From the third century bce, Chinese literati compiled diverse works on the strange, recording ordinary persons’ otherworldly encounters, near death experiences, prophetic dreams and the like. This book brings together 225 previously untranslated “tales of wonder” selected from what remains of some 25 compilations of anomaly accounts (zhiguai 志怪) originally dating from the third–seventh centuries ce (many now found only in later collectanea). The volume, taking its name from the work contributing the most tales, the Yiyuan 異苑, A Garden of Marvels, compiled by Liu Jingshu 劉敬叔 (fl. early fifth century), is primarily directed at undergraduates and non-specialists and designed accordingly in terms of length and price. With this readership in mind Robert Campany provides a 25-page introduction to the genre: the processes by which the compilations came into being, how they were preserved and why they are worth reading today. These tales were regarded with ambivalence, “a guilty pleasure for many” (p. xxi): Emperor Wu of the Jin (r. 265–289) chided the compiler of a major collection reminding him Confucius did not include materials on ghosts and gods in the classics he edited, nor did he “deign to speak of ‘prodigies, feats of abnormal strength, disorder or spirits’”. The Emperor, concerned people would “be startled by what they have never read before and marvel at what they have never seen”, requested the work be substantially reduced lest it “frighten and confuse later generations”. Nonetheless, he kept the shortened version “in his personal book chest and perused it on his days of leisure” (pp. xxi–xxii).

Contemporary readers, even those familiar with the genre, will also find themselves startled (not to mention amused and entertained) by many of the tales assembled here. But the purpose of this book is not merely to divert on days of leisure: these accounts, rather than being treated (as they often are) as an early stage in the development of Chinese literature, are “a sort of crystallization of collective social memory” (p. xxvi) and provide “unparalleled material for the history of Chinese religion, as well as evidence that there was religion beyond the great traditions and their specialists”, enabling us to glimpse an “enormous amount of religious terrain” (p. xxxix). The porous boundary between the living and the dead, and the relationships between those on either side of that divide, is a major theme. Rich detail of popular conceptions of the afterlife are provided by reviving returnees from the land of the dead and the manifestation of ghosts to the living, frequently through the medium of dreams. Students will be able to observe the interactions between the major traditions and local beliefs: Daoists seek to constrain powerful local cults (item 59) and use talismans to control ghostly visitations (item 152). The extent to which Buddhist ideas had permeated the popular consciousness in the centuries following its introduction is evident both in pro-Buddhist compilations and those of wider scope. Several stories illustrate Buddhists triumphing over indigenous beliefs: wicked local gods are converted (item 3); local spirits scatter in fear when monks enter a shrine (item 91); Buddhists chanting scripture triumph over Daoist libationers filing petitions in ridding a family of a ghostly nuisance (item 61). Readers can also observe contestation over sacred space as the foreign faith is embedded in the physical fabric of China when a mountain god cedes his territory to a monk (item 49). It is not just students of religion who will find much worthy of further research here. The relationship between humans and animals, for instance, is another major concern of many of these stories, complicated by the shape-shifting that animals and non-humans frequently indulge in.

Given the intended audience, it seems surprising that the author has chosen to leave the translated materials without commentary, leaving readers “to form their own interpretations” (p. xix). Some tales probably defy analysis, for instance the cushion-like object which unfurled itself to reveal “it was completely lined with eyes that moved and winked in a revolting way” (item 62). For others, the lack of commentary might mean beginners underestimate the complexity involved, and more experienced students would undoubtedly welcome Campany's insights. Determining when a tale betrays signs of Buddhist influence is sometimes difficult: is there a karmic element in the fate of the mollusc harvester, devoured one night by a mass of molluscs who “fed in a frenzy on her flesh” leaving only her skeleton behind, for example? (item 87). Does a mourning mother dog's collection and burial of the bones of her pup made into a medicinal soup (item 54) illustrate a wariness about harming animals for the benefit of humans stemming from an acceptance of animals as fellow sentient beings? That said, leaving these tales without commentary, only annotating when details might “otherwise mystify” (p. xix), eschewing the sinological habit of annotating to the “nth degree” (p. xiii), just pointing the reader to the relevant scholarship in brief footnotes, will enable undergraduates without the relevant language skills to engage in a very direct manner with the materials and use them to begin their investigations into a vast range of topics. Campany's introduction, the distillation of three decades of study of this genre, is a portal through which the reader can access his earlier works as well as other relevant scholarship and is more than adequate to point the inquiring student in the right direction. This fascinating volume will undoubtedly encourage independent thought and prove a useful pedagogical tool, and while initially sceptical of the publisher's book-jacket claim that this work “will likely find its way to bedside tables” (perhaps the modern equivalent of the Emperor Wu's personal book chest), this reviewer's copy will remain on hers for some time. However, these tales provide so much stimulating material (not to mention on occasion the frankly grotesque and alarming) that light sleepers should exercise caution if they are in need of a good night's rest.