Pu Songling (, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a
Chinese 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'', sometimes shortened to ''Liaozhai'', known in English as ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' or ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', is a collection of Classical Chinese stories by Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling, ...
'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi'').
Biography
Pu was born into a poor merchant family from
Zichuan (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
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 ...
'' ("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
''Liaozhai zhiyi'', sometimes shortened to ''Liaozhai'', known in English as ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' or ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', is a collection of Classical Chinese stories by Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling, ...
'' 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 ...
novel ''
Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan'' ("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). 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 article ...
, – P'u Sung-ling
*
Death of Woman Wang 1978, – Johnathon D Spence
Further reading
* Chun-shu, Chang, and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang (1998) ''Redefining History: Ghosts, Spirits, and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640–1715''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
* Judith T. Zeitlin (1993). ''Historian of the Strange : Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale''. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, xii, 332p. .
* Owen, Stephen, "Pu Song-ling (1640–1715), ''Liao-zhai's Record of Wonders''," in Stephen Owen, ed. ''An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911''. New York:
W. W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton A ...
, 1997
p. 1103-1126Archive.
*
Notes
External links
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{{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