Soushenji 搜神記

Soushenji 搜神記 "Investigations into deities", also called Soushenlu 搜神錄, Soushen yiji 搜神異記 or Soushen zhuanji 搜神傳記, is a famous collection of fantastic stories compiled during the Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) by the historian Gan Bao 干寶 (d. 336).

The original size of the Soushenji was 30 juan, of which ten were lost until the Song period 宋 (960-1279). The received version has thus only 20 juan. The book was probably revised and rearranged during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Hu Yuanrui 胡元瑞.

The Soushenji records 464 stories (plus 34 fragments) of deities, immortals, souls and spirits, as well as numerous popular stories of strange events. Especially the latter often describe persons of low social standing, for instance, Han Ping 韓凴 and his wife, Dou Ji 賣寄, Ganjiang Moye 干將莫邪, the soul of Ziyu 紫玉 returning, or the story of a girl who plays "husband and wife" with her horse, and in which both are later transformed into silkworms. Many of these stories later became very popular, like chapter 13 that contains a story of an unjustly executed woman, which would later eventually find its more famous shape in the theatre play Dou E yuan 竇娥冤.

The oldest print has survived as a facsimile in the series Mice huihan 秘冊彙函. The Soushenji is also included in the Jindai mishu 津逮秘書, the Xuejin taoyuan 學津討原, Zishu baijia 子書百家 and Congshu jicheng 叢書集成初編 and the Siku quanshu 四庫全書, all with a length of 20 juan, while the editions in the series Baihai 稗海, Guang Han-Wei congshu 廣漢魏叢書 and Shuoku 說庫 are 8 juan long.

The 8-juan versions are based on a fragmentary book called Soushenlun 搜神論 that was compiled by the monk Tanyong 曇永 during the Northern Wei period 北魏 (386-534). It is not identical to Gan Bao's Soushenji.
In 1979, the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published a modern edition with a commentary by Wang Shaoying 汪紹楹

The famous poet Tao Qian 陶潛 (Tao Yuanming 陶淵明, 365-427) wrote a kind of supplement, the Soushen houji 搜神後記, shortly after Gan Bao's main book was finished.

There is a commentary for all three versions of the Soushenji written by Wang Shaoying 汪紹楹 (1909-1970) and published in 1981 by the Zhonghua Shuju Press. The three versions have also been published by Wang Dongming 王東明 in 1983, together with the Shoushen houji.

There is also a book with the title Soushen included in the series Baihai 稗海. It is 8 juan long an was probably compiled during the Song period on the basis of fragments of the monk Tanyong's 曇永 Soushenji from the Northern Wei period 北魏 (386-534), and Gou Daoxing's 句道興 Soushenji from the Tang period 唐 (618-907). The latter was excavated from the cave libraries of Dunhuang 敦煌. Gou Daosheng's Soushenji only includes 35 stories, and the Baihai version 40 stories.

There is yet another book with the same title including biographies of immortals. This 6-juan-long book includes biographies of immortals. It was revised during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Zhang Guoxiang 張國祥 (died 1611). It includes the biographies of more than 160 Confucians, Daoists and Buddhists. It is included in the revised Daoist Canon from the Wanli reign-period 萬曆 (1573-1619), Wanli xu daozang 萬曆續道藏.

The Soushenji also inspired the creation of similar collections of fantastic stories.

The anonymous Soushen zongji 搜神總記 is mentioned in the bibliographical chapter of the official dynastic history Songshi 宋史, as a work with a length of 10 juan, and attributed to Gan Bao. However, the book catalogue Chongwen zongmu 崇文總目 refutes Gan Bao's authorship of this work. The bibliography Suichutang shumu 遂初堂書目 lists two books, namely Soushen zhiji 搜神摭記, and Tanyong's 曇永 (c. 480-542) Soushenji 搜神記. These two entries might be errors for the said Soushen zongji. It was lost at the end of the Song period.

Another anonymous book is Wudai soushen ji 五代搜神記, which comprises 8 juan. It cannot, as some catalogues claim, have been compiled by Gan Bao. Some paragraphs, like Li Fen 李汾 or Li Chubao 李楚賓 are quoted in the Song-period encyclopaedia Taiping guangji 太平廣記. The story Dehua Zhang ling 德化張令 (identical to the tale Fuliang Zhang ling 浮梁張令 in the Taiping guangji) points at a date of compilation that cannot have been earlier than the creation of the district of Dehua 德化 under the Southern Tang dynasty 南唐 (937-975), one of the Ten States 十國 (902~979).

The Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) writer Li Tiaoyuan 李調元 (c. 1740-1800) compiled a collection called Xin shoushenji 新搜神記. . It includes 124 stories from Zhejiang, Beijing, and Sichuan, whose origins date to the early 18th century. Although much of the content concerns gods and ghosts, the author explicitly states that there are no ghosts in the world and advises against fearing demons or vampires. He urges the use of "gods" to satirise the social system and to regard gods and ghosts as human creations. The editor drew on folk sources and rendered them in classical Chinese. Because the language is plain and unadorned, it preserves, to a certain extent, the characteristics of folk tales. The book was printed in 1797.