Hidden and Visible Realms

by Zhenjun Zhang

  Later the young man met her repeatedly. He asked her surname; she replied, “My surname is Su, my name is Qiong, and my home is in Tuzhong.” 48

  Then he invited her to his home to enjoy the happiness of love. Unexpectedly, his younger brother entered and hit the girl with a stick. Immediately the girl became a female white swan.

  (GXSGC, #147. 395–96; TPGJ, 460. 3768)

  19. FEI SHENG’S AFFAIR WITH A WILD CAT SPIRIT

  Fei Sheng of Wu County was the innkeeper of Nine Li Inn.49 Once, when it was about dusk, he saw a girl coming out from the outer wall of the city, wearing white clothing and crying. She entered the embankment, weeping, toward a new tomb. When it was dusk the girl could not enter the city; thus she took lodging at the inn.

  When night arrived, Sheng plucked his lute and urged the girl to sing. The girl said, “I am still in mourning. Don’t laugh at me.” The voice of her song was extremely seductive; it went,

  The essence and vital energy interact in silence,

  my descending is likely my fate.

  Alas, what a good match I have met,

  let me entrust my happiness to the dream of tonight.

  The middle of the song went,

  Jade Girl Chenggong followed Yiqi,

  Goddess Lanxiang descended for Zhang Shuo.

  Let’s believe our affair is predestined,

  and enjoy the sweet love tonight.

  The end of the song went,

  Waiting for our wind-cloud meeting,

  expecting the wandering this evening.

  Our spiritual interaction has not been long,

  yet a feeling in our hearts intertwined.

  Then they slept together.

  At dawn, when Fei Sheng was leaving, he looked back, saying, “I am going to the Imperial Inn.” Then the girl was terrified—a hunter had arrived. A pack of hunting dogs entered the room and killed her by the bed, where she became a big wild cat.

  (GXSGC, #180. 404; TPYL, 573. 2588b–89a)

  20. CHANG CHOUNU ENCOUNTERS A RIVER OTTER SPIRIT

  Chang Chounu of Hedong Commandery50 made his home in Zhang’an County,51 making a living by picking cattails.

  Once he brought a little boy to pull cattails, and they lodged in an empty farmhouse in the evening. Around dusk, he saw a girl who was extremely beautiful. Riding in a small boat loaded with water shield plants, she directly approached Chounu, asking for lodging. Taking liberties with her, Chounu put out the fire and slept with her.

  Smelling the scent of fish and touching her extremely short fingers, he cautiously suspected that she was a demon. The girl already knew what the man thought, so she requested to leave, and became an otter.52

  (GXSGC, #170. 402; TPYL, 999. 4421a; YWLJ, 82. 1407)

  21. CHICKEN TONGUE FRAGRANT GUM

  The clerk of Yongxing County of the Song,53 Zhong Dao, was newly recovered from a serious illness. His desire for love doubled.

  Previously he loved a girl from the White Crane Fair. Until this moment, he was still thinking of her. Unexpectedly, he saw the girl coming with her clothes flying up and down, and then he stayed together with her intimately. After that the girl came several times.

  Once Dao said, “I really want some chicken tongue fragrant gum.” The girl said, “What an easy thing to do!” Then she took out a handful of gum pieces and gave them to Dao. Dao asked her to chew the gum together. The girl replied, “My smell is always fragrant, so I do not rely on this.”

  When the girl went out the door, a dog suddenly saw her and bit her to death. It turned out that she was an old otter, and the gum was her excrement. Suddenly Dao felt that she was stinking and dirty.

  (GXSGC, #249. 428; TPGJ, 469. 3862)

  22. GUO CHANGSHENG

  During the Yuanjia reign period (424–454),54 the Chao family of Tai-shan Commandery,55 whose ancestor was the magistrate of Xiang County,56 lived at Jinling.57 Once, a maid of the family went woodcutting and someone ran after her, and it seemed they were exchanging greetings. Consequently, they had an affair.

  The man returned with the maid, lived there, and did not leave. Fearing he would make trouble, whenever night came the Chao family let the maid go outside. They heard him singing and talking with the maid. People in the family, old and young, all heard them. He did not allow anyone to see him. The only one who could see his physical form was the maid. Each time enjoying feast and wine with the maid, he would play a bamboo flute and sing a song. The song went:

  This leisurely night is quiet and lonely,

  my long flute is loud and clear.

  If you want to know who I am,

  my surname is Guo and name Changsheng.

  (GXSGC, #68. 371; YWLJ, 44. 794; TPGJ, 324. 2574; TPYL, 580. 2617b)

  23. THE DEMON AT FANGSHAN INN

  Ding Hua of Dongyang Commandery went out of the town,58 lodging at the Fangshan Inn. On the islet by the inn, the Gentleman Cavalier Attendant Liu had just experienced his mother’s death, and he returned from the capital where he had buried her.

  At night, suddenly a woman introduced herself to Ding Hua, saying, “Little Liu suffers from a sore, and I heard that you can cure it. That is why I have come.” Hua asked her to come closer, and he saw that she was sedate and beautiful, followed by several maidens. Hua ordered his servants to prepare sumptuous courses.

  When their drinking was at its height, the woman sighed, saying, “Our gathering tonight will no longer let me have the name of chastity.” Ding Hua said, “You have great virtue, how could you care about this aged man?” Then the woman asked the maiden to get a pipa,59 and she played it and sang as follows:

  I heard of your great fame long ago;

  today we meet at Fangshan Pavilion.

  Even though your body is decrepit,

  still you are delightful to me.

  She put the pipa on her knee, embraced her head with her arms, and sang:

  Though the appearance of this woman is humble,

  it is my will to make you my husband.

  Tender affection is seen in our pleasant meeting,

  wish that our hearts be knotted for thousands of years.

  Her voice was sweet and charming—it caused one to swoon with admiration.

  Then Ding ordered his servants to turn off the lights, and they expressed their love together. At dawn, the woman suddenly disappeared. The clerks said that there used to be demons in this pavilion.

  (GXSGC, #225. 418; TPGJ, 360. 2855)

  24. CHUNYU JIN’S MARRIAGE WITH A WILD CAT GIRL

  In the Taiyuan reign period (376–396) of Jin, Chunyu Jin, who lived in front of the Waguan Monastery,60 was young and pure. When he saw his guest off to the south of the City of Stone,61 he met a good-looking girl and liked her, and so he visited her. When their feelings became harmonious, Jin brought her to the northern corner of the city, where they made love and then parted.

  They planned another meeting, intending to become husband and wife then. The girl said, “With a husband like you, I would not have any regrets until death. But I have many brothers and my parents are both alive. I should ask my parents.”

  Then Jin requested the girl’s maid to ask her parents, and her parents also nominally promised him. Accordingly the girl ordered the maid to fetch one hundred jin of silver and a hundred pi of silk to help Jin with the wedding. Over quite a long time, she raised two children.

  Chunyu Jin was about to assume the position of Director of the Palace Library. The next day the attendants dealing with carts and horses came to summon him. Carts, horses, as well as musicians were arranged in front of and behind his cart.

  A few days later, a hunter passed by and looked for Jin, leading several dozen dogs. The dogs entered abruptly and bit his wife and children. They all became wild cats, and the silk, gold, and silver were merely grass, bones of dead people, and mock strawberries, etc.

  (GXSGC, #126. 390; FYZL, 31. 990)

  25. CHEN ADENG

  A native of Juzhang County was returning home after visi
ting the wildness of the eastern suburbs.62 At dusk, he had still not reached the gate of his own home. Seeing that there was a light by the side of the road, he went to put up for the night.

  There was a little girl who did not want to stay together with a man, so she called another girl, her neighbor, to accompany her. At night they played konghou, an ancient harp, together.

  At dawn the man thanked the girl before leaving, and he asked her name and courtesy name as well. The girl did not reply. Instead, she plucked the strings and sang,

  The unbroken vines from the kudzu,

  one is loose while one is tight.

  If you want to know my name,

  My surname is Chen and name Adeng.63

  (GXSGC, #45. 364–65; TPYL, 573. 2588b; BTSC, 106. 92a)

  ____________

      1.  This is a story of traveling to the land of the immortals, an enduring motif since the late Han, when the idea that immortals exist in the mountains and islands over the seas entered popular culture. Yet this piece is perhaps the most frequently quoted example among all the classical tales of the supernatural in the Six Dynasties. “Mr. Liu” 劉郎, “Mr. Ruan” 阮郎, and “Liu and Ruan” 劉阮 all became allusions in numerous poems, dramas, and fiction in later times. Besides the archetypal theme of fairy encounters, the “otherness” indicated by the setting on Mount Tiantai, literally “Heavenly Terrace,” and the story’s unique concept of time, in which one day in fairyland is equivalent to a year in the human world, were probably additional reasons this tale became so fascinating to Chinese people, especially the literati, in later generations. For studies of the lands of immortals, see Li Fengmao 李豐楙, Xianjing yu youli: shenxian shijie de xiangxiang 仙境與遊歷:神仙世界的想像.

      2.  Shan 剡 County, present-day Sheng 嵊 County, Zhejiang.

      3.  Tiantai 天台, the mountain noted for its connections with Daoism and Buddhism in modern Tiantai County, Zhejiang.

  The three characters Qu gupi 取穀皮 (gather paper mulberry bark), not found in FYZL, are added from TPYL 41 and 967. Gu 穀, also called chu 楮, gou 構, or gupiteng 穀皮藤 (Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry), is a kind of shrub in the family Moraceae, widespread in central and southern China. Its bark fiber has been used to make high-quality paper and cloth. Its root and bark are still used as herbs. See Xie Zongwan 謝宗萬, ed., Quanguo zhong-caoyao huibian 全國中草藥匯編.

      4.  For xinxi 忻喜 (be delighted), FYZL (31) reads er xi 而悉 (be acquainted with).

      5.  TPYL (41.195) reads tongwa 筒瓦 (tube-shaped tiles).

      6.  This is a touching love story written in an elegant style. It has been selected in almost all the selected collections of Chinese tales of the supernatural.

      7.  Shouji 手跡 here indicates “the way the girl packs a packet” instead of “fingerprint.”

      8.  This is the earliest work featuring the detached-soul motif in Chinese literature. After “Pang E,” the motif of the detached soul grew increasingly widespread. The best-known examples are the tale “Lihun ji” 離魂記 [Record of the detached soul] by Chen Xuanyou 陳玄祐 (fl. 779) of the Tang and the drama Qiannu lihun 倩女離魂 [Qiannu’s soul detachment] by Zheng Guangzu 鄭光祖 (fl. 1294) of the Yuan (1279–1368). For a study of this motif, see Zhenjun Zhang, “On the Origins of the Detached Soul Motif in Chinese Literature,” 167–84; see also his Buddhism and Tales of the Supernatural in Early Medieval China, 205–21.

  In Chinese religion, a person has two souls, the hun soul and the po soul. The earliest depiction of the duality of souls in a Chinese text is found in an entry from the seventh year of Duke Zhao 昭 (534 BCE) in the Zuo zhuan 左傳. There the hun 魂 soul was defined by Zichan 子產 (d. 522 BCE) in connection with the po 魄 soul. Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574–648) comments: “The spirit that attaches to the body is the po soul, the spirit that attaches to the vital energy is the hun soul” 附形之靈為魄，附气之神為魂 (Zuo zhuan zhushu 左傳註疏, in Ruan Yuan 阮元, Chongkan Songben shisanjing zhu shu 重刊宋本十三經註疏, 764; SBBY version [Zhonghua, n.d.], 44. 8a). Ge Hong’s 葛洪 “Lun xian” 論仙 [On immortals] in Baopu zi 抱朴子 [The master who embraces simplicity] says, “People, whether worthy or stupid, all know that souls exist in their body. And when his/her hun soul or po soul departs, the person will be sick; when both his/her hun soul and po soul leave, the person will die” 人無賢愚，皆知己身之有魂魄. 魂魄分去則人病, 盡去則人死. See Wang Ming 王明, ed., Baopuzi neipian jiaoshi 抱朴子內篇校釋, 19–20.

      9.  Julu 巨鹿, present-day Jin 晉 County, Hebei.

    10.  This unique tale is considered the prototype of the noted dream adventure motif in Chinese literature. This motif became popular from the Tang dynasty (618–907), and the most famous Tang tale featuring this motif is Shen Jiji’s 沈既濟 (c. 750–c. 800) “Zhenzhong ji” 枕中記 [The world inside a pillow]; an English translation of it, by William Nienhauser, can be found in Y. W. Ma and Joseph S. M. Lau, eds., Traditional Chinese Stories, 435–38. Later literary works that follow this model include: the dramas Huangliang meng 黃粱夢 [Yellow millet dream] by Ma Zhiyuan 馬致遠 (1260–1325), Handan meng 邯鄲夢 [Dream of Handan] by Tang Xianzu 湯顯祖(1550–1617), and the story “Xu Huangliang meng” 續黃粱夢 [Continuation of millet dream] by Pu Songling 蒲松齡 (1640–1715). Cf. Zhenjun Zhang, “A Fantastic Dream World: New Literary Motifs and Buddhist Culture,” in Buddhism and Tales of the Supernatural in Early Medieval China, 175–190.

    11.  Lake Jiao 焦, Lake Chao 巢湖 in Anhui.

    12.  A variant of this story is found in TPGJ 283 (credits YML) that reads:

  In the era of the Song 宋 dynasty [420–479], there was a cypress pillow—some say a jade pillow—with a small hole in it at the Jiaohu 焦湖 Temple. At that time, Yang Lin 楊林, a businessman from Shanfu 单父 County, went to the temple to pray [for good fortune]. The sorcerer of the temple asked him: “Would you like to marry well?” Lin replied: “I would be fortunate to do so.” Right then the sorcerer sent Lin to approach the pillow, and therefore Lin entered into the hole. Consequently he saw a red tower with a gemmed garret. Grand Marshal Zhao was inside, and he married his daughter to Lin. She had six sons, and all of them became secretaries in the imperial court. After several decades, Lin had no intention of returning. Suddenly [one day] he felt as if he had awakened from a dream, [and found he] was still at the side of the pillow. Lin was sad for a long time.

  Taiping huanyu ji 太平寰宇記 126 credits this story to YML as well as SSJ. But it begins with “In the Song Dynasty,” indicating that it was not from SSJ; furthermore, it does not exist in the extant version of SSJ. But Li Jianguo deleted the first line, “In the era of the Song dynasty,” by saying that it was most likely added by the compiler of TPGJ, and then included this story in his Xinji Soushen ji 新集搜神記, 53–54. It is hard to say which of the two versions is earlier.

    13.  Love between man and spirit, ghost, or demon is a long-standing theme in Chinese tales. This is a moving story, especially its ending. What is unique in this tale is that the father becomes the go-between, and he even forces the young man to marry his daughter. In the next tale, however, the father go-between was not as lucky as the father in this story because his great effort in marrying off his daughter failed. The man in that story seems not as flexible as the young man in this one, and that might be the cause of his death.

    14.  TPGJ (295. 2350) reads Shang hu 上湖 for Shangxiang hu 上湘湖.

  Yuhang 餘杭 County, the area between present-day Lin’an 臨安 and Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang. See Tan Qixiang 譚其驤, Zhongguo lishi dituji 中國歷史地圖集, 4. 27–28.

    15.  GXSGC made a mistake in punctuation: 進庭事上，有信幡 should be 進庭事，上有信幡. TPGJ reads without the shang 上 (295. 2351).

  �
�� 16.  Following TPGJ, po congming 頗聰明 (295. 2351).

    17.  Gei jun ji zhou 給君箕帚 (let [her] serve you with a broom and a dustpan) means to marry you as your wife.

    18.  Zhongshan 中山 State, modern Ding 定 County, Hebei.

    19.  Yundu 雲杜 County; its seat was northwest of modern Mianyang 沔陽 County, Hubei. TPGJ reads Yunshe 雲社, a mistake due to the similar shape of the graphs.

    20.  Huihuai 惠懷 County; its seat was west of Mianyang County, Hubei.

    21.  Ci yi 此議 (this proposal), originally cili 此里 (理, reasoning), is corrected according to the handwritten edition of the Ming dynasty (see TPGJ, 318. 2522).

    22.  The original graph 歸 (return) is a mistake of 婦 (wife) because of the similarity of their forms. Here I follow GXSGC instead of the Zhonghua edition of TPGJ, because the latter changes the original character into ran 染 (contract) based on the Ming dynasty hand-copied version and the correction does not make as much sense—based on that correction, the one who died becomes Zhen instead of his wife.

    23.  Liaodong 遼東 Commandery, located to the east of the Liao 遼 River.

    24.  Henan 河南 Commandery; its seat was Luoyang 洛陽, Henan.

    25.  Qinghe 清河 Commandery; its seat was located at modern Qinghe County, Hebei.

    26.  Nanjun 南郡 Commandery; its seat was Jiangling 江陵, Hubei.

    27.  Qu’e 曲阿, modern Danyang 丹陽, Jiangsu.

    28.  Guzhang 故章（鄣) County, modern Anji 安吉 County, Zhejiang.

    29.  Yuhang. See note 14 in this chapter.