3. The Pregnant Ghost
Kirsty Logan explores the classical Chinese ghost stories of Pu Songling, discovering how, and why, a ghost woman would give birth to a living child.
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
'She will be made whole in her life and her afterlife, even if that means bending the rules of nature and society to suit herself.'
Kirsty Logan explores the ghostly tales found in Pu Songlingβs βStrange Tales from a Chinese Studioβ, a collection of hundreds of fantastic, and slippery tales of ghosts, spirits and demons that include a most unusual ghost - a pregnant ghost, that gives birth to a living child.
Kirsty finds out how ghosts come to exist within a culture of ancestor worship - where the souls of dead family members should be at peace due to the care and veneration they receive from their descendants, and how the ghosts that emerge can be symbols of hope, or terror.
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Luo Hui - The Ghost Mask
Duration: 02:01
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The Beautiful Head
Duration: 01:35
Luo Hui - Ghosts, Beasts and Demons in Human Skin in Pu Songling's tales
Β Our Extra Interview today is
Dr Luo Hui is a senior lecturer in the School of Languages & Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington. His research focuses on Chinese literary and visual cultures, with particular interest in translation, adaptation, reception, and issues of soft power.Β
In his early 20s he dove into the strange and slippery realm of Pu Songlingβs ghost stories, and it became a topic of personal and academic fascination ever since. Here he tells us why ghosts have so much meaning in Chinese culture, and explores the idea of becoming as seen through Songlingβs terrifying and bewitching female demons, beasts and ghosts.
Broadcasts
- Wed 21 Oct 2020 13:45ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Fri 24 Sep 2021 14:45ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4