The Painted Wall Pu Songling

At times, something so far can reveal grand truths about something so close. This is the case between the supernatural and human nature in “The Painted Wall,” “Stealing a Peach,” as well as “The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag,” all three being a part of the greater anthology, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, written by Pu Songling. Conventional imagery of the supernatural lies in the concept of vengeful ghosts and fearsome spirits, perhaps aiming to harm an innocent human for their own evil satisfaction. These three tales by Pu Songling, however, stands apart from those conventional notions of the supernatural, as the world is portrayed based on the interpretation that human beings and supernatural beings can and do live in close proximity,

Perception is perhaps one of the more easily influenced qualities humans possess, as we humans, by nature, tend to hold trust in what we make out with our eyes rather than what is true. In “The Painted Wall,” we are introduced to Provincial Graduate Zhu, whose fascination with the painting at a Zen monastery somehow transports him inside the painting. Being in that alternative realm, Zhu’s personal fantasy seems to come to life: he makes love, several times, with the magically beautiful fairy from the world of the painting under a romantically dramatic situation where his engagement with the fairy must remain undiscovered. As he witnesses more and more of the other world, this precisely becomes the reality for him, “barely remembering any more who he himself was or where he had come from in the first place” (Pu 25), until the monk “taps” him out of the wall. Considering that Zhu has had a chance to practice his fantasy, why does this experience leave him disheartened? Should he not be glad that he safely returned to “this” world? This is where perception seeps in. Prior to this illusory incident, Zhu seems rather content about his current life, endowed with respectable status as provincial graduate, probably one of the higher positions a person can reach in “this” world. This self-understanding, however, shifts hurriedly after spending time in an ethereal world.

“The Magic Sword and the Magic Bag” consists of a similar beginning, in which stacks of men spending the night at the temple are killed day by day precisely because of their very human aspirations towards material and/or sexual greed. Little Beauty the spirit, as a deliverer of ghostly temptation, attempts to entice Ning Caichen through sex and gold as well, both of which Ning ardently refuses. As the tale progresses and narrates Ning Caichen’s happy and fortunate life, the lesson seems to be that resistance against greedy human nature is the gateway towards success. In spite of Little Beauty’s beauty, as her name suggests, and her desire to spend nights with Ning Caichen after she has followed him away from the temple to his home, Ning sharply declines her request, as his wife is ill in bed (and not dead). This kind of behavior only gains him more respect, and eventually, after he becomes a widower, he does take in Little Beauty as a wife and even takes in a concubine. On top of that, Ning passes his doctoral examinations. In other words, in the tale, the one who was least susceptible to greed ultimately becomes blessed with both sexual satisfaction and material wealth — suggesting futility