Pu Songling

Pu Songling
Born	5 June 1640
Died	25 February 1715 (aged 74)
Occupation	Writer
Language	Classic Chinese
Nationality	Chinese
Notable works	Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Pu Songling (simplified Chinese: 蒲松龄; traditional Chinese: 蒲松齡; pinyin: Pú Sōnglíng; Wade–Giles: P'u² Sung¹-ling², 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

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 civil service examination; it was not until he was 71 that he was awarded the Gongsheng 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 Stories from a Chinese Studio in 1740. Some critics attribute the Vernacular Chinese novel Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan to him.

Translations of his work

• Strange Tales from Liaozhai (tr. Sidney L. Sondergard). Jain Pub Co., 2008. ISBN 978-0-89581-001-4.
• Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (tr. John Minford). London: Penguin, 2006. 562 pages. ISBN 0-14-044740-7.
• Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio (Zhang Qingnian, Zhang Ciyun and Yang Yi). Beijing: People's China Publishing, 1997. ISBN 7-80065-599-7.
• 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 Leisure (George Soulie). London: Constable, 1913.
• Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (tr. Herbert A. Giles). London: T. De La Rue, 1880.^[1] ISBN 1-4212-4855-7.
• Songling Pu (1880). Strange stories from a Chinese studio, Volume 2. VOL. II. PRINTED BY THOMAS DE LA RUE AND CO., BUNHILL ROW, LONDON: T. De la Rue & co. Retrieved March 21, 2012. LONDON : THOS, DE LA RUE & CO. 1120, BUNHILL ROW. Translated by Herbert Allen Giles, Original from the New York Public Library, Digitized Apr 3, 2008

References

• Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, – P'u Sung-ling
• Shi, Changyu, "Pu Songling". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.

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. ISBN 0-472-10822-0
• Judith T. Zeitlin (1993). Historian of the Strange : Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, xii, 332p. ISBN 0-8047-2085-1.
• 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, 1997. p. 1103-1126 (Archive).

Notes

1. Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 126.

External links

• Works by or about Pu Songling at Internet Archive
• Works by Pu Songling at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)