Pu Songling (, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

writer during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi'').

Biography

Pu was born into a poor merchant family from

Zichuan The Zichuan District () is one of eight divisions within the city of Zibo in the Chinese province of Shandong. As the largest district of Zibo, it is composed of an urban area of over 23 square kilometers,

(淄川, in Zibo, Shandong). At the age of 18, he received the Xiucai degree in the

Imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

. It was not until he was 71 that he was awarded the '' Gongsheng'' ("tribute student") degree for his achievement in literature rather than for passing the Imperial examinations. He spent most of his life working as a private tutor, collecting the stories that were later published in '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' in 1740. Some critics attribute the

Vernacular Chinese Written vernacular Chinese, also known as Baihua () or Huawen (), is the forms of written Chinese based on the varieties of Chinese spoken throughout China, in contrast to Classical Chinese, the written standard used during imperial China up to ...

novel ''

Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan The ''Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan'' (), also translated as ''Marriage Destinies to Awaken the World'', ''The Bonds of Matrimony'', ''A Marriage to Awaken the World'' and ''A Romance to Awaken the World'', is a Chinese classical novel of the late Ming dy ...

'' ("Marriage Destinies to Awaken the World") to him.

Translations of his work

* ''Strange Tales from Liaozhai'' (tr. Sidney L. Sondergard). Jain Pub Co., 2008. . * ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (tr. John Minford). London: Penguin, 2006. 562 pages. . * ''Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio'' (Zhang Qingnian, Zhang Ciyun and Yang Yi). Beijing: People's China Publishing, 1997. . * ''Strange Tales from Make-do Studio'' (Denis C. & Victor H. Mair). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1989. * ''Strange Tales of Liaozhai'' (Lu Yunzhong, Chen Tifang, Yang Liyi, and Yang Zhihong). Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 1982. * ''Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures'' (George Soulié). London: Constable, 1913. * ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'' (tr.

Herbert A. Giles Herbert Allen Giles (, 8 December 184513 February 1935) was a British diplomat and sinologist who was the professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge for 35 years. Giles was educated at Charterhouse School before becoming a British dip ...

). London: T. De La Rue, 1880. .

Movies

* '' The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang 2019,

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

as'' Pu Songling

References

Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

, – P'u Sung-ling *

Death of Woman Wang 1978 Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, – Johnathon D Spence

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pu, Songling 1640 births 1715 deaths 17th-century Chinese novelists 18th-century Chinese novelists Chinese male short story writers Collectors of fairy tales Qing dynasty short story writers Short story writers from Shandong Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio Writers from Zibo 17th-century Chinese musicians