On Gan Bao And His Notes On Searching Gods

The rise of Fictions about gods and ghosts is of great significance during the development Chinese classical novels, Notes On Searching Gods is the excellent one among the fictions about gods and ghosts in the Wei and Jin Period. But it has not been noticed far from being enough for a long time . The author tries to make a further understanding it. The paper first introduces the social and cultural background, under which the fictions of this sort in the Wei and Jin Period emerged and developed. In addition, Gan Bao's complexity and contradiction in his thoughts are analysed . Accompanyingly, the author makes a conclusion that Gan Bao aims not only to "prove that gods and ghosts really exist " , but also to improve literary creation. The book has got a wide arrangement of themes and plentiful contents. Besides those popular folktales, those which reflect the society of that time are within it. All the stories make the book of positive significance in thoughts and of literary value . In the last part, the paper expounds the book's important position in the history of literature and its far-reaching influence on the literature of later generations , which provides a wide field for researchers to study on it.