Records of Penetrating the Darkness

Emperor Wu of Han longed for immortality more than any ruler before him, and his court filled with alchemists, magicians and envoys bearing gifts from impossible lands. Records of Penetrating the Darkness, attributed to the Han scholar Guo Xian, collects the wonders of his reign: fragrant woods that revive the dead, birds that speak, dew gathered from heaven, lamps that never go out, and the visits of Dongfang Shuo to the ends of the world. Each brief entry is a small marvel, written in a polished, jewelled style. This complete new English translation gives all four scrolls, a delightful companion to the Classic of Divine Wonders and the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era. Names are given in modern pinyin and the stories are rendered in plain, lively English, so they can be dipped into at random or read straight through, a feast for lovers of ghost stories, myth and folklore.