Hidden and Visible Realms

Hidden and Visible Realms

HIDDEN AND VISIBLE REALMS

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS

Editorial Board

Paul Anderer

Allison Busch

David Lurie

Rachel McDermott

Wei Shang

Haruo Shirane

HIDDEN AND VISIBLE REALMS

Early Medieval Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic

COMPILED BY

LIU YIQING

EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY

ZHENJUN ZHANG

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Wm. Theodore de Bary Fund in the publication of this book.

Columbia University Press

Publishers Since 1893

New York Chichester, West Sussex

cup.columbia.edu

Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press

All rights reserved

E-ISBN 978-0-231-54705-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Liu, Yiqing, 403-444, author. | Zhang, Zhenjun, editor, translator.

Title: Hidden and visible realms : early medieval Chinese tales of the supernatural and the fantastic / compiled by Liu Yiqing ; edited and translated by Zhenjun Zhang.

Other titles: You ming lu. English | Early medieval Chinese tales of the supernatural and the fantastic | Chinese tales of the supernatural and the fantastic

Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2018. | Series: Translations from the Asian classics | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017050419 (print) | LCCN 2017059537 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231187169 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Tales—China—Translations into English. | Paranormal fiction, Chinese—Translations into English. | Fantasy fiction, Chinese—Translations into English. | Tales—China—Translations into English. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.

Classification: LCC PL2666.L55 (ebook) | LCC PL2666.L55 Y813 2018 (print) |

DDC 895.13/24—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017050419

A Columbia University Press E-book.

CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-ebook@columbia.edu.

Cover design: Noah Arlow

In memory of

Zhao Qiping 趙齊平 (1934–1993)

and

Wu Xiaoru 吳小如 (1922–2014)

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Terms Regarding Weights and Measures

Chronology

Introduction

1. The Wonder of Love

1. Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao

2. The Girl Who Sold Face Powder

3. Pang E and His Infatuated Lover

4. Dream Adventure Inside a Cypress Pillow

5. The God of Rivers Marrying Off His Daughter

6. Zhen Chong and the Local Deity

7. A Ghost Matchmaker

8. The Girl One Saved Becomes His Wife

9. The Marriage Through Catching a Ghost

10. The Marriage of Life and Death

11. Mr. Xu’s Regretful Encounter with the Celestial Girl

12. Daughter of the River God

13. The Golden Jar as a Gift

14. Huang Yuan Encounters Miaoyin

15. The Silver Chain as a Gift

16. A Pinned Painting

17. The Girl Picking Chestnuts

18. The Seduction of a Swan Spirit

19. Fei Sheng’s Affair with a Wild Cat Spirit

20. Chang Chounu Encounters a River Otter Spirit

21. Chicken Tongue Fragrant Gum

22. Guo Changsheng

23. The Demon at Fangshan Inn

24. Chunyu Jin’s Marriage with a Wild Cat Girl

25. Chen Adeng

2. A Garden of Marvels

26. Lord of Mount Lu

27. Exchanging Heads and Faces

28. Pregnancy in a Dream

29. Reporting Death Through a Dream

30. Dry Cholera

31. The Temple of Deng Ai

32. A Man from Earthenware

33. An Illusion

34. Ashes of the Eon Fire

35. Flying Cash

36. Fei Daosi

37. Qian Cheng

38. Zhang Maodu

39. Dispelling Accumulated Distress with Wine

40. Yang Hu Suffered from Headaches

41. Qin Min

42. A Turtledove Enters One’s Arms

43. Crescendos of Music After Death

44. The Man of Anding

45. The Portrait in Taiwu Palace

46. The Lord of the River

47. A Comet

48. Zhou Chao’s Wife

49. Yue Xia

50. A Coffin Cart

51. Meat Becomes Frogs

52. An Abnormal Turtle

53. Zhuge Zhangmin

54. The Black Ox

55. Xi Hui

56. The Transformation of a White Dog

57. The Messenger of Heaven

58. The Monster in Yu Jin’s Home

59. Ge Zuo Averted the Abnormal

60. A Gift of Dates

61. The Wooden Statue Shoots an Arrow

62. Han Gui

63. Zhao Liang

64. Dragon Pearl

65. The Mianyuan Pool

66. Candy from the Immortal

67. White-Haired Old Man

68. Lord of the Northern Dipper

69. Master Chen Xiang

70. A Man Transforms Into a Heron

3. The Spectacle of Monsters

71. Returning Shoes

72. The Maidservant Pina

73. String Music and Songs Under the River

74. A Bleeding Board

75. Stone Mirrors

76. A Dog Demon

77. A Cock Spirit

78. The Girl in Funeral Garments

79. A Bat

80. Losing Knotted Hair

81. An Alligator Spirit

82. A Male Fox

83. A Deer Spirit

84. A Snake Snores

85. The Monk Zhongzuo

86. The Rat Hat

87. The Rat of Qinghe

88. The Fox Spirit

89. A Rooster’s Transformation

90. Escort Chen

91. The Transformation of a Wild Cat

92. The Anomaly of Hidden Rabbit

93. The “Receiving Cloud” Prefect

94. A Divine Tree

95. The Head of a Deity Statue

96. A Nightmare

97. The Frame of a Tilt Hammer

98. Raksasas

99. Qian Teng

100. The Prince of Mount Dou

101. The Deity of Houguan County

102. River Deity

103. The Deity of Gongting Monastery

104. The Deity of Harsh Frost

105. Exorcising Demons

106. Shaman Li

107. Northern Dipper Saved Mr. Gu from Demons

4. The Realm of Ghosts

108. Restoring the Po Soul

109. The Green Substance of Corpses

110. A Tall Ghost

111. A Hairy Ghost

112. A Ghost Stretches His Tongue

113. Evil Ghost in a Towering Tomb

114. A New Ghost Searches for Food

115. A Ghost Living with His Family

116. Wang Ming’er Manifests His Physical Form

117. Ruan Zhan

118. The Deity o
f Yangsha

119. Adjutant He

120. Suo Yuan

121. Wuhuan

122. Disasters from Stealing Coffin Boards

123. Lü Shun’s Wife

124. Old Yao

125. A Deceased Mother Takes Care of Her Son

126. Cheng Biao and His Deceased Brother

127. A Lame Ghost

128. Avoiding a Disaster

129. Dead Friend Guan Shuang

130. Cai Kuo’s Dead Son

131. Ghosts Playing Music

132. A Ghost Stops Fighting

133. The Ghost Distinguishes His Corpse Through a Dream

134. Drumbeats and Horn Music from an Old Tomb

135. Ghost Fighting

136. Ghosts Steal Millet

137. Laughing at a Ghost

138. Tying Up a Ghost

139. Stabbing a Ghost

140. Ghost Herb Mortar

141. Drunk Ghosts

142. The Servant Jian

143. The Magistrate of Pingyu

144. Moving a Tomb

145. A Ghost Bestows Treasure

146. Ghosts Striving for a Tomb

147. Huan Gong Repaid by a Ghost

148. A Divine Birth

149. Ren Huairen’s Death

150. Romance of a Ghost

151. Zhong You’s Ghost Girlfriend

152. A Ghost Nurtures a Child

153. A Child in Red

154. Children Striving for a Pot

155. A Ghost Pays a Debt

156. Exchanging a Girl with a Boy

157. Demonic Magic

5. The Netherworld and This World

158. A Nu

159. Wang Zhi

160. Borrowing a Life Span

161. Chen Liang Revives from Death

162. The Thunder God

163. Xu You

164. Wang Ju

165. Wang Wendu Summoned to Be a Ghost Official

166. Liu Qingsong

167. Ji Queshi

168. Oxen Epidemic

169. Gan Qing

170. Shaman Shu Li

171. Kang Ade

172. Se Luzhen’s Experience in the Netherworld

173. Exchanging Feet

174. Shi Changhe

175. Zhao Tai Travels in Hells

176. Scholar Wang Zizhen’s Ghost Friend

6. Animals and Men

177. The Naked Creatures

178. Wood Guests

179. The Young of Big Peng

180. The Breath of Turtles (1)

181. The Breath of Turtles (2)

182. The Dog Diwei

183. A Parrot

184. A Mole Cricket Repays a Favor

185. Golden Geese

186. A Snake Mourns for Its Mother

187. A White Turtle

188. Men in Black

189. Red Words on a Fish’s Belly

190. The Archery Master

191. An Ox Sends a Message Through a Dream

192. Ji Han’s Black Bull

193. An Ox Kowtows in Tears

194. The Bird in a Honey Locust Tree

195. A River Dragon’s Revenge

7. Anecdotes of Notable Figures

196. Guest Star

197. The Jade Girl

198. Lady Feng

199. A Fox Interprets Classics

200. A Rooster Talks About Metaphysics

201. Wang Fusi

202. Wen Weng

203. He Bigan

204. Divining for a Graveyard

205. The Seal of the Marquis of Loyalty and Filiality

206. Purple Air Above a Tomb

207. Lu Su

208. The Three Broken-Armed Dukes

209. Jiaozhou Scissors

210. The Sorcerer Du Yan

211. Three Horses Share One Manger

212. The Melody of Guangling

213. Xi Kang

214. Fa Zu and Wang Fu

215. The Prince of Anxi’s Three Lives

216. Fotu Cheng, the Western Monk

217. Tiger Disaster

218. Guo Jingchun

219. Wang Maohong’s Dream

220. Marquis Jiang Requests Food

221. Magician An Kai

222. Wang Ningzhi’s Wife

223. The Buddhist Nun

224. Jiang Ziwen

225. A Ma

226. Xie Anshi

227. The Daoist Priest Xu Xun (1)

228. The Daoist Priest Xu Xun (2)

229. Aunt Jiang

230. A Dragon Carries a Boat on Its Back

231. Walking on Water

232. The Five-Colored Egg

233. Xu Xianzhi’s Dream

234. A Foreign Monk

8. Local Legends

235. The Husband-Watching Stone

236. Peng E

237. Local Inspectors Strive for Territory at the Border

238. The State of King Gao

239. The Tomb of King Gao

240. Hot Water Spring at Shixing

241. Warm and Cold Water Springs

242. Wells in the Temple of Laozi

243. Old Well by the Divine Altar

244. Tide Pond

245. Reed Pond

246. Rooster Mountain

247. Three Peaks of Mount Heng

248. Golden Terrace in the Sea

249. A Phoenix Head Flies Into the Zhang River

250. The Terrace of Qiao County

251. Bathing in Warm Orchid Water

252. Donglai Wine

253. Ghost Howling

254. The Ghost Wrests a Fish

255. The Prince of Jiangdu’s Tomb

256. The Queen Mother

257. Lamp in the Rain

258. Cao E

259. Crane Gate

260. Cheng Ji

261. Male and Female Tree

262. A Golden Bull (1)

263. A Golden Bull (2)

264. The Dizzying Pool

Appendix

265. Wang Dongting

266. Zheng Zichan

267. Xu Ganmu

268. Salted Dragon Meat

269. The Dilu Horse

270. The Ghost of Fangfeng

271. Chen Zhuang

272. Cao Shuang

273. Tomb of Wang Ziqiao

274. Zhang Heng and Cai Yong

275. Sun Hao

276. Food Becoming Spiral Shells

277. Wei Faji

278. Iron Hammer

279. White Jade of Changshan

280. Du Yu

281. The Immortal Residence

282. Breaking a Promise Causes Loss of Magic Figures

283. Zhang Hua

284. Jia Yong Lost His Head

285. The Mole Crickets

Tales Appearing in Other Renditions

Works Cited

Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project started over a decade ago when I was working on an earlier project, Buddhism and Tales of the Supernatural in Early Medieval China: A Study of Liu Yiqing’s Youming lu, though I translated most of the pieces more recently. During the course of finishing this book, I received help from my teachers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues at St. Lawrence University.

I am grateful to Professors William Nienhauser and Victor Mair for their careful reading of my introduction and their valuable suggestions. I am indebted also to my colleagues Sid Sondergard and Roy Cardwell for their many helpful suggestions about the chapters they read over. In addition, I would like to thank my daughters, Yuxi and Kaixi (Jennifer), who read this book as the first readers as well as proofreaders.

A special debt is due to Jennifer Crewe, Christine Dunbar, Christian Winting, and Leslie Kriesel at Columbia University Press for their kindness and sincere help in the process of reviewing and editing my manuscript, as well as to the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and suggestions.

This volume is publi
shed in memory of my teachers at Beijing University: Professor Zhao Qiping, my academic advisor, and Professor Wu Xiaoru.

ABBREVIATIONS

AGM

A Garden of Marvels. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2015.

BKLT

Bai Kong liutie 白孔六帖. 2 v. Taibei: Xinxing shuju, 1969.

BTSC

Beitang shuchao 北堂書抄. 2 v. Taibei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1961.

CCT

Classical Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.

CLEAR

Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews

CXJ

Chuxue ji 初學記. 3 v. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961.

FYZL

Fayuan zhulin jiaozhu 法苑珠林校註. 6 v. Beijing: Zhonghua shuji, 2003.

GXSGC

Guxiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉. In Lu Xun quanji 魯迅全集. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1973.

HJAS

Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

KYZJ

Kaiyuan zhanjing 開元占經: Beijing: Zhongyang bianyi chubanshe, 2006.

LLZS

Chongkan zengguang fenlei Leilin zashuo 重刊增廣分類類林雜說. 15 v. No. 1219 of Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2002.

LS

Lei shuo 類說. Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe, 1988.

SBBY

Sibu beiyao 四部備要

SBCK

Sibu congkan 四部叢刊

SLFZ

Shilei fu zhu 事類賦註. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1969.

SSXY

Shishuo xinyu 世說新語

SSJ

Soushen ji 搜神記. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979.

ST

Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2006.

TPGJ

Taiping guangji 太平廣記. 10 v. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961.

TPYL

Taiping yulan 太平御覽. 4 v. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960.

YWLJ

Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚. 2 v. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965.

YML

Youming lu 幽明錄

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