Masterpiece Pu Songling’s Strange Stories

MASTERPIECE
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Throughout generations, different individuals have told stories for various purposes. In most cases, these stories are aimed at addressing issues of concern in the society and how to go about solving them. Moreover, the tales discourage any practices of immorality. In Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, there are a number of interesting facts that have been addressed through the short stories “Painted Skin”, and “Yingning or the Laughing Girl.” The two touch on the subjects of ghosts, the position of women in society and immorality. The present work examines the Strange Stories by Pu Songling from the eyes of Jonathan Spence’s “Death of the Woman Wang.” In the works of the two authors, there is an extensive use of the supernatural as a means of helping make sense of life and society as a whole. There are interesting shared themes, styles and messages that make all these works worth looking at.
In order to understand Songling’s stories in light of Spence’s, it is important to compare the plots in the three stories. To begin with, Painted Skin centers on the experiences of a man Wang who lusts for a young girl after meeting her. The girl is beautiful and this attribute makes Wang to readily take her to his house without telling anyone else. Later, it is revealed that Wang was possessed by a demon because of the interaction with the girl who happened to be a “green-faced monster, a ghoul with great jagged teeth like a saw.” His attempt to get rid of it fails and his heart is ripped out instead. In the end it he monster is killed by the Taoist priest once it returns to its original form. The story Yingning or the Laughing Girl is about a young man Wang, a widow’s son who falls in love with the girl Yingning. After the first encounter where Wang picked a flower dropped by the girl, he cannot afford to keep her off his mind. He keeps thinking about her until his health begins to deteriorate. After suffering for a long time, Wang decides to go and look for the girl and finds her living with her aged stepmother. He manages to take the girl to his home where it is revealed that the girl was a fox’s child even though this does not affect the relationship between the two. Lastly, Death of the Woman Wang is a story about young widows in the 17th century China who are left at the mercy of their in-laws and are expected to live according to standards set by the society. The pressure from these expectations makes many to commit suicide.
It is interesting that most of Songling’s works are based on extraordinary, supernatural beings and events. This fact points towards an in-depth characterization that has been known as a common feature in most of Songling’s works. In the story “Painted Skin” for example, there is the mention of ghosts and evil spirits, which are used to expose different characteristics in human beings. In the story, Wang, a Chinese scholar falls in love with a girl he meets who seems nice and beautiful in an innocent manner. A romantic relationship develops between the two before the girl’s real identity is revealed to all. What was initially thought to be good turns out being evil as the young attractive woman reveals her identity. Apparently, she is a ghost, a demon that needs to be exorcised. It takes the intervention of the Taoist priest to get rid of this demon. By using ghosts as characters that need exorcising, Pu Songling has clearly shown that both evil and good exist in society and that the two forces are always at war. However, in the end evil is defeated by good even though this requires great effort. Songling’s use of the supernatural is also in the story “Yingning, or the Laughing Girl” in the form of a fox. Notably, this fox spirit is known to be a source of both good and evil. Its good is seen in it protecting the young girl Yingning from any harm while its evil is seen when it causes innocent men to get sick and die. Just like Songling in his two stories, this idea of using unexplainable supernatural beings is also found in “Death of the Woman Wang” by Jonathan Spence. After Wang’s death, it is evident that people feared her more than when she was still alive. Apparently, in death “she was stuffed with power and danger: as a hungry ghost she could roam the village for generations…impossible to exorcise”. In this case, just like the other two, the idea of good versus evil is presented using ghosts.[Sungling, Pu. Pg. 139.]
In all the three stories, the authors cover the theme of pure love by openly admiring those that faithfully stuck by the sides of their loved ones or simply remained true in their dealings. Songling’s “Yingning” is a good example where this kind of love is shown. In the story, one cannot doubt the fact that the young man Wang is in love with Yingning given that he is willing to go to any extent just to win her heart. After the first encounter, Wang even becomes sick just because he does not know where to find the girl he admired most. Driven by his love for Yingning, he sets off to a place he knows little about to try to find her, and eventually succeeds in this mission. This is a p...