Summary Of Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is a collection of tales dating back to the Ming dynasty, that paints a descriptive picture of what daily life was like during this time period (Sung-lingPu, Tzu-Ch'uan. Strange stories from a Chinese studio. Translated by Herbert Allen Giles. London: T.W. Laurie, 1916.) Tzu-Ch'uan P'u Sung-ling uses supernatural and the paranormal to criticize both the political system and violence, and to communicate his Taoist's beliefs. The Chinese Empire was an immensely advanced empire, one that was prosperous culturally and economically. In the Chinese Empire; politics were based on a system of education, one had to take examinations to become magistrates or become a member of a board (16, 22). The largest source of violence was not from war, but instead one faced violence between brothers, robbers, and violence to one’s own self (126). Both Buddhism and Taoism reigned supreme during this time, ideas from Taoism was adopted by Buddhists and at times the religions were difficult to discern (6, 8).
During this
Taoists ideas were borrowed by Buddhism. Citizens followed the Law of Buddha and sought to live a holy life (6). They did this by reading sutra (scripture), going to temples to learn from priests, and practicing good behavior (4). Buddhist priests lived a celibate life, unlike Taoists priests (9). If one lived a good life, then it was possible to be reincarnated into a good being (389). If one did not live a holy life, if they sinned considerably they went to purgatory. In purgatory, they were tortured and then reincarnated into an unpleasant being such as a sheep (398). Purgatory had a River Styx and beings called devils that sought out bad souls (389). There were ten chambers within purgatory which were called the Chambers of Horrors (57). Within purgatory, there was also a judging system for the amount of sins that a person committed in one's life