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聊齋志異 · 勞山道士

Name: 聊齋志異 · 勞山道士
Availability: InStock
Author: Pu Songling

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio · The Taoist Priest of Lao-shan

by Pu Songling

An impatient pupil seeks an easy path to walking through walls.

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Original language: ChineseLevel: Advanced1,065 characters · ≈ 4 minSource: Project Gutenberg

Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
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Books behind this year’s screen adaptations

Tencent Video's period fantasy series New Liaozhai (2026, 40 episodes), adapted from Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

Sample: three-line reading

Each word has its meaning in this sentence underneath, and each sentence has a full translation. Read the original and glance down only when you need to.

邑in the town有there was王生a man surnamed Wang (Scholar Wang)行七ranked seventh among his siblings故家子a son of an old established family

In the town there was a man named Wang, the seventh in his family, a son of an old family.

少when young慕admired道the Way聞heard勞山Lao Mountain多had many仙人immortals負笈carried his book box往set off游to visit

When young, he loved the Way, and heard that Lao Mountain had many immortals, so he carried his book box and went to visit.

登climbed一頂one peak有there was觀宇a temple甚very幽quiet and deep

He climbed to a peak, where there was a temple very quiet and deep.

一one / a道士Taoist priest坐sat蒲團rush mat上on素發white hair垂領hanging down to the neck而and / while神光spirit and radiance爽邁bright and free / vigorous and unrestrained

A Taoist priest sat on a rush mat, white hair hanging to his neck, and his spirit was bright and free.

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About the book

"The Laoshan Taoist" is a story from Liaozhai zhiyi (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio), a collection of Classical Chinese tales in the zhiguai and chuanqi styles by Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling. It tells of a young man named Wang who goes up the mountain to take a master, sees a paper moon and an immortal's feast, yet cannot endure the day-after-day toil. A single wall-passing spell lays bare his longing for shortcuts.

About the author

Pu Songling (5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi).

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 聊齋志異 (CC BY-SA)

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