Strange Tales First Printed in Zhejiang

“Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio” (聊齋志異) is viewed in China as the all-time best collection of short stories written in the classical Chinese. The anthology of 480-plus stories on humans and ghosts and spirits is recognized in the hall of fame of the world literature. However， Pu Songling (1640-1715)， the writer of these strange tales， was unable to have his labor of love printed during his disappointed life of 75-years. Stranger still， the collection was first published in Zhejiang Province， far away from the author’s home province of Shandong to the north. The first edition came out in 1766. It was the 31st year of the 59-year reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and it was 51 years after the death of the writer.

Pu began to write his tales when he was still young and he penned most of them before he was 40. In 1679 when he was 39， he put his manuscripts together and gave his anthology a collective name. In the following years， he kept polishing these strange tales and added some more. But he did not have the money to print his books.

The poverty of his family was due to the fall of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the rise of the Qing Dynasty. Pu Songling was born into a family of moderate wealth. The fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty plunged the society into turmoil. When all the dust finally settled down， Pu Songling found most family properties were gone. When he got married， the property that came under his name in a family property redistribution was a dilapidated three-room house on a deserted farm studded with bushes and weeds.

Pu had a way out. He was a very promising scholar. In his early years， he came out first through all the imperial examinations at the local level. But he failed several times in the imperial examination at the provincial level held every three years. In order to make a living， he worked as an advisor at the age of 31， but as he abhorred the way he was bossed around， he soon gave up all his ambition， went back to his rural home， and worked as a private tutor.

Most of Pu’s strange tales came into being during these years when he was a tutor. At the age of 71， Pu Songling was granted an honorary title for an outstanding scholar by the government. Belated and insubstantial though it was for the disappointed scholar， he was a little bit comfortable in the last five years of his life. Though the family conditions improved， his descendants were not in a financial position to print the 8-volumn collection. During his lifetime， Pu’s anthology was copied and recopied privately and enthusiastically by those who could put their hands on the stories. Private copies spread and traveled.

Zheng Fangkun， a scholar from Yanzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang， obtained a copy of the collection during the years he worked as a prefect in Shandong. He later brought his copy back to his hometown Jiande. Years passed and the copy came into the hands of Hao Lixiang， a local book collector.

Zhao Qiguo bought the copy from the descendants of Hao Lixiang when Zhao worked as a government official in Jiande. Zhao brought the precious copies to Hangzhou when he was transferred to the city and worked as an assistant in the government. In Hangzhou， Zhao showed the hand-copied manuscripts of the strange tales to Bao Tingbo， a nationally famed bibliophile and book collector in Zhejiang.

Bao Tingbo considered the strange tales extremely valuable literary masterpieces and urged Zhao Qiguo to have the collection published. Shortly afterwards Zhao was appointed the magistrate of Yanzhou Prefecture (Today’s Jiande under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou， the capital of Zhejiang Province is part of the ancient Yanzhou). Zhao decided to publish the strange tales. Zhao’s scholar friend Quan Ji in Hangzhou proofread and edited the first four volumes and wrote a preface. Quan Ji left the project unfinished as he later went north to take part in a national imperial examination. Bao Tingbo took over the editing job and finished proofreading the manuscripts. Bao Tingbo partly financed the publication of the collection.

The collection was set and printed in Qingketing， Jiande. The first edition presents 431 tales altogether， about 50 less than the present version. Some tales in the first edition also run under different titles. Among collectors and scholars of yesterday and today， the first edition has been known as Qingketing Edition. Later， a publisher surnamed Chen in Hangzhou reprinted the collection on the basis of the first edition. The two editions are now extremely rare. □