On Zhiguai and Bowu Learning in Ancient China: Taking “Strange Things beneath the Earth” as a Clue

Abstract

Bowu (broad knowledge of diverse matters) and fangshu (divinatory and occult arts) constitute the foundation and inner core of zhiguai (tales of the strange). The scholarly character of zhiguai is manifested primarily in its incorporation of knowledge derived from bowu and fangshu. By examining the strange things in zhiguai, we can discern how certain features of ancient bowu learning, including its fangshu dimensions, human-centered orientation, and practical concerns, shaped the development of zhiguai narratives. The phrase “among strange things, that beneath the earth is called fenyang [lit. tomb sheep]” became well known through The Discourses of the States. From pre-Qin historical texts to zhiguai collections of the Han, Tang, and even Song and Yuan periods, numerous strange things were said to emerge from the earth. Approaching several representative examples of such “strange things beneath the earth” from the perspective of bowu learning, and probing beneath the intermingling of the marvelous and the grotesque to seek their underlying reality, allows us to glimpse the symbiotic relationship between zhiguai and ancient bowu scholarship. The stories of such “strange things beneath the earth” implicitly reveal certain features in the formation and transmission of the Xiaoshuo (minor talk) category within the Master division.

Keywords

zhiguai / bowu learning / strange things beneath the earth

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press