha king, China in the story, with its advanced system and mysterious aura, seems to conceal Pu Songling's nostalgic sentiments. Not only that, the plot that Ma Ji’s article on the “Sea Market” was appraised by the Dragon Kingreveals Pu Songling's imagination of a society where virtue and knowledge are considered beautiful, and individuals have no need to conceal themselves to please the authorities.
Fata Morgana:
nowhere to be found
Humans or demons? Demons or humans?
A Dream of Wolves
Mr.Bai dreamed of his son’s yamen was thronged within and without by wolves. Two warriors came in and bound his son Jia with a black rope. Jia fell to the ground and changed into a tiger with sharp fans. The tiger’s teeth were chopped off and the warriors plan to cut off its head for the fourth month next year.
Then it turns out that this was not just a dream. When Mr.Bai sent his second son to Jia, he found that Jia really lost his front teeth, and Jia’s yamen was filled with corrupt runners and bribe-givers. Jia said: “Promotion depends upon a man’s superiors and not upon the people. If your superior approves of you, you are a good official; but if you love the people, how can you please those above you?”
In the fourth month the next year, Jia ran into two robbers claiming: “We are here to avenge the wrongs of the people, not just to take your money!” The robbers then cut off Jia’s head and put his head on his shoulder and send his corpse back to his family. Jia’s wife found that Jia was still breathing. However, Jia can only live more of a monster than a man now.
In the story "A Dream of Wolves," Pu Songling likens bureaucrats to tigers and wolves, revealing the societal state where, under the bureaucratic system, tigers and wolves mutually support each other to oppress the common people. With dream as a medium, the story draws a parallel between the packs of tigers and wolves in the dream world and the corrupt minister Jia and his treacherous officials, creating a bizarre yet realistic atmosphere. In the story, two robbers behead Jia, acting as agents of justice to eliminate evil. Interestingly, in this traditional narrative, the “villains” seem more upright than the officials. This parallels the theme in "Water Margin" where the 108 heroes of Liangshan are portrayed as righteous outlaws. In a society where the government is inactive, the boundaries between right and wrong are unclear, and one cannot judge good and evil based on a person's social status. After all, this has long been a world where distinctions between light and darkness have become blurred.
The ending of the story deviates from the conventional. Instead of concluding with Jia's death, Pu Songling portrays him as surviving in a state where “his chin rests on his shoulder.” Nevertheless, in the eyes of the oppressed peasants, he has long been this monstrous figure with a hideous soul.
Despite Jia being an unequivocal antagonist in the story, his father, Mr. Bai, adopts a stance of sacrificing family for the greater good. Pu Songling doesn't bind the family as a cohesive unit, allowing us to glimpse his departure from traditional thinking in the narrative.
Xi Fangping
Xi Fangping's father was constantly humiliated by a wealthy merchant Yang during his lifetime. Before his death, he implored his son, "Mr. Yang has bribed the nether world and the servants are beating me up again." Xi decided to redress these wrongs done to his father. Journeying from the mortal realm to the nether world’s yamen, he was shocked to discover that even officials in the underworld had succumbed to bribery from the wealthy merchant. Due to his poverty and lack of connections, he faced disdain and endured torment, shouting, "I now understand I am beaten because I have no money!"
Despite these hardships and even being sawed in half by the King of Hell, he remained steadfast in his pursuit of justice. Tight back together with the rope given to him by an underworld jailer, he bound himself and lodged a complaint in the heavenly court. The Prince Nine in the heavens, son of the Jade Emperor, moved by compassion, brought him before Erlang Shen, finally securing justice for his father. His father was resurrected, and the wealth of the wealthy merchant was also redistributed.
The idea of judicial justice is inherently just and right, yet Xi Fangping had to suffer for a long while before finally obtaining justice from the heavenly court. From the earthly yamen to hell, even reaching the King of Hell, the common people's voices had nowhere to be heard. Pu Songling vividly depicts the desperate situation of the lower-class people in seeking redress. Although the story ends on a positive note, with Erlang Shen effortlessly reorganizing the entire underworld with a single statement, the contrast with the numerous difficulties faced by Xi Fangping as an ordinary person becomes even more ironic.
This manner of placing the burden of justice on an individual rather than using a systemic structure to regulate it makes one question the fairness of the societal system in the story, and of course the reality that it reflected. In Liaozhai, Xi Fangping ultimately finds redress. However, can the common people outside Liaozhai ever expect to approach the royal court?
Pu Songling extends the story from the mortal realm to the underworld and heavenly court. With Xi Fangping's experiences, we witness the infiltration of corruption and flawed systems at every level. While Xi Fangping is ultimately rewarded with substantial wealth, I believe the symbolism of this ending is open to interpretation. Does rewarding him with wealth imply that the criteria for judging "good people" remain unchanged? Or does it suggest that placing power in the hands of a virtuous individual will lead to its benevolent use? Now that Xi Fangping has assumed the position once held by the wealthy merchant Yang, will his actions differ?
Why ghosts?
Pu Songling was born in a tumultuous era. During his birth, the Qing army was ruthlessly pillaging and burning in Jinan, Shandong. Four years later, Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself on Meishan, marking the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. In his early years, Pu Songling, influenced by his friend Sun Hui, joined the government service. However, he later distanced himself from Sun Hui due to Sun's indifferent and arrogant behavior in the bureaucratic world, coupled with his disrespects towards women as playthings. Drawing inspiration from these unfortunate individuals, Pu Songling began crafting tales of ghosts and supernatural worlds.
Why did he choose to present these profound reflections in the form of ghost stories? Compared to the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics, tales of ghosts were more engaging and accessible to individuals with varying levels of cultural literacy. Additionally, during that time, the government and officials were notorious for their corruption, and literary persecution was happening. Hence, Pu Songling wrote Liaozhai in such a style to mirror real-life issues. Perhaps only through this medium could he express his most genuine thoughts.
From " The City on the Mountain" and "The Horse in the Painting" to "The Rakshas and the Sea Market" "A Dream of Wolves," and "Xi Fangping," these works interweave the essence of reality into the framework of fantasy. Moreover, the latter three stories contain moral messages, advising and warning the readers. Structurally, his stories are rich in layers, featuring multiple symmetric plots. For instance, in "Dream Wolves," Mr. Bai dreams of his corrupt son turning into a tiger, and his son indeed becomes a disfigured monster. This reflection in the fantasy world mirrors the bloodsucking nature of officials in the real societal context at that time.
Liaozhai contains many more tales of this sort waiting for exploration: in Han Fang, ghosts would rob money from the peasants on their way to hell. In Cheng the Fairy, officials denoted themselves as noble men while performing robbery acts to the common people. This centuries-old work, with its philosophical core, remains relevant even today.
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