Hi! Very nice to meet you 🙂 I’m Steven (it’s my English name), and I’m actually from Hangzhou, China. If you’ve heard of West Lake, then you probably have an impression of Hangzhou.
I created this site to share Chinese ghost stories, folklore, legends, and so on—especially ancient ones, which I hope will give you a better taste of Chineseness.
I try to retell these stories in English instead of just translating them. That’s because many old Chinese ghost stories and folk tales were written in 文言文 (Classical Chinese), an extremely concise language that can still carry a surprisingly strong emotional impact. At least, that’s how I feel about it…
Anyway, translating them directly into English just doesn’t quite work. Something seems to get lost along the way. So I try my best to retell them in a way that feels natural to English readers while keeping some of that distinctly Chinese atmosphere.
The catch is, I’m not a professional writer, and my English isn’t quite at the level I’d like it to be. I’ll keep learning, though. Thankfully, I have GPT to help me check for grammar errors, unnatural expressions, made-up phrases, and things like that. But there might still be mistakes, so I sincerely apologize in advance.
If you’re reading this, thanks so much for stopping by! I really hope you enjoy the stories.