According to the blurb Wailing Ghosts collects some of the most wonderful stories in Chinese literature. Unfortunately for me, I didn't like them. With some stories I was wondering if I was missing the clue, because the end was rather abrupt and not funny. At other times I was wondering if time might have influenced the appreciation of the stories. It could also just have been me.

 

They were very short but the writing wasn't particularly good. Still it was an easy read, but I wouldn't quickly pick up something else by this author.

 

Little Black Classics #7

... revealing great shining fangs more than three inches long.

 

It was Halloween and in a short notice, I wanted to read ghost stories. This was in my hand quite some time ago and I thought I give this a try, skip the rest of the volumes to read Pu Songling's Wailing Ghosts. Turns out... this is more of a melancholy tale of old folk's urban legend of the supernatural.

There are 14 short stories in total, not every single one of them is a good read. A few have ambiguous endings, some were lessons and the rest were... well, interesting. I myself love Butterfly because it reminds me of an old 1980s Hong Kong film A Chinese Ghost Story... just the essence of it. The rest can pass off as some thing where you heard it from some where but as urban myths. Of its entirety, I think Pu Songling was a better storyteller rather than a writer of stories, if you get my meaning.

A really interesting collection Chinese folklore. At times dark, at times funny. Enjoyable if you remember you are reading folklore.

Very short Chinese tales from Pu Songling, from Zibo in the 17th century concerning ghosts, ghoulies and quite a lot of fox-spirits.

If short, Chinese tales are your thing (or you think they may be) then these are definitely for you. Personally I found them to be repetitive, badly written and akin to many such other stories of a similar length. It is, however, nice to enjoy another culture, particularly when it's obvious there are themes that are genuinely universal and can be seen in tales like these all over the world.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Note on the Text, Translation and Illustrations
Note on Names and Pronunciation

--Homunculus
--An Otherworldly Examination
--Living Dead
--Spitting Water
--Talking Pupils
--The Painted Wall
--The Troll
--Biting a Ghost
--Catching a Fox
--The Monster in the Buckwheat
--The Haunted House
--Stealing a Peach
--Growing Pears
--The Taoist Priest of Mount Lao
--The Monk of Changqing
--The Snake-Charmer
--The Wounded Python
--The Fornicating Dog
--The God of Hail
--The Golden Goblet
--Grace and Pine
--A Most Exemplary Monk
--Magical Arts
--Wild Dog
--Past Lives
--Fox in the Bottle
--Wailing Ghosts
--Thumb and Thimble
--Scorched Moth the Taoist
--Friendship Beyond the Grave
--Karmic Debts
--Ritual Cleansing
--The Door God and the Thief
--The Painted Skin
--The Merchant's Son
--A Passion for Snakes
--A Latter-Day Buddha
--Fox Enchantment
--Eating Stones
--The Laughing Girl
--The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag
--The Devoted Mouse
--An Earthquake
--Snake Island
--Generosity
--The Giant Fish
--The Giant Turtle
--Making Animals
--The Little Mandarin
--Dying Together
--The Alligator's Revenge
--Sheep Skin
--Sharp Sword
--Lotus Fragrance
--King of the Nine Mountains
--The Fox of Fenzhou
--Silkworm
--Vocal Virtuosity
--Fox as Prophet
--This Transformation
--Fox Control
--Dragon Dormant
--Cut Sleeve
--The Girl from Nanking
--Twenty Years a Dream
--Mynah Bird
--Lamp Dog
--Doctor Five Hides
--Butterfly
--The Black Beast
--The Stone Bowl
--A Fatal Joke
--Raining Money
--Twin Lanterns
--Ghost Foiled, Fox Put to Rout
--Frog Chorus
--Performing Mice
--The Clay Scholar
--Flowers of Illusion
--Dwarf
--Bird
--Princess Lotus
--The Girl in Green
--Duck Justice
--Big Sneeze
--Steel Shirt
--Fox Trouble
--Lust Punished by Foxes
--Mountain City
--A Cure for Marital Strife
--A Prank
--Adultery and Enlightenment
--Up His Sleeve
--Silver Above Beauty
--The Antique Lute
--Waiting Room for Death
--Rouge
--The Southern Wutong-Spirit
--Sunset
--The Male Concubine
--Coral
--Mutton Fat and Pig Blood
--Dung-Beetle Dumplings
--Stir-Fry

Author's Preface
Glossary
Maps
Finding List
Further Reading
Notes