Chinese Novellas About Wonders. Collector's Edition with Illustrations by Modern Artists

What happens if you combine "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikan'ka" by Nikolai Gogol, scary tales, and the poems of German romantics and set the action in 17th century China? "Liao Zhai Zhi Yi" ("Tales of the Strange from the... Studio of Liao") by Pu Songling is a unique monument of Chinese literature, rivaling the scope of Boccaccio's "Decameron" and Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".
Liao Zhai, the pseudonym and alter ego of the author, is a typical eternal student who has failed exams and is mired in bureaucratic obstacles that prevent his career from taking off. He finds solace in collecting stories and anecdotes about encounters with the supernatural. Meanwhile, the supernatural persistently intervenes in the lives of ordinary people—daoist monks and sorcerers demonstrate their tricks at the market, a new object of obsession turns out to be a shapeshifter, a whole family of demons has settled in an abandoned mansion nearby, and there is plenty of paranormal activity in his own house: objects fly around, a fox poltergeist torments relatives, and a hungry ghost drops by at night...
Shape-shifting foxes, fairies, demons, ghosts, and wizards live side by side with simple people and even in their guise—they may harm out of pure malice and mock human folly, or they may help restore justice and get things right in life.
The novellas are published in a brilliant classic translation by Vasily Alexeev, a well-known philologist and sinologist, with introductory articles and commentary by the translator. Modern Russian artists: Derscher, Soma, EUDJN, Infuria have depicted the most vivid fragments of the novellas and adorned the book with original color illustrations for a complete immersion in the atmosphere of dark magic!
This elegant collector's edition of the novellas is bound "like leather", with colored foil embossing and a colored cut with a stylized ornament, which will not leave indifferent lovers of beautiful and unusual books and will become a truly imperial gift for oneself, loved ones, and friends. This book, like a box of wonders, will adorn a bookshelf, bedside table, and a large family library, suitable for long cozy evenings, it will amuse, frighten, and inspire to create one's own wonders!