During the periods of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, authors composed many short writings recounting a type of subject or event that they called "strange." There were tales of strange wondrous objects from foreign places, of wondrous feats of magicians and alchemists, of events involving encounters between humans and ghosts. These stories are called zhiguai or “stories of the strange” in Chinese. As the most important example of the zhiguai genre, the book Sou shen ji (In Search of the Supernatural: Written Record) is a 4th century CE Chinese compilation of legends, short stories, and hearsay concerning spirits , ghosts and other supernatural phenomena. Although the book's authorship is not made explicit in the text, it is believed to have been compiled by Gan Bao, a historian at the court of Emperor Yuan of Jin in 350 AD. The book consists of 464 stories divided into 20 scrolls. The Zhiguai stories constitute the first period in the development of the Chinese novel. Most stories have a rather short plot; The characters lack delicate writing and precise description. Zhiguai's writing is rather childish in various respects compared to later novels. For example, the following story is a typical short story from Sou shen ji: Hairy tortoise and horned hare In the time of Chou* of Shang, the giant tortoise had hair and the hare had horns, signs that armor was soon to come appear.* The Evil Last King of ShangOf course, there are some exceptions which contain all the essential characters from the later novels. For example, the following contains a specific description of the plot: Escort commander Xin Daodu, from Longxi Commandery, was traveling to continue his studies and arrived at a place about four or five li... in the middle paper. .....l: The written file. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1996. PrintGrigg, Hugh. "Soushenji Translation No. 395: The Escort Commander (搜神记三九五)." East Asian student. Np, November 17, 2010. Web. December 05, 2013.Juan, Qin. “Queer novels of the Wei-and-Jin period and the Northern and Southern dynasties: images of monsters and their cultural connotations.” CNKI. Np, March 2008. Lu, Xun. Zhongguo Xiao Shuo By Li Shi By Bian Qian. Xianggang: Jin Dai Tu Shu Gong Si, 1964. PrintSt. Andrew, James. "Demons and Wonders in Chinese Literature of the Six Dynasties: The Fantastic and the Anecdotal in the Soushen Ji of Gan Bao. By Rémi Mathieu. Pp. 163. Paris, Editions You-Feng, 2000." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 11.02 (2001): n. page. Print.Tao, Qian, Tang He and Mo Wang. Sou Shen Hou Ji: 2 Juan. China: Sn, 1791. Print.