Conversation with Xiao San[1]

(May 5, 1939)

*Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* represents a kind of tender-hearted sentiment within feudalism. The author Pu Songling opposed forced marriages and corrupt officials and venal bureaucrats, but he did not oppose one husband having several wives (concubines), and he extolled women’s small feet. He advocated free love, which could not be openly discussed in feudal society, so he used ghosts and foxes to convey his moral teachings. The author also wrote about love in a highly artistic manner—the ghosts and foxes can all compose poetry.

Pu Songling paid great attention to investigation and research. He would brew a large pot of tea, sit among the crowds at the marketplace, and ask people to tell him the popular ghost and fox stories they knew, then go back and refine them. Otherwise, how could he have written about four hundred and dozens of ghosts and fox spirits?

[1] This is part of a conversation about *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* during a meeting between Mao Zedong and the poet Xiao San.

May 1939, Mao Zedong and Xiao San at Yangjialing, Yan’an.

1939, Mao Zedong, Xiao San, and a young Eighth Route Army soldier in conversation.

Archival photograph

1939, Mao Zedong having a cordial conversation with young Eighth Route Army soldiers in Yan’an.

*“My Name Is Mao Zedong”* (Chinese painting)

*Encounter on the Road—Chairman Mao and the Young Eighth Route Army Soldiers* (Chinese painting)

Mao Zedong and the Young Eighth Route Army Soldiers (Chinese painting)