**1. Introduction**

Liaozhaixi refers to the plays dramatized from the stories in *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* (*Liaozhai zhiyi* 聊齋志異) by Pu Songling (1640–1715).<sup>1</sup> *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* (hereafter *Strange Tales*), a collection of almost 500 tales, is one of the most outstanding works of classical tales in Chinese literature history (Mair 2010, pp. 691–93). In Chinese theatre history, Liaozhaixi also ranks amongs<sup>t</sup> the most popular cycle plays, along with Sanguoxi and Shuihuxi, which are historical plays, respectively, adapted from the two grea<sup>t</sup> classical Chinese novels of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms* (*Sanguo yanyi* 三國演義) and *Outlaws of the Marsh* (*Shuihu zhuan* 水滸傳). The first printed version of *Strange Tales* appeared in 1766, far later than the two aforementioned novels, but its dramatization happened quickly probably because of its high adaptability and popularity (Du 2003, pp. 6–9). Merely two years later in 1768, the earliest play adapted from *Strange Tales* appeared (Guan and Che 1983, p. 1). From then onwards, efforts to dramatize *Strange Tales* have witnessed rapid growth. To date, the number of scripts of Liaozhaixi in the Chuanju amount to more than 130, as well as no fewer than 40 in Jingju or Beijing Opera (Du 2003, p. 6; Zhu 1985, pp. 698–714). Moreover, the influence of Liaozhaixi is so broad that it can also be observed in roughly at least 150 types of traditional Chinese operas (Du 2003, pp. 69–71; Guan and Che 1983, p. 1).

On account of the grea<sup>t</sup> number of Liaozhaixi, its popularity, and the cultural interaction behind the dramatization in different areas, the research potential of Liaozhaixi should not be underestimated. However, the potential has not been fully explored for two reasons. The first is the several rounds of castigation of Liaozhaixi from 1963 to the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Although almost all types of traditional theater had been banned and criticized during this period, the castigation of Liaozhaixi seems more dreadful because it is heavily loaded with supernatural and religious imagery (Du 2003, pp. 101–2). In 1963, the Ministry of Culture decided to ban all "ghost plays" from stages

**Citation:** Lan, Xing. 2022. The Influence of Daoism on the Dramatization of the Liaozhaixi of Chuanju. *Religions* 13: 20. https:// doi.org/10.3390/rel13010020

Academic Editor: Xiaohuan Zhao

Received: 6 December 2021 Accepted: 23 December 2021 Published: 27 December 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

(Greene 2019, p. 107), and Liaozhaixi is doubtlessly included. For instance, responding to the policy of the Ministry of Culture, the governmen<sup>t</sup> of Sichuan province immediately banned 35 "ghost plays" in the same year, while 19 of those banned plays belong to Liaozhaixi (Du 2003, pp. 101–2). Due to the heavy and relentless castigation over this period, it took a quite long time before Liaozhaixi entered the public again and it consequently received little scholarly attention roughly until the 2000s. Besides, although the number of the documented Liaozhaixi is statistically large, very few of them have been published. Though some efforts have been made in this area since the 1980s (Guan and Che 1983), roughly only 20 scripts have been printed. Because of these two reasons, the grea<sup>t</sup> research potential of Liaozhaixi has not been fully explored.

Fortunately, the recent research into Liaozhaixi of Chuanju has offered us some notable improvements. The foremost one is a groundbreaking study by Jianhua Du (2003). This study not only elaborately examines the whole development of Liaozhaixi of Chuanju from its birth to today but also sheds light on several significant themes involving its origin, style, and popularity. Du's study saves us many preparatory jobs and sets a fixed starting point for subsequent studies. Furthermore, 24 genuine scripts of the Liaozhaixi of Chuanju, which are mainly finalized in the 19th century, have been published since 2012. These fresh materials enable us to fully explore the research possibilities of Liaozhaixi. After a meticulous investigation on them, the present study argues that these fresh materials provide us with new and exceptional insights into the influence of Daoism on the dramatization of Chinese theatre. More precisely, these new materials illustrate how Daoism has shaped the dramatization of the Liaozhaixi of Chuanju. The insight is so exceptional because very few studies have shed light on this area. Developing this argumen<sup>t</sup> will broaden our understanding of the relation between Daoism and Chinese theatre.
