Chinese Social Reflection in the Literary Works “Sou Shen Ji”

Abstract

         This research study aimed to investigate how the Chinese society was reflected in the Collection of Sou Shen Ji Fairy Tales written during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and considered an important piece of literature which became a prototype and a foundation for the development of Chinese literature in the later periods. The research method was document analysis. The research results showed that the Collection of Sou Shen Ji tales contained various events and phenomena which reflected the conditions of the Chinese society during that time period in 9 areas, namely (1) belief, 2) tradition, 3) morality, 4) religion and philosophy, 5) politics, government, and rules, 6) social relations, 7) disease treatments, 8) semiotic differentiations, and 9) culture. Interestingly, it was found although multiple dimensions of the Chinese society were reflected in this Collection of Sou Shen Ji tales, reflections on economics or warfare did not exist. Clearly, the authors of the tales in this collection wanted to present a picture of a society full of beliefs related to gods, ghosts, demons, and various rituals mainly derived from what the people believed.