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The Painted Skin : hua pi ; 画皮 Chinese Breeze Graded Reader Series, Level 3,
Chinese Breeze is a large and innovative Chinese graded reader series which offers over 60 titles of enjoyable stories at eight language levels. It is designed for college and secondary school Chinese language learners, offering them a new opportunity to read for pleasure and simultaneously developing real fluency, building confidence, and increasing motivation for Chinese learning. Long long ago, while playing by the river, a scholar named Wang Sheng sees a pretty girl and takes her back to his small building where he learns. He is too happy to remember his wife at home. One day, he finds a terrible ghost sitting at his desk after he returns home from work. The ghost is putting on a skin , who then turns into that pretty girl ! Frightened Wang sheng falls down to the ground ......
87 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 26, 2019
This is probably the most scandalous, and most true-to-ancient-legend, books in Chinese Breeze. The language teaching elements in this book are very well done. Expand your knowledge of 才，不好意思，也，不容易，对不起 beyond first definitions. Now to the context:
The authors explain (in the introduction and at various interruptions in the story) that in the past, very long ago, there used to be demon-things that ran around on earth posing as humans or objects, drinking people's blood to fuel their existence in the human-world; and that men could have multiple wives and do whatever they wanted, while women had to just put up with it. But this was all the China of long ago, so we the readers have nothing to fear... right? Here's the story (spoiler alert / this summary could help clarify what feels so wrong after reading if your grasp on the language is <=HSK4):
A rich and childishly task-avoidant 20-something male student runs into a 15-16 year old girl in the woods who he's instantly smitten with, tries to strike up conversation, and finds out she was sold by greedy parents to a rich family as a concubine. The family didn't give her that 'high' a status though, instead making her work literally all the time despite bad weather or health, and jealously making sure she didn't sleep or eat too much. The one pushing her this hard is the family's 'head-wife', giving the reader the assumption that she is perhaps jealous or a tyrant. Anyway this young girl has now escaped and doesn't know where she's going.
The man, 王生, wants to help by letting her live in one of his two houses. She asks if he has family and after running down the list of his normal family members, he regretfully admits he has a wife. But she was married to him at a very early age, doesn't know how to read, and all she does is unimaginatively bug him about taking care of his health. We later find out this (first) wife is still not 20 yet herself. The girl doesn't say no to the invitation, so he takes this as a yes and brings her home - but not to the home where his family stays. Without telling her, he brings her to his second home, which is more secluded and used only by him for his studies. He agrees to keep her presence secret, on the pretense that if word got out, the family who owns her could come find and reclaim her.
They live in secret for months or years, with 王生 spending no more time with family or friends. The girl satisfies his every whim, and turns out to be very good at painting, very knowledgeable about history, and good at cooking his favorite foods. She's a typical cool-girl, even drinking and dancing with him. She even wants him to have a couple children with her. Eventually 王生's wife finds out and cries, but can't do anything. She does notice and raise suspicion about how this girl from a poor family can read, write, and paint so well. It doesn't worry her husband though.
Later, 王生 runs into a Taoist priest on a path, and the priest instantly knows that 王生 is oozing with evil energy, indicating he's been near a demon and will soon die. 王生 can't think of any unusual changes or new people in his life, and dismisses the priest as a fraud who's looking to maybe earn some cash or something. But then when he comes home unexpectedly early one day, the door is locked and no one answers. He climbs over the wall and sees that his girlfriend is actually a terrifying and ugly demon, painting its skin and draping it over itself. He runs away, finds the priest who gives him an object to ward off the demon, and goes home to his wife, who comforts him while he curls up on the bed in fear.
The demon girl eventually shows up and is warded off, but still tries to cajole 王生 to come out. His wife tells him not to, and that his whole family is supporting him through his tough time. Eventually the demon girl realizes she's not going to get him to come out, and gets mad, vowing to get back at everyone. At night she breaks the warding object, busts in, rips out 王生's heart, and runs away with it. The priest finds out and figures she's nearby. He locates her next-door, where she's posed as an old woman begging for work in 王生's brother's home. He chases it out and kills it.
The wife is still mourning her late unfaithful husband though. She wants the priest to bring him back to life, but his skill level isn't that high. He refers her to the best he knows - the town madman. He tells her that this lowest-status man in the biggest nearby city might be able to help her if she submits to any request or abuse from him. She goes and finds this dirty rambling guy, and in front of her family and a crowd of onlookers, lets the madman insult her, beat and kick her, and suggest that she loves him. Only after proving that 'she has no respect for herself' does the madman reveal to her and only her that he has a way to help. He gives her a nasty bowl of heart-swapping medicine and says she has to drink it, give her own heart, and die to save her husband.
She agrees and drinks it. He then runs away and no one can find him. She doesn't know what to do so she goes home and starts hugging the dead body of her husband. Her heart pops out her mouth and goes into him, and she covers chest the wound as it starts oozing again for a night. In the morning he's all better and she's still alive to hear his dream. He tells her a dream where his wife proves that her love is stronger than the demon-girl's, because the demon loves itself foremost so it wouldn't make the heart sacrifice. Also it couldn't bear a beating from a man as well as she could. So she is more deserving of the heart and gets it returned to her.
After telling his dream, he slowly realizes the truth of what happened, and devotes himself more fully to his wife. He studies harder, teaches his wife to read a little for about half a year, and if he has free time from his renewed studies, he even tries to help with a household duty or two. Problem fixed. Good thing that these attitudes about enduring women filling traditional roles are all part of the past now; and that no mythical self-respecting, educated and tricksy demons roam about freely with appetites for satisfying their own desires in relationships anymore...
The authors explain (in the introduction and at various interruptions in the story) that in the past, very long ago, there used to be demon-things that ran around on earth posing as humans or objects, drinking people's blood to fuel their existence in the human-world; and that men could have multiple wives and do whatever they wanted, while women had to just put up with it. But this was all the China of long ago, so we the readers have nothing to fear... right? Here's the story (spoiler alert / this summary could help clarify what feels so wrong after reading if your grasp on the language is <=HSK4):
A rich and childishly task-avoidant 20-something male student runs into a 15-16 year old girl in the woods who he's instantly smitten with, tries to strike up conversation, and finds out she was sold by greedy parents to a rich family as a concubine. The family didn't give her that 'high' a status though, instead making her work literally all the time despite bad weather or health, and jealously making sure she didn't sleep or eat too much. The one pushing her this hard is the family's 'head-wife', giving the reader the assumption that she is perhaps jealous or a tyrant. Anyway this young girl has now escaped and doesn't know where she's going.
The man, 王生, wants to help by letting her live in one of his two houses. She asks if he has family and after running down the list of his normal family members, he regretfully admits he has a wife. But she was married to him at a very early age, doesn't know how to read, and all she does is unimaginatively bug him about taking care of his health. We later find out this (first) wife is still not 20 yet herself. The girl doesn't say no to the invitation, so he takes this as a yes and brings her home - but not to the home where his family stays. Without telling her, he brings her to his second home, which is more secluded and used only by him for his studies. He agrees to keep her presence secret, on the pretense that if word got out, the family who owns her could come find and reclaim her.
They live in secret for months or years, with 王生 spending no more time with family or friends. The girl satisfies his every whim, and turns out to be very good at painting, very knowledgeable about history, and good at cooking his favorite foods. She's a typical cool-girl, even drinking and dancing with him. She even wants him to have a couple children with her. Eventually 王生's wife finds out and cries, but can't do anything. She does notice and raise suspicion about how this girl from a poor family can read, write, and paint so well. It doesn't worry her husband though.
Later, 王生 runs into a Taoist priest on a path, and the priest instantly knows that 王生 is oozing with evil energy, indicating he's been near a demon and will soon die. 王生 can't think of any unusual changes or new people in his life, and dismisses the priest as a fraud who's looking to maybe earn some cash or something. But then when he comes home unexpectedly early one day, the door is locked and no one answers. He climbs over the wall and sees that his girlfriend is actually a terrifying and ugly demon, painting its skin and draping it over itself. He runs away, finds the priest who gives him an object to ward off the demon, and goes home to his wife, who comforts him while he curls up on the bed in fear.
The demon girl eventually shows up and is warded off, but still tries to cajole 王生 to come out. His wife tells him not to, and that his whole family is supporting him through his tough time. Eventually the demon girl realizes she's not going to get him to come out, and gets mad, vowing to get back at everyone. At night she breaks the warding object, busts in, rips out 王生's heart, and runs away with it. The priest finds out and figures she's nearby. He locates her next-door, where she's posed as an old woman begging for work in 王生's brother's home. He chases it out and kills it.
The wife is still mourning her late unfaithful husband though. She wants the priest to bring him back to life, but his skill level isn't that high. He refers her to the best he knows - the town madman. He tells her that this lowest-status man in the biggest nearby city might be able to help her if she submits to any request or abuse from him. She goes and finds this dirty rambling guy, and in front of her family and a crowd of onlookers, lets the madman insult her, beat and kick her, and suggest that she loves him. Only after proving that 'she has no respect for herself' does the madman reveal to her and only her that he has a way to help. He gives her a nasty bowl of heart-swapping medicine and says she has to drink it, give her own heart, and die to save her husband.
She agrees and drinks it. He then runs away and no one can find him. She doesn't know what to do so she goes home and starts hugging the dead body of her husband. Her heart pops out her mouth and goes into him, and she covers chest the wound as it starts oozing again for a night. In the morning he's all better and she's still alive to hear his dream. He tells her a dream where his wife proves that her love is stronger than the demon-girl's, because the demon loves itself foremost so it wouldn't make the heart sacrifice. Also it couldn't bear a beating from a man as well as she could. So she is more deserving of the heart and gets it returned to her.
After telling his dream, he slowly realizes the truth of what happened, and devotes himself more fully to his wife. He studies harder, teaches his wife to read a little for about half a year, and if he has free time from his renewed studies, he even tries to help with a household duty or two. Problem fixed. Good thing that these attitudes about enduring women filling traditional roles are all part of the past now; and that no mythical self-respecting, educated and tricksy demons roam about freely with appetites for satisfying their own desires in relationships anymore...
May 6, 2020
I actually thought this book was quite fun and entertaining. The story flowed well and wasn't very repetitive. Although considering it was my first level 3 book it might just be the availability of words. This type of story is not was I usually read in English so I was pleasantly surprised!
December 14, 2017
This was my first 750 character level book. It was challenging and the story was interesting.
October 22, 2017
Fun! Not a super interesting story, but it was fun to go back to the time of demons in China.
June 28, 2022
3 kiếp khổ đau trong vỏn vẹn 5 chương, 45 phút thưởng thức. Tất cả đều do một chữ "tình".
May 14, 2013
This was without a doubt my favourite Chinese breeze so far. Though it was level 3 I found it much easier to read than the third eye. I think this is because I just have much more vocabularly words for traditional stories than I do modern ones.
Hua pi is a bit of an odd story in that the monster/demon isn't actually good. This version is a little like white snake if the Buddhist monk had been right about her having bad intentions. Of course the husband wasn't as nice either. The story really is about being a loyal wife, the woman loves her husband so much she accepts beatings and offers her life in exchange for his. I did find it a bit difficult that the winner of the story was the woman who could be beaten the most without crying out. But at least once her husband realised how much he owed her he treated her better, helped her with the housework and taught her how to read and write.
I really hope Chinese breeze does more traditional stories. I am looking forward to getting their next volume, even if it is a contemporary story.
Hua pi is a bit of an odd story in that the monster/demon isn't actually good. This version is a little like white snake if the Buddhist monk had been right about her having bad intentions. Of course the husband wasn't as nice either. The story really is about being a loyal wife, the woman loves her husband so much she accepts beatings and offers her life in exchange for his. I did find it a bit difficult that the winner of the story was the woman who could be beaten the most without crying out. But at least once her husband realised how much he owed her he treated her better, helped her with the housework and taught her how to read and write.
I really hope Chinese breeze does more traditional stories. I am looking forward to getting their next volume, even if it is a contemporary story.
August 9, 2016
Pretty good, the best of this serie that I have read so far. Don't forget that this is a graded reader designed to facilitate language acquisition, this rating is based with this in mind.
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July 5, 2018My first 750 word-level read. I found the storyline and the vocabulary just right for holding my interest at an intermediate level. I was not familiar with the story going in, and as people here in Singapore would look over my shoulder to see me reading it, they'd say "Oh, that's a movie!" So next step, tracking down the film version and tuning in.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews