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Overview

A magistrate carrying six hundred thousand ounces of silver for the Hunan governor loses it overnight in a temple during a storm. A blind guide who can read minds leads him over five days to a populous mountain city. There a host in Han-style dress lodges him. In a garden pavilion he sees hanging human skins, complete with eyes, noses, mouths and hearts, and fears that he may join them.

The king, wearing a pearl-decorated cap and an embroidered sash, sits facing south over an orderly court. He admits that he holds the silver and nominally accepts it as a gift. He gives the magistrate a sealed letter that protects him from blame, and an escort leads him out by a different road.

The letter returns the hair of the governor's wife, which had earlier been cut away by unknown means. It accuses the governor of corruption and orders him to replace the public silver from his own extortions, on pain of death. The governor releases the innocent magistrate and then dies. Later searchers find no city, only pathless and inaccessible mountains.

Human-like courtly ruler in cap and sashCommands an inaccessible mountain cityPunishes official corruption with uncanny reach
01

Origins & earliest records

A Pu Songling narrative, Volume I, story XXXVI, in Giles's 1880 translation.

02

Records & interpretation

A single public-domain translation. The king is never named, and the text supports no identification with a deity, a dragon king, or a historical sovereign.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

    Pu Songling; translated by Herbert A. Giles · 1880

    Selected bibliography; primary translation, Volume I, pp. 257–261.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary text, public-domain translationStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio, volumes I and II (plain text)Research access: 2026-10-06
  2. Catalogue recordStrange Stories from a Chinese Studio, catalogue recordResearch access: 2026-10-06

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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