Painted Skin
Encyclopedia
"Painted Skin" is a famous short story
from Pu Songling
's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
. It tells of a scholar who is attracted to a beautiful maiden and brings her home, only to discover she is an ugly female ghoul who puts on a facial mask
to look attractive, after "painting" it daily.
It has been remade thrice as a film:
there was a scholar called Wang (王). In an early morning he met a girl on the road who had been sold to a rich family by her parents, could not stand the abuse of the wife of the rich, and fleed. The scholar agreed to give her refuge, let her stayed in his studio secretely, and slept with her. Suspecting that the girl could have been a concubine in a rich family, Wang's wife asked him to send the girl away without success.
One day, Wang encountered a Taoist priest in the market. The priest stared at Wang with surprise and asked him whether something strange had happened to him recently, because Wang looked enchanted by a ghost. Wang denied and left without taking the preist seriously. The priest lamented that Wang was going to die without noticing the precursors.
When Wang returned home, he found that the door of the studio was firmly closed. Having been stirred up by the words of the priest, he sneaked to the window and had a peep. Through the window he saw a ghost with green face and teeth like those of a saw spreading up a piece of human hide on the bed and painting it. Then, the ghost lifted up the hide, shaked it like the cloth, cloaked itself in the hide, and transformed into the girl.
Being greatly shocked, Wang rushed to the priest and knealt for help. The priest told Wang that the ghost was also having a hard life finding a victim, and he would not want to hurt it. Then the priest gave Wang a chowry and made him hang it on the door where he slept. After returning home, Wang dared not sleep in the studio, so he slept in another room and hanged the chowry there.
At early night, Wang heard sounds outside the door. Too feared to investigate, he had his wife to peep. At first, having fear of the chowry, the girl stood outside for a long time before she left. Shortly afterwards, scolding the priest, the girl returned. She took off the chowry, destroyed it, broke into the room, went to the bed directly, opened the abdomen of Wang, and went away holding his heart. Wang's wife yelled. A maid came with candle light. Wang was found dead with messy body. His wife was too scared to cry with sound.
On the next day, the wife of Wang made his younger brother Erlang (二郎) to tell the priest. The priest was angry, went to Wang's house with Erlang, but could not find the girl. The priest looked around and found that the ghost was in the house near the south yard, which turned out to be the house of Erlang. The priest told Erlang that the old woman, who came to Erlang's house in the morning saying that she wanted to work as a servant, was the ghost.
Erlang returned home together with the priest. Seeing the priest, the old woman was very scared and fleed through the door. The priest chased and attacked her. The old woman fell down. The human hide slipped away, and the old woman turned into the ghost, lying on the ground and crying with sound like a pig. The priest beheaded the ghost with a wooden sword. The body of the ghost turned into a bunch of smoke on the ground. The priest took a gourd out and pulled out the plug, and the smoke was sucked into the gourd. Then, the priest plugged the gourd and put it in a sack...
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
from Pu Songling
Pu Songling
Pu Songling was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.-Biography:Pu was born into a poor landlord-merchant family from Zichuan...
's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio or Liaozhai Zhiyi is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling in Classical Chinese during the early Qing Dynasty.Pu borrows from a folk tradition of oral storytelling to put to paper a series of captivating,...
. It tells of a scholar who is attracted to a beautiful maiden and brings her home, only to discover she is an ugly female ghoul who puts on a facial mask
Facial
A facial is a procedure involving a variety of skin treatments, including: steam, exfoliation, extraction, creams, lotions, facial masks, peels, and massage...
to look attractive, after "painting" it daily.
It has been remade thrice as a film:
- The Painted Skin (1966 film), a Hong Kong production directed by Pao Feng;
- Painted Skin (1993 film)Painted Skin (1993 film)Painted Skin is a 1993 Hong Kong supernatural horror film starring Adam Cheng, Joey Wong, Sammo Hung, Lam Ching Ying, and Wu Ma. It was directed by King Hu....
, directed by King HuKing HuKing Hu was a Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based Chinese film director whose Wuxia films brought Chinese cinema to new technical and artistic heights. His films Come Drink with Me , Dragon Gate Inn and A Touch of Zen inaugurated a new generation of wuxia films in the late 1960s...
; starring Joey WongJoey WongJoey Wong is a Hong Kong based Taiwanese-born actress.-Biography:Wong was born on January 31, 1967 and raised in Taipei and also received a secondary school education there. She was enrolled in the drama course of Kuo Kwan Arts School...
and Adam ChengAdam ChengAdam Cheng Siu-chow is a Hong Kong TVB actor and Cantopop singer.-Career:Cheng started his career in the 1970s, where he gained a reputation for playing the lead roles in TVB Wuxia drama series based on the works of Louis Cha and Gu Long, such as The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber and Chor Lau Heung...
, a very loose adaptation of the story; - Painted Skin (2008 film)Painted Skin (2008 film)Painted Skin is a 2008 supernatural fantasy film directed by Gordon Chan, starring Donnie Yen, Chen Kun, Zhou Xun, Zhao Wei, Betty Sun and Qi Yuwu....
, directed by Gordon ChanGordon ChanGordon Chan Kar-Seung , born in 1960, is an a Hong Kong film director, writer and producer. His most notable works include Beast Cops, Fist of Legend, Painted Skin, 2000 AD and Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen...
; starring Donnie YenDonnie YenDonnie Yen is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director and producer, action choreographer, and world wushu tournament medalist...
, Chen Kun, Zhou XunZhou XunZhou Xun is a Chinese actress and singer. She is regarded as one of the "Four Young Dan actresses" in China in the early 2000s, along with Zhang Ziyi, Xu Jinglei and Zhao Wei.-Early life:...
and Zhao WeiZhao WeiZhao Wei is a mainland Chinese film actress and pop singer. Audiences sometimes refer to her by her English name, Vicki Zhao...
.
Story
Once in TaiyuanTaiyuan
Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in North China. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 4,201,591 inhabitants on 6959 km² whom 3,212,500 are urban on 1,460 km². The name of the city literally means "Great Plains", referring to the location where the Fen River...
there was a scholar called Wang (王). In an early morning he met a girl on the road who had been sold to a rich family by her parents, could not stand the abuse of the wife of the rich, and fleed. The scholar agreed to give her refuge, let her stayed in his studio secretely, and slept with her. Suspecting that the girl could have been a concubine in a rich family, Wang's wife asked him to send the girl away without success.
One day, Wang encountered a Taoist priest in the market. The priest stared at Wang with surprise and asked him whether something strange had happened to him recently, because Wang looked enchanted by a ghost. Wang denied and left without taking the preist seriously. The priest lamented that Wang was going to die without noticing the precursors.
When Wang returned home, he found that the door of the studio was firmly closed. Having been stirred up by the words of the priest, he sneaked to the window and had a peep. Through the window he saw a ghost with green face and teeth like those of a saw spreading up a piece of human hide on the bed and painting it. Then, the ghost lifted up the hide, shaked it like the cloth, cloaked itself in the hide, and transformed into the girl.
Being greatly shocked, Wang rushed to the priest and knealt for help. The priest told Wang that the ghost was also having a hard life finding a victim, and he would not want to hurt it. Then the priest gave Wang a chowry and made him hang it on the door where he slept. After returning home, Wang dared not sleep in the studio, so he slept in another room and hanged the chowry there.
At early night, Wang heard sounds outside the door. Too feared to investigate, he had his wife to peep. At first, having fear of the chowry, the girl stood outside for a long time before she left. Shortly afterwards, scolding the priest, the girl returned. She took off the chowry, destroyed it, broke into the room, went to the bed directly, opened the abdomen of Wang, and went away holding his heart. Wang's wife yelled. A maid came with candle light. Wang was found dead with messy body. His wife was too scared to cry with sound.
On the next day, the wife of Wang made his younger brother Erlang (二郎) to tell the priest. The priest was angry, went to Wang's house with Erlang, but could not find the girl. The priest looked around and found that the ghost was in the house near the south yard, which turned out to be the house of Erlang. The priest told Erlang that the old woman, who came to Erlang's house in the morning saying that she wanted to work as a servant, was the ghost.
Erlang returned home together with the priest. Seeing the priest, the old woman was very scared and fleed through the door. The priest chased and attacked her. The old woman fell down. The human hide slipped away, and the old woman turned into the ghost, lying on the ground and crying with sound like a pig. The priest beheaded the ghost with a wooden sword. The body of the ghost turned into a bunch of smoke on the ground. The priest took a gourd out and pulled out the plug, and the smoke was sucked into the gourd. Then, the priest plugged the gourd and put it in a sack...