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The Soushenji 搜神記 "Investigations into deities" is a famous collection of phantastic stories compiled by the Eastern Jin period 東晉 (317-420) historian Gan Bao 干寶 (d. 336). The original size of the Soushenji was 30 juan "scrolls", of which ten were lost until the Song period 宋 (960-1279). The received version has thus only 20 juan. It was probably revised and rearranged by the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Hu Yuanrui 胡元瑞.
The Soushenji records 464 stories (plus 34 fragments) of deities, immortals, souls and spirits, as well as numerous popular stories of strange events. Especially the latter often describe persons of low social standing, for instance, Han Ping 韓凴 and his wife, Dou Ji 賣寄, Moye 干將莫邪, the souls of Ziyu 紫玉 returning, or the story of a girl which plays "husband and wife" with her horse, and in which both are later transformed into silkworms. Chapter 13 contains a story of an unjustly executed woman, which would later eventually find its more famous shape in the theatre play Dou E yuan 窦娥冤.
The oldest print has survived as a faksimile in the collectaneum Mice huihan 秘冊彙函 (Bice huihan 袐册匯函). The Soushenji is also included in the Jindai mishu 津逮秘書 (Jindai bishu 津逮袐書), the Xuejin taoyuan 學津討原 and the Siku quanshu 四庫全書.
There is also a book with the title of Soushen included in the collectaneum Baihai 稗海. It is 8 juan long an was probably compiled during the Song period on the base of fragments of the monk Tanyong's 曇永 Soushenji from the Northern Wei period 北魏 (386-534), and Gou Daoxing's 句道興 Soushenji from the Tang period 唐 (618-907). The latter has been excavated in the cave libraries of Dunhuang 敦煌. Gou Daosheng's Soushenji only includes 35 stories, the Baihai version 40 stories.
The famous poet Tao Qian 陶潛 (Tao Yuanming 陶淵明) has written a kind of supplement, the Soushen houji 搜神後記, shortly after Gan Bao's main book was finished.
There is a commentary for all three versions written by Wang Shaoying 汪紹楹 and published in 1981 by the Zhonghua shuju press 中華書局. The three versions have been published by Wang Dongming 王東明 in 1983, together with the Shoushen houji.
Sources:
Bai Huawen 白化文 (1986). "Soushenji 搜神記", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo wenxue 中國文學, vol. 2, p. 792. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
Wang Dongming 王東明 (ed. 1993). Soushenji sizhong 搜神記四種. Xi'an: Shaanxi lüyou chubanshe.
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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