Some Chinese Ghosts

In Short

This slender anthology retells six Chinese folk legends centered on deep devotion, supernatural encounters, and transformative sacrifice. A daughter leaps into a blazing vat to save her father’s casting of a giant bell; a young scholar falls in love with the ghost of an ancient poetess; an impoverished serf marries a weaver goddess; a loyal judge returns as a ghost; a monk battles earthly desire; and a master potter throws himself into his furnace to create perfection. These ancient tales survive because they frame human devotion, craftsmanship, and love through a lens of unforgettable, haunting beauty.

The Story

The book presents six distinct narratives of devotion and supernatural intervention across ancient China. In the first tale, a bell-founder named Kouan-Yu faces death after failing twice to cast a giant bell for the Emperor. His devoted daughter, Ko-Ngai, consults an astrologer and learns the metal requires a virgin’s life. At the final casting, she leaps directly into the white-hot molten metal. Her father is dragged away mad with grief, leaving her maid holding only a small embroidered shoe. The bell is successfully cast, but its long, mournful resonance forever whispers her name.

In the second tale, the young scholar Ming-Y travels through a lonely, fragrant forest and catches sight of a breathtaking woman named Sië. They meet again and spend passionate nights together drinking wine, reciting poetry, and singing ancient songs. Ming-Y notices that the manuscripts she possesses bear the signatures of famous poets from five centuries prior. When his family notices his strange absences, they track him, only to find the palace where he met her is a ruined tomb. Sië is a phantom of an ancient poetess. Before vanishing forever, she bids him a weeping farewell and leaves him an agate brush-case. Ming-Y grows up to achieve high honors, but he never forgets her.

The third story follows Tong-yong, a pious son of the Han dynasty who sells himself into serfdom to pay for his father’s burial. A mysterious, beautiful woman named Tchi joins him on the road, offers to be his wife, and magically transforms his wretched existence. She weaves exquisite fabrics that rapidly pay off his debt to secure his freedom. After bearing him a child, she reveals herself to be a celestial goddess sent by Heaven to reward his filial piety, then vanishes into the morning sky.

Subsequent legends continue this theme of miraculous transcendence. A righteous judge, Yen-Tchin-King, is sent to negotiate with a ferocious rebel general and is executed. Years later, when the war ends and his coffin is exhumed, his body remains untouched by corruption, smiling serenely as if merely asleep. Elsewhere, a devout ascetic struggles against the ghostly, intoxicating illusion of a woman’s beauty as he journeys through a sensual, labyrinthine temple. Finally, the master potter Pu is commanded by the Emperor to create a porcelain vase with the exact tint, warmth, and texture of living, shivering flesh. Realizing that human art cannot animate cold clay without a soul, Pu leaps into his own glowing furnace, sacrificing his life so his spirit can inhabit the magnificent vessel.

How It Unfolds

The ultimate sacrifice Ko-Ngai leaps into the roaring crater of liquefied metal to save her father from the Emperor's wrath. Her distraught serving-woman is left grasping only a single, tiny embroidered shoe as the great bell's casting is completed.

A enchanted encounter Ming-Y wanders off a mossy path into a blossom-scented forest where he glimpses the enchanting Sië. They share ecstatic nights singing verses written centuries ago, until her true nature as a long-dead poetess forces an agonizing, permanent farewell.

A celestial reward Tong-yong sells his freedom to bury his father, only to meet a mysterious woman without shoes who offers to be his wife. She weaves magical fabrics that erase his debts before ascending back to the heavens from which she descended.

Immortality of the righteous Judge Yen-Tchin-King fearlessly enters a rebel camp carrying the Emperor's decree and is slain for his loyalty. Decades later, his exhumed form is found completely untouched by time, smiling peacefully in the earth.

The soul in the clay Faced with an impossible imperial mandate to craft porcelain that mimics living, breathing human flesh, the artisan Pu recognizes that art requires a living spirit. He throws himself into his glowing kiln, giving his life to bestow a soul upon his masterpiece.

The People

• Ko-Ngai: The noble daughter of the bell-founder Kouan-Yu. Driven by filial love, she willingly throws herself into a molten furnace to save her father from execution, leaving behind only her shoe and a bell that echoes her memory.
• Ming-Y: A talented young musical scholar who falls deeply in love with the mysterious Sië. Though he achieves high honors, wealth, and a family later in life, he is permanently transformed by his spectral romance and quietly keeps her gifts on his writing desk.
• Sië (Sië-Thao): The phantom spirit of a celebrated ancient poetess who re-emerges to share music, wine, and passionate affection with Ming-Y before fate tears them apart.
• Tong-yong: A deeply pious man from the Han dynasty who willingly enters serfdom out of filial duty to bury his father. His humility and virtue earn him the love and aid of a heavenly weaver goddess.
• Tchi (Tchi-Niu): A divine entity disguised as an unadorned woman of the people. She marries Tong-yong, transforms his wretched home with her magic, weaves away his debts, and leaves him with a blessed child.
• Pu: A master potter of unsurpassed skill who is ordered by the Emperor to accomplish the impossible task of creating porcelain that resembles living flesh. He ultimately chooses to sacrifice his life to animate his final work.

In Its Own Voice

"And even as she cried, she leaped into the white flood of metal; and the lava of the furnace roared to receive her, and spattered monstrous flakes of flame to the roof..."

Ko-Ngai hurls herself into the boiling vat to ensure her father's success and preserve his life.

"From the very first I knew this must come to pass; and nevertheless it seemed to me for the moment so cruelly sudden a loss, so unexpected a misfortune, that I could not prevent myself from weeping!"

The spirit Sië laments the inevitable end of her magical time spent with her mortal lover Ming-Y.

"I know that a Soul may never be divided! Therefore my life for the life of my work!--my soul for the soul of my Vase!"

The potter Pu offers his final prayer to the Spirit of the Furnace before stepping into the fire to complete his miraculous vase.

What It's Really About

Beneath their eerie and romantic surfaces, these stories examine the profound tension between mortal limitations and the desire for perfection. The collection consistently explores duty, filial piety, and artistic creation, demonstrating that extraordinary beauty or accomplishment demands a supreme personal cost. Whether it is a daughter sacrificing her youth for her father or an artisan giving his life for his vessel, true mastery and love require absolute self-surrender. The ghost stories do not serve merely to frighten; instead, they portray the spirit world as a realm where beauty, loyalty, and art transcend physical death.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate lyrical fairy tales, folklore, and atmospheric supernatural fiction will find this short volume thoroughly captivating. The book offers a lush, dreamlike reading experience that feels less like reading dry history and more like stepping into a painted scroll filled with glowing lanterns, ancient zithers, and fragrant peach blossoms. Its prose is deliberately stylized and ornate, rich with sensory descriptions of color, sound, and perfume.

While modern readers may occasionally find the romanticized, nineteenth-century orientalist prose slightly dramatic, the core emotions of the stories remain universal and deeply moving. The text contains detailed explanatory notes that clarify historical references and artistic terminology, making it easy to follow. What stays with you long after finishing is the recurring image of devotion: the lingering chime of a bell echoing a daughter's name, or a exquisite vase gleaming with the warmth of the soul trapped within it.