Illustrated editions and popular woodblock prints Nianhua of the “Strange stories from a Chinese studio” by Pu Songling

The paper studies connections between the illustrated lithographic edition of Pu Songling’s 蒲松齡 (1640-1715) “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio with annotations, poems, and illustrations” (詳註聊齋誌異圖詠 Xiangzhu liaozhai zhiyi tuyong , 1886), a collection of illustrations by Shanghai publishing house Tongwenshuju 同文書局 and several popular woodblock prints 年畫 nianhua found in Russian collections (Peter the Great Museum of Ethnogra-phy and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, State Hermitage, Geographic Society) in order to learn how Pu Songling’s stories circulated in the society of late Qing China, and the perception of literature written in clas-sical language by the wider public. The conclusions are that the aforementioned illustrated lithographic edition may have prompted creation of woodblock prints based on Pu Songling’s stories, where nianhua artists borrowed poetic inscriptions and composition of the lithographic illustrations. The small amount of such prints in comparison with those illustrating classical Ming-Qing novels such as Romance of The Three Kingdoms 三國演義, Journey to the West 西遊記, Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 allows to suggest that novels remained the favourite among the literati, while illiterate consumers of popular prints could appreciate their auspicious meaning more than the story. The fact that majority of the discovered nianhua pictures were produced at the oldest and largest printing shops in Yangliqing 楊柳青 - Dai lianzeng 戴廉增 and Qi jianlong 齊健隆 famous for their fine artistic quality proves that their custom-er base was mostly comprised of wealthier and more literate public.