Stories from a Burning House

Fishing for Snow, and the Heart of the Lake

A problem and a translation, eight centuries apart

Dec 15, 2025

31

11

3

October 2025

Mid-Autumn, Tiger Hill, Late Ming

"Everyone was perfectly silent, even the mosquitoes."

Oct 6, 2025

40

7

7

November 2024

October 2024

Song Dingbo Catches a Ghost

All authors are ghostwriters if you wait long enough

Oct 11, 2024

29

10

4

July 2024

The Heat

Critical support for Comrade The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling

Jul 16, 2024

45

3

10

May 2024

Tao Yuanming Reads on a Summer Evening

Rest and quiet contentment, with monsters.

May 17, 2024

18

10

2

Too Much Party

14th-century retirement parties, 9th-century ragers, and late 16th-century obscenities for early third-millennium eyes

May 5, 2024

15

9

3

April 2024

Su Shi Discovers the Secret Ingredient

It turns out to be "having nothing better to do."

Apr 19, 2024

31

25

5

The Emperor's So-Called Cats and the Manjurist Bat-Signal

Spoiler: The Qianlong Emperor's cats are (probably) fakety fake-fake-fake.

Apr 7, 2024

20

3

3

Yo Man, Mo Yan

When's the last time you wondered about Alice Munro's political stances?

Apr 4, 2024

30

2

4

March 2024

Li Bai to Du Fu: Wish You Were Here

On the friendship between Li Bai and Du Fu, the two greatest Tang poets

Mar 29, 2024

19

7

3

Babble and Cant and Flummery

Why settle for bullshit artists when you could have bullshit artistes?

Mar 26, 2024

15

8

5