A FtM gender transition miracle in the 17th c. classic “Strange Tales of Liaozhai”

Is a modern scientific explanation available for the 1647 miracle tale "Changing into a man"? 

Btw, October 26 is Intersex Awareness Day.

The Messenger of the Eastern Warehouse: a resource redistribution tale from the 18th century

 "The Messenger of the Eastern Warehouse” appears in “What the Ears have Consumed”, an anthology of fantastical tales collected in 1794:

There was a beggar crone surnamed Zhou in the Su neighborhood of Jinxi[i]. Xe was a childless widow of more than 50 years of age, living alone in a dilapidated house. One day, a disembodied voice spoke next to xir ear, “Your situation is indeed pitiful. I will help you...

Read the rest of this folktale on Patreon!

Queer tales in the 17th century story collection “Strange Tales from Liaozhai”

17th c. Chinese folklorist Pu Songling collected close to 500 stories in “Strange Tales from Liaozhai", including at least a dozen tales with LGBTQIA+ characters 

Dragging a Spear in Snow - fancy cat coat names from the 19th c. Cat Garden

 Learn about the meaning and tradition behind this coat pattern. 

Queer characters in the literary classics of China's Qing era

The best-known works of literature from the 17th-18th centuries attest to the presence of gay, bisexual, asexual and trans characters in Qing China.

If a ghost asks you to help xem stop a pandemic, what would your response be?

 In the folktale “Ten Thousand Words to Quell a Pestilence”, a ghost guards an imprisoned disease demon who breaks forth to ravage the human world every 60 years. 60 years ago, humans were saved from a pandemic when a Taoist priest locked the demon in a box.  But as the years went by, the seal on the box grew weaker. The ghost guardian cannot reinforce the seal that keeps the disease demon imprisoned – this must be done by a living human...

Legend of the Steadfast Cat

 Illustration for a supernatural cat tale dating back to the 19th century or earlier.

The Righteous Ghosts

 Illustration for Epidemic Ghost Story: The Righteous Ghosts

We translated this during the COVID pandemic, as part of a series of epidemic-related folktales that we hope would inspire the reader to reflect on how working together to care for other people, including those who are not regarded as members of one's immediate community, was what helped communities survive past epidemics. 

Btw, just because it's 2023 and the pandemic is supposedly over and the media has moved on, it doesn't mean anti-Asian hate in North America has gone out of style:

Wulang Shen/Wutong Shen: 17th-18th century tales of pansexual incubi

Bringing you translations of 2 homoerotic supernatural tales from Feng Menglong’s 17th century work "The History of Passion".

By the way, May 24 is Pansexual Visibility Day
 

Cat spirits of Jinhua

This cat spirit from the folklore of the Jinhua region of Zhejiang is believed to transform into women or men to enchant its human victims. It remains invisible to other people.

Such spirits were once regular household cats. Learn how they acquired their power.

Grandma meets the Wuchang: 20th century encounters with the Impermanence Ghost

A narrator from China recounts the tales told by their two grandmothers about a time long before they became grandmothers:

Part 1: "Paternal Grandma was fierce. No one in the village dared to cross her. She had no fear of walking in the night..." 

Part 2: Maternal Grandma and her parents had a strange experience on the same night that Paternal Grandma saw the Impermanence Ghost.

Tales of life extension magic

How far would you go to live forever? What would you do to help someone live a little longer? One magician sacrifices those who trust him the most, while another goes out of their way to help a stranger...

Epidemic Fairytale: Gay lovers move a god to intervene in a pestilence

A same-sex happily-ever-after story was recorded in Volume 29 of Canghai Shiyi (“Picking up things left in the blue sea”) a collection of stories and poems edited by 19th century scholar Lin Weicheng.

Epidemic Ghost Story: The strangers’ coffin home

A ghostly band of tea traders battle pestilence demons to save a village.

A Tale for the Year of the Tiger: Guardians of the Gingko Forest

The legend of a 3rd century doctor/social entrepreneur and a team of tigers :-)

The Black and White Impermanences: a queerplatonic bond that moved the King of the Underworld

Xie amd Fan were a pair of sworn brothers who died for love. Because of their dedication to each other, they were immortalized as the soul collectors that every human will face at the end of life.. 

A Tale for the Year of the Tiger: The Stripe Siblings

A folktale about tigers defending and supporting their healthcare provider during a time of crisis.

Merfolk from Around the World (Happy Mermay!)

Merfolk from Around the World from Wolfberry Studio on Vimeo.

Sir/Dame Hare: The gender-fluid deity who saved a city from an epidemic

The legend behind a Beijing custom dating back to before the 17th century:

"So it was said, in a certain year, a sudden epidemic swept through Beijing. Almost every household was struck, and there was no cure for the disease. [The moon deity] Chang' E saw what was happening, and being very grieved, she sent her companion the Jade Hare to Earth to heal the people.

Jade Hare transformed into a teenage girl, and went from house to house curing patients. The people, in their gratitude, offered many gifts to them, but Jade Hare wanted none of that. They only took from each household a set of clothing, changing their outfit each time they moved on to a new location. Sometimes they appeared as a man; sometimes they appeared as a woman.

To reach more people, Jade Hare rode on a horse, a deer, a lion and a tiger. They covered all of the capital and its suburbs. Jade Hare returned to the Moon Palace after the epidemic was eradicated.

From then on, people made clay idols of Jade Hare, some riding a deer, some riding a phoenix, some dressed in armor, some dressed as artisans and tradespeople. On the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, each household lays offerings of fruit, vegetables and legumes on the deity's altar, to thank them for bringing blessing and happiness to the human world. The people fondly address them as Sir Hare or Dame Hare."

A cartoon retelling of the legend. ("Sometimes it is a man, sometimes it is a woman")

Bad things happen to men who betray talking animals to the authorities

Similar motifs can be found in stories from around the world, but the differences are just as interesting:

The Chameleon Harpist (from the Fulani of Niger):

While hunting deep in the forest, a hunter came across a chameleon who could sing and play the harp beautifully. The chameleon made the hunter promise not to tell anyone about him. But the hunter was so excited at meeting a talking chameleon that he couldn't help sharing his story with other humans, including the king.

The king sent guardsmen with the hunter to confirm his story. "If there is such a chameleon, I will make you rich. But if there is not such a chameleon, you will pay with your life." When the hunter brought the guards to the chameleon in the deep forest, the chameleon kept silent. So the guards assumed that the hunter had been lying and killed him. After that, the chameleon spoke, "He brought about his own death. I told him not to tell anyone about me, but he had to tell the world because of his greed."¹

The Fiddler Tortoise (from the Ga ethnic group of Ghana):