A Near-Death Experience in Pu Songling's strange stories fromLiaozhai's studio

Abstract

1present in this paper a tale from Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from Liaozhai's Studio." This story seems to contain the following key elements ofa near-death experience: the life review, travel through a spiritual world, and a pilgrimage to obtain a healthy physical body "to return to life." 1 discuss the content of the life review in terms of emotionally tagged souvenirs. Other contents ofthe story are clearly culturally dependent and 1discuss them within the framework of Oriental thought.