Religious Experience and Lay Society in T'ang China: A Reading of Tai Fu's 'Kuang-i chi'

The remains of Tai Fu's lost collection Kuang-i chi ("The Great Book of Marvels") preserve three hundred short tales of encounters with the other world. Through the eyes of an official, the picture emerges of a complex lay society, served by a mixed priesthood of ritual practitioners. This study develops a style of close reading through which the tales give access to the lives of individuals in eighth-century China, a society embarking on fundamental change.