Chinese Demons and Ghosts
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Summary
A chronicle of Chinese yao and gui, and half a history of the national psyche.
In the shadows, we glimpse "what makes China China."
Produced by the former editorial team of Chinese Heritage magazine, this is the most comprehensive index and guide to yao and gui.
One book surveys yao and gui in full—from their definitions, origins, and evolution to dozens of classic figures and stories, offering an in-depth analysis of the yao-gui system that has shaped Chinese society to this day.
It interprets classic tales from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, In Search of the Supernatural, Yijian Zhi, Journey to the West, and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, and includes more than 100 masterpieces of painting passed down through the ages, such as Mountain-Searching Scroll, Skeleton Puppet Play, Zhong Kui Capturing Ghosts, Nymph of the Luo River, and Excursion to Mount Zhongshan.
To read about yao and gui, this one book is enough!
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- General readers interested in Chinese folklore, zhiguai culture, and pictorial art
- Beginning readers who want a systematic understanding of the origins and evolution of yao and gui figures
- Content creators and editors working on traditional culture topics for reference
- Readers who enjoy reading classical tales in dialogue with famous paintings
Not a good fit for
- Professional researchers expecting rigorous scholarly textual criticism and a detailed annotation system
- Readers who only want horror stories and strong plot thrills
- Younger readers with little patience for classical Chinese quotations and image interpretation
Reading tips
- Read the sections on definitions and origins first to build a framework before moving on to specific figures, avoiding fragmentation.
- For each figure, compare the famous paintings and classical sources cited in the book, and take brief notes for easy reference later.
- Use the book as a reference work: when encountering yao-gui settings in related films, TV, or literature, return to it for indexing.
- After finishing, pick corresponding pieces from In Search of the Supernatural or Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio for further reading to deepen understanding.
About the publisher
Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House is a publisher known for its literary titles, with a catalogue spanning foreign literature, world classics, classical Chinese literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and mystery and detective fiction. Judging from the more than 1,100 books in the database, the press publishes foreign classics such as Crime and Punishment, Snow Country, The Complete Sherlock Holmes and Letter from an Unknown Woman, as well as Chinese classical and modern literary works including Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary and Wu Jingzi's The Scholars. In terms of translators and authors, translations by Cao Guowei and Tan Jinghua appear in its foreign literature titles, and the authors involved include Dostoevsky, Kawabata Yasunari, Conan Doyle and Zweig. Its publishing character lies in introducing Chinese and foreign literary classics side by side, balancing popular and serious works and attending to both readability and literary value. Public information is limited; the above is a brief overview based solely on the books in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 妖鬼：万古不息的回声
- 第一章 妖鬼谱系
- 第一节 幽冥鬼世界
- 第二节 中国鬼谱录
- 第三节 千古造妖史
- 第四节 说妖解怪
- 第五节 男怪女妖
- 第六节 百鬼夜行
- 第二章 妖鬼源流
- 第一节 《山海经》里的昆仑大妖怪
- 第二节 怪客僵尸不了情
- 第三节 六朝志怪的奇幻物语
- 第四节 宋人的志怪世界
- 第五节 《西游记》与妖怪演化史
- 第六节 《聊斋志异》里的人情味
- 第三章 经典妖鬼故事
- 第一节 冥府里的“公务员”
- 第二节 狐狸精是怎样炼成的
- 第三节 蛇妖：爱憎两重天
- 第四节 南海之外有鲛人
- 第五节 孙悟空的不堪往世
- 第六节 物化为妖悲喜录
- 第七节 灶下诡事谈
- 第八节 田螺姑娘：为我做羹汤
- 第九节 奇幻书生的历史漂流
- 第十节 中式爱情之合坟化蝶
- 第四章 人世间的鬼话
- 第一节 妒鬼缘何生
- 第二节 妖怪何处去
- 第三节 古今捉妖记
- 第四节 驱邪有道术
- 第五节 吞鬼护家院
- 第六节 面具与魂灵
- 第七节 城隍通阴阳
FAQ
Is this book a collection of horror stories?
Can I read it without a foundation in classical Chinese?
Are the famous paintings in the book in color or described in text?
Is it suitable as a reference book for consultation?
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About the author
Zhonghua Yichan (Chinese Heritage) is a magazine editorial and publishing body in mainland China focused on the humanities and history. Using its magazine as a platform, its editorial team has long been engaged in documenting and disseminating China's cultural heritage. Publicly available information is limited, and the institution's exact founding date, staffing, and complete publication list cannot yet be confirmed; nevertheless, its signed works give a general sense of its editorial direction. The book Zhongguo Yao Gui (Chinese Demons and Ghosts) in the library's holdings shows that, beyond tangible heritage such as architecture, artifacts, and folk customs, the team also turns its attention to folk beliefs and oral traditions like demon and ghost legends, tracing cultural threads through documents, images, and field materials. In terms of style, its writing is both informative and readable, addressing general readers rather than adopting an overly academic tone, while remaining cautious about its sources. This approach gives its publications some reference value for popularizing cultural knowledge, making them suitable for readers interested in folklore and traditional culture.
