Youminglu 幽明錄

Youminglu 幽明錄 "Stories of darkness and brightness" is a collection of ghost stories compiled during the Liu-Song period 劉宋 (420-479) by Liu Yiqing 劉義慶 (403-444), who is known for his authorship of the Shishuo xinyu 世說新語.

The Youminglu is listed with a length of 20 juan in the imperial bibliography Jingji zhi 經籍志 of the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書. Yet, the two bibliographies in the Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and Xintangshu 新唐書 speak of 30 juan. The Youminglu disappeared from book catalogues during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126).

The title of the book is derived from a sentence in the basic commentary Xici 繫辭, which is part of the Classic Zhouyi 周易 "Book of Changes", where it is said that "the sage knows the causes of what is obscure and what is bright". Ghosts and demons belong to the darkness, and it is of these matters that the Youminglu speaks. In some respects, the Youminglu is similar to Gan Bao's 干寳 (died 336) book Soushenji 搜神記, but because Liu Yiqing was highly interested in Buddhism, many of the stories also incorporate Buddhist thought, which is rarely found in common ghost stories of that age. While the Soushenji narrates many semi-historical events and popular tales, the Youminglu tends to draw its contents from popular tales and stories that were widespread during the Southern dynasties period 南朝 (420~589).

Quite a few stories in the Youminglu later evolved into novellas, novels or plays, such as the stories Liu Chen Ruan Zhao 劉晨阮肇 or Huangyuan 黄原, which were originally simple tales but were expanded with a touch of romance and thus became very widespread. Other examples are the stories Mai hufen nüzi 賣胡粉女子 or Pang A 龐阿, which speak of the return of the dead to life through the force of love. These tales can be seen as forerunners of the Lihunji 離魂記 from the Tang period 唐 (618-907) or the famous play Mudanting 牡丹亭 from the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644). Stories like Xin si gui 新死鬼 or Zhao Tai 趙泰 superficially deal with ghosts, but in fact, these are stories of living persons in a dialogue. It is evident that the literary quality of the Youminglu has already surpassed that of the early stories of the zhiguai 志怪 "narrating miracles" stories from the pre-Tang period.

Some of the tales can also be found in a similar form in the books Lieyizhuan 列異傳, Soushenji or Soushen houji 搜神後記. Parts of the Youminglu have even found their way into the official dynastic history Jinshu 晉書.

The original text is lost and only preserved in fragments assembled in the books Leishuo 類説, Linlang mishu congshu 琳琅秘書叢書, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小説 and Shuofu 說郛. The Republican scholar Lu Xun 魯迅 (1881-1936) assembled all surviving 265 fragments in his series Gu xiaoshuo goushen 古小說鈎沉. Most of them were quotations of the encylopaedia Taiping guangji 太平廣記.

There was a sequel to the Youminglu written by an unknown author during the Tang period. The only surviving fragment of this book called Hou youminglu 後幽明錄 is the story Pengchu 鵬雛, which is quoted in the encyclopaedia Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚. It is also included in the book Kongshi zhiguai 孔氏志怪, but in a shorter version. The collection Shuofu quotes another paragraph from a book called Xu Youminglu 續幽明錄, authorship of which is attributed to the Tang-period historian Liu Xiaosun 劉孝孫 (c. 600). This story is likely not originating in the proper Hou youminglu but appears to be identical to the tale Ziyu 紫玉 in the book Soushenji.