Soushen Ji
Also known as: In Search of the Supernatural, A Record of Investigations of the Spiritual, Sou-shen chi, Search for the Spirits, Record of the Search for Spirits
An Eastern Jin anthology of anomaly accounts, myths, marvels, spirits, and wonders compiled by Gan Bao. It preserves influential retellings of legendary figures and supernatural episodes that shaped later Chinese literature and folk religion.
Description
Soushen Ji is a seminal zhiguai collection that gathers brief narratives of spirits, prodigies, revenants, miracles, and mythic personages circulating from antiquity through the Eastern Jin. Gan Bao frames these reports as credible ‘records’ of the numinous world, often linking them to named places, officials, or earlier sources. Although the original thirty juan are not fully extant, the surviving recensions transmit many canonical stories—such as the moon-flight of Chang’e and the heroine Li Ji’s slaying of a serpent—that became touchstones for poets, historians, and storytellers. The work’s concise prose, matter-of-fact tone, and attention to local cults and omens exemplify early medieval Chinese fascination with the porous boundary between the human and spirit realms.
Historiography
Originally compiled in thirty juan, Soushen Ji survives in partial and variant recensions due to losses and re-editions from the Tang and Song onward, with Ming and Qing prints shaping the modern text. Commentators and encyclopedists excerpted it extensively, especially in Taiping Guangji. Modern critical editions collate disparate witnesses and incorporate citations preserved in leishu. An influential English translation by DeWoskin and Crump has framed contemporary scholarship and reception.
Date Notes
Compiled in the Eastern Jin; compiler Gan Bao died in 336 CE; later redactions and partial losses across Tang–Song–Ming print traditions.
Themes
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Wang Ziqiao
- Dongfang Shuo
- Zuo Ci
- Queen Mother of the West
- Lady Li
Myths
- Strange Tales of Spirits and Portents
- Fox Spirits and Immortals
- Encounters with Reanimated Corpses
Facts
- Soushen Ji is a cornerstone of the early medieval Chinese zhiguai (anomaly) tradition.
- The work is attributed to Gan Bao, an Eastern Jin historian and court official.
- The original compilation comprised thirty juan (scrolls), now partially lost.
- Later encyclopedias such as Taiping Guangji preserve many Soushen Ji tales.
- It records influential versions of the Chang'e and Li Ji narratives.
- Gan Bao often cites places, officials, or earlier sources to lend credibility.
- The collection shaped later hagiography, local cult lore, and vernacular fiction.
- Modern editions reconcile divergent recensions and excerpt traditions.
- DeWoskin and Crump produced a landmark English translation with commentary.
- Soushen Ji bridges classical mythic motifs and lived religious practice in local cults.