Analysis of Structure and Sources of the “Guai shen” Chapter in the Encyclopaedic Work “Feng su tong yi”

This article is devoted to the source study of the chapter entitled “Guai shen” (怪神 “Monsters and Deities”) included in the treatise “Feng su tong yi” (風俗通義 “Penetrating into the Meaning of Traditions and Customs”, late 2nd century AD). This treatise was written by the Eastern Han (東漢, 25–220 AD) thinker and statesman Ying Shao 應劭 (d. before 204). Chapter “Guai shen” is a collection of anecdotal material about human encounters with the supernatural, sometimes accompanied by the author's brief assessments of the events and characters in it. The chapter touches on one of the themes that is little covered in other Old Chinese texts – local cults and beliefs of the Han period (漢, 202 BC – 220 AD), so its study may be relevant for understanding the origins of modern folk religious beliefs in China. This article makes an attempt to understand which sources were used by the author to compile this chapter. Several cases of indirect quotation and parallel passages in the text are also considered during the analysis. As a result, the article presents a classification of the chapter's stories and characterizes the main ways in which the author borrowed them from the other texts.