An excellent anthology featuring new to me Chinese horror writers. There's echo of the tradition, there's the contemporary China.
Well done, highly recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD. Just before reading the last story, in fact, I preordered the book since it comes out in a few days.

This is an anthology of Chinese horror short stories which begins with a very helpful introduction which states that the horror genre in China has become touchy due to too many slashers and actual crimes which were blamed on horror films. So the editor, Xueting C. Ni, had to work very hard to convince the popular online horror writers to contribute their work, and I am so glad that they did. There was also a note in the Introduction which I appreciated, in which Xueting discussed coming up with a new term - kongxuan - to say that their horror anthology would be a terror-thriller rather than just jump scares and gore. This is the kind of horror that I like, the psychological thrillers and ghosts without getting too gross. I also appreciated that many of these stories were about the terror of the forest or other rural terrors. Fear of the unknown is one of humanity's greatest fears, and it always comes out in the shadows.

Here are the short stories:
1. The Girl in the Rain by Hong Niangzi- Urban legends on a college campus that kill. A very satisfying way to start an anthology, I think, by starting with a "you will die in 7 days" or "chant Bloody Mary in the mirror" style of college story.
2. The Waking Dream by Fan Zhou- Workers of the future work in a virtual world with virtual offices, and they are followed by the monsters of their nightmares.
3. Immortal Beauty by Chu Xidao- The feminine terror of being a woman trapped in a marriage to a marriage to a man who only desires beauty.
4. Those Who Walk at Night, Walk with Ghosts by She Cong Ge- Watch out when you go walking in the woods at night.
5. The Yin Yang Pot by Chuan Ge- A man splits hotpot with his ex and gets more than he bargained for. I think this might have been my favorite short story in this anthology.
6. The Shaxiao by Goodnight, Xiaoqing- A romantic enters the forest in hopes of finding and rescuing a maiden from a monster.
7. Have You Heard of 'Ancient Glory'? by Zhou Dedong- A couple is finally able to buy an apartment, but it's strangely deserted and the woman wakes up with a coin in her mouth (like the dead carry to pay the ferryman).
8. Records of Xiangxi by Nanpai Sanshu- A writer assembles local folklore about Earth Maidens, infanticide, and Zhang Qishan's army sent to hunt the mountain god.
9. The Ghost Wedding by Yimei Tangguo- How Xue Shuangxi became a ghost bride. I love a ghost bride story.
10. Night Climb by Chi Hui- Creepy hikers on a mountain.
11. Forbidden Rooms by Zhou Haohui- This one messed me up so much I had to take a break and switch to the romance novel I was also reading at the same time. A woman is kidnapped by a mysterious man who wants to torture her for her guilt in a child's death.
12. Ti'Naang by Su Min- A woman brings her fiancé to her xenophobic hometown to meet her abusive (and estranged) parents. Don't forget to ignore the help.
13. Huangcun by Cai Jun- During a signing, an author discovers that his made-up, Desolate Village is not actually made up, so he decides to go for a visit. This is a gothic story, which we all know I adore.
14. The Death of Nala by Gu Shi- A woman with a psychopathic child mourns the kitten killed by her son.

I loved this anthology, and I don't think there were any "bad" stories. This ranges from truly horrifying to my favorite kind of ghosts and spirits, and I hope that its success brings more translated Chinese horror to the English market.

Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for this excellent ARC.

I was given this as an ARC from NetGalley and Rebellion | Solaris for an honest review of this collection of translated stories.

The writing is good, clean and easy style to read. However, I personally wouldn't call them "horrors" as they came across more as contemporary fiction with a side of thriller mixed in there. I am not sure if the stories weren't coming across correctly in the translation. I am excited for the idea of more translated stories, but we all know that there isn't a lot of horror coming out of China.

I am sad to say that the stories bored me and I didn't have a single one I connected to. it's a shame because the idea was perfect.

Perhaps it needs some work still?

This is so incredibly underrated, please consider this for your Halloween plans!

I am now incredibly jealous of people who have access to and can read Chinese books. The way I am devastated that I cannot read more works from most of the authors featured here without learning to read a whole language is driving me slightly insane. Never have I regretted not taking Mandarin lessons seriously as a child more than at this moment.

As a massive horror fiend, I need to explore the manifestation of this genre in other, particularly non-Western countries. I grew up in a culture that celebrates Tomb Sweeping Day and Hungry Ghost Festival, where TV shows featuring the underworld and supernatural beings are just your everyday fantasy binge shown even to children. When reading the introduction to this anthology by Xueting C. Ni, I was so surprised to discover what a taboo the horror genre is now in China, attributed mainly to the "besmirching" of the genre by over gratuitous gore and sexual content in modern horror media.

Holy moly did this book absolutely slay what it set out to do. With the exception of a couple stories, each collected tale resonated with me, either with its creep factor, its bold exploration of complex contemporary issues or the pangs of nostalgia evoked by familiar myths. This book better be sold in Australia so I can devour my favourites all over again and annotate a ✨forever mine✨ physical copy.

Thank you Xueting C. Ni for compiling this anthology and trying to bring the "Chinese gothic" to an international audience, thus bringing Chinese horror to the mainstream like in SFF (e.g. the works of Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù and Cixin Liu, in anthologies like The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories) as well as contemporary genres.

Thank you to the authors, Solaris and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Before reading this Chinese horror short story anthology, most of what I knew from Chinese horror came from horror movies, podcasts about the mythology and urban legends and finally online creepy pastas and so I was incredibly intrigued by this anthology to see what else was out there. Starting out I was immediately further intrigued and encouraged by the editor’s introduction where she talks about how it was initially hard to find Chinese horror she wanted to include in her anthology, especially while avoiding violent misogyny. This made me very excited to read the short stories as it can be incredibly tiring to read an anthology and read story after story by cishet male authors with misogynistic characters. It definitely made me hopeful that I would encounter something new and interesting and get to read stories with interesting characters. I also appreciated that trigger warnings are given in the front of the book, but that the page also includes a spoiler warning if you're the type of person who'd rather skip them. One thing I also found incredibly interesting is that after each short story we are given a short editor's note providing cultural knowledge as well as a biography of the author and sometimes thoughts by the editor, which made the stories even more interesting to me.
The short stories themselves encompass a wide variety from horrors born from our modern times to traditional ghost stories to futuristic technological terrors and include ghosts, futuristic technology, monsters, serial killers and more and travel across the vast expanse of China to include local folklore from various corners of the country. The stories take place in small isolated mountain villages, in vast expanses of forest, but also in small inner city apartments or at university. The stories also often explore societal ails from the downsides of technology to small mountain village medicine, misogyny or the troubles of finding an affordable home near Beijing. While not all short stories where to my exact liking, there were others I really enjoyed. As each short story was written by a different author, but translated by the same translator, I found the writing style to flow well together, without the stories becoming repetitive or boring.
All in all, this is a really interesting short story collection and one I can absolutely recommend if you enjoy or are simply interested in reading more Chinese horror. As the horror is not too extreme, I think this can also be interesting for people who can’t handle more brutal horror or those who enjoy the psychological build-up of dread (but there is also more than enough blood and gorey deaths for those horror fans who do enjoy a gruesome murder :D). I really enjoyed how many different horror aspects are covered by this anthology and was never bored (because again, even if one of the short stories wasn’t to my liking, I knew there’d be another one I’d surely love!)! And there are quite a few short stories I loved in here, my favorite being: The Waking Dream by Fan Zhao, Immortal Beauty by Chu Xidao, Those Who Walk at Night, Walk With Ghosts by She Cong Ge, Have you Heard of Ancient Glory by Zhou Dedong and Ti’Naang by Su Min.
All in all, I am deeply thankful I received an ARC of this book and very happy that I got to gain this amazing view into Chinese horror and can only recommend it to anybody who enjoys horror!

The Girl in the Rain by Hong Niangzi: A short story following a triad of university students, two girls and one boy, who encounter terrifying urban legends on their way back to their dorms from university. At times the horror felt a bit contrived, particularly after the second twist in the end, but I liked the urban legends horror in the beginning a lot as well as the first twist. Definitely an interesting beginning to this anthology. tw: cheating, murder, suicide, childhood trauma, coercion

*FAV* The Waking Dream by Fan Zhou: A futuristic horror about the future of work, where thanks to new technology workers can go to the office in their dreams. This seems to be fine for most people, but for one worker who has always had problems with nightmares, it becomes an incredible burden. Very interesting and incredibly haunting this showcases the dangers of capitalism and technology encroaching on the private home and inner lives of people, I quite enjoyed it! I also wonder if the translation choices of “men” vs “females” and “the healthy” vs “disableds” was intentional, because if so. Very interesting in showing the different treatment of marginalized groups of people. tw: suicide, murder, spiders, body horror, coercion, drugs, depiction of mental illness, needles, imprisonment

*FAV* Immortal Beauty by Chu Xidao: A more traditional ghost story about love and betrayal and vengeful wives, this story follows the wife of a powerful man, who replaces her with the younger model all too soon. Gruesome violence and incredible rage flows through this story and I adored it! Angry ghosts vs misogynistic society is always a fun story! Tw: misogyny, murder, domestic violence, abuse, graphic violence, imprisonment, sexual abuse, torture

*FAV* Those Who Walk At Night, Walk With Ghosts by She Cong Ge: A rather long ghost story set in a small mountain town where a young doctor insists on leaving to bring an old man to the hospital despite the warnings of everybody else in the village. Felt more like a traditional Chinese horror story, but manages to become interesting both with the way superstitions and folk medicine meet modern medicine, all while history is much more alive than anybody thinks, very well written and builds dread incredibly well. Also historically very interesting. Tw: graphic injury, death, alcohol, needles, torture.

The Yin Yang Pot by Chuan Ge: A young man looking for a place to eat meets and old flame and decides to share the same Yuanyang pot with her as they did before they lost touch, only this time she is weirdly insistent he not eat from the white side of the dish. But can he handle the heat to keep his promise? An interesting ghost story with a fascinating twist at the end. Tw: car accident, suicide mention, imprisonment

The Shaxiao by Goodnight Xiaoqing: A warrior dreaming of fighting monsters and rescuing maidens finds his dreams shattered when he finally encounters his first real monster and finds himself defenseless. Interesting and I enjoyed how common fantasy tropes were turned on their heads here. Tw: death, animal death, domestic abuse, imprisonment, torture, implied sexual assault

*FAV* Have you Heard of Ancient Glory by Zhou Dedong: A young couple finally finds an apartment they can afford, but something incredibly weird is going on as they notice that none of their neighbors ever turn on the lights. Very scary and with an interesting twist on the haunted house trope. I really enjoyed it! Tw: death, suicide, mental illness, ptsd, trauma, alcohol, imprisonment

Records of Xiangxi by Nanpai Sanshu: The longest short story in the collection by far (it alone takes up 50 pages of the collection) tells of a grandchild piecing together a story from folklore that their grandfather used to tell them before he died, engaging in research and travels, connecting a few pieces of folklore from a specific region to gain a full picture of the folklore from there. The longest part of the short story is taken up by a retelling of a group of military men being tasked to carry a child sacrifice up the mountain to protect the town. It is an interesting story, but really very long. If you are interested in folklore and military horror this might interest you more than it did me. I found the horror very well done though and found myself filled with dread at times, but was not particularly interested in the characters, which is a personal issue of mine and will certainly not apply to every reader. Tw: child death, death, gore, body horror, corpses, alcohol, graphic violence, insects, racial/religious slurs, torture

*FAV* The Ghost Wedding by Yimei Tangguo: A horrifying story about a small town kidnapping a woman to find a suitable bride for one of their town’s young men. Very violent and gruesome and with a focus on the all too human monsters among us this story is sickening and great. I loved it, but you need to have a strong stomach for it! tw: abduction, human trafficking, rape, suicide, very violent domestic abuse, animal abuse, child abuse, childhood trauma, threats of graphic violent punishment, unsanitary, dehumanization, self-harm, strangulation, torture

Night Climb by Chi Hui: During a hike up the mountain at night to arrive on top in time to see the sunrise a climber encounters a group of very strange beings also travelling towards the top of the mountain, very short, but interesting and I enjoyed reading about a fat character in here as well!

Forbidden Rooms by Zhou Haohui: A saw-like trap is set for a neighbor who heard a little child cry in her apartment and did nothing until it was too late. She wakes up in a locked room with the child’s father, who had abandoned the boy with his father and receives phone calls that might lead her to freedom. Very intense and quite interesting. tw: child death, child neglect, murder, violence, starvation, voyeurs, strangulation, suicide, torture

*FAV* Ti’Naang by Su Min: A young woman returns to her hometown to introduce her fiancé to her family, but soon the town’s secret and the father’s temper start to cause issues. Really interesting story, heartbreaking as well and I loved the dread it built a lot. Tw: domestic abuse, child abuse, childhood trauma, gaslighting, racial/religious slurs

Huangcun by Cai Jun: An author is approached by a person from a small town that featured in his latest book during a book signing. The only problem is that he made the town up. Intrigued by this coincidence, he accompanies the reader to her hometown and discovers that something incredibly strange is going on in Huangcun. Really great story with many references to western horror stories as well, which I found interesting. Tw: suicide, childhood trauma, domestic abuse, graphic violence, racial/religious slurs, self-harm

The Death of Nala by Gu Shi: A mother who is terribly afraid of her son, a young boy who seems to take pleasure in cruelty, reaches her breaking point when she adopts a little kitten only to find it dead in her son’s hands. Interesting look at mental health issues, but I do wish the child had been given a bit more depth instead of simply being a “natural born killer”. tw: animal death, child death, murder, cruelty, graphic violence, imprisonment, mental illness, strangulation, ptsd

A spectacular dive into Chinese horror, each short story in Sinophagia is accompanied by editor notes from curator Xueting C. Ni, which provide valuable cultural and societal context, adding extra dimensions and perspectives to the already chilling tales. As with any anthology, some stories will resonate more with different readers, but they are all unique in their own way. This book took me some time to finish, as I am more accustomed to novels and sometimes struggle with shorter formats, but it was a treat from start to finish.

I dove into "Sinophagia" with some enthusiasm, eager and curious to learn how the Chinese people understand horror and what kind of tales are popular there. The book is obviously a work of passion and dedication: the editor has put a lot of work and even her heart into gathering the best Chinese horror authors out there (at least among those who responded to her invitation or agreed to collaborate with her - apparently, horror fiction is not big in China). However, I soon found myself bored by the stories. First of all, they're all tied to regional lore, local myths, and past legends, even those taking place in urban centers. Those that try to create an "urban legend" feel, end up carrying so much detailed folklore, the narrative immediately drags and the lore becomes the kind of baggage which ruins a good story. Second, most of the stories are far too long and take their time to make a point: this is typical of Chinese horror (according to the editor), but it's difficult for a non-Chinese audience to appreciate a slow burn without any kind of payback. Third, the tales themselves rely too much on childhood terrors and simplistic folk horror: they mostly originate in their authors' experiencing the dread of fairy tales or, again, local lore when young. To wit, it proved impossible for me to relate under these terms. It was like reading an encyclopedia, an anthology of stories curated for students who want to write a paper, rather than genuine horror lovers who read to be astonished, shocked, and creeped out.

Thematic troubles aside, the writing was quite unattractive. All the stories read like young adult dark fantasy rather than contemporary, adult horror. The prose is too descriptive (in some stories solely descriptive), there's no atmosphere, and when it's necessary to convey emotions, the writing gets too flowery. The dialogue sounded totally unnatural. It was impossible for me to relate to any of the characters. Perhaps an American co-editor on board would have given to the editor some pointers about the state of modern horror; perhaps the stories would not have ended up sounding so much like teenage fan fiction.

I give the book 1 star for the gorgeous cover, another for the superb editing, and a third for the editor's true love of the genre.

I do not know much about Chinese horror. So, when I saw this cover which is amazing by the way I knew I needed to give it a shot. The editor did a wonderful job explaining why stories were picked and giving some background information of Chinese horror. I didnt love all the stories but the ones that I enjoyed really stuck with me. I especially liked. The Girl in the Rain and Forbidden Rooms were both great, well written stories that kept me really engaged. Despite not liking all of the stories and not finding them all that creepy I really appreciated reading stories told differently than they would be here in the U.S. thank you so much for allowing me to read! I definitely have some friends who would absolutely enjoy reading these stories! 3.5 stars!

The only downside of reading this phenomenally written (and fantastically translated) collection is that now I know of a bunch more authors whose works I can't read until they're also translated! The editor/translator did a great job of balancing cultural context and explanation of history/customs while retaining the terms and cultural references that were often significant, if not integral, to the story's complexity and lasting unease. A couple of the stories unlocked new fears that will stick with me, so that's always fun.

This anthology is great for any horror fan, especially those who love non-Western and Asian horror.

For anyone unfamiliar with Asian horror, you are missing out on so much!

Asian horror stories are often founded in legend, set in supernatural environments, filled with ghosts (that can be extremely malicious), and invariably contain some psychological examination of humanity.

You will also find a propensity to focus on suffering... so don't expect to find the anthology full of easy-to-read stories, but instead expect to be dragged through humanity's darkness, exposed by the elements of horror.

Just as any nationality has its complexities, so too do the Chinese people. You will see the fear of the past mixed openly with the fear of the modern, and this dichotomy of fearing both the past and the future leaves much potential for the horror writer to play with!

Even with a set of strong stories, what sets this anthology aside from any other is the context that's shared in both regards to the Chinese horror genre and the journey of each story contained within the anthology.

Finally, if you're coming to this anthology as a Western reader, I urge you to cast any biased views or stereotypes aside and to read with an open mind and heart.

One of my favourite stories from the anthology is 'Night Climb', but there are many great stories to choose from!


I received an advance reader copy for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Sinophagia is an anthology of Chinese horror, with many of the works shown finding their way to an English-speaking audience for the first time.

As a lover of horror books and someone always looking to diversify his bookshelf I was excited when I first heard of this book, and even more excited when I got to read it ahead of publication.

First I have to compliment the editor of this anthology, Xueting C. Ni, whose insight into the stories I found absolutely indispensable. As someone who, quite frankly, has absolutely no clue of anything relating to Chinese culture and history, her commentary at the end of each story greatly helped me place them within the right context and understand them better.

The stories were mostly of a quieter, eerie sort, though also filled with lots of interesting monsters and folklore, as well as some focus on contemporary social issues.

Unfortunately I don’t think this type of horror was quite right for me, so I didn’t enjoy some of the stories as much as I think is possible to enjoy them, because there wasn’t one story here I would say felt “unnecessary” or bad, I just wasn’t the right audience.

One story that really stuck with me (which I then proceeded to tell to literally anyone that would listen) is called “Forbidden Rooms”, and even if you don’t typically love horror I would heavily recommend reading at least that one and then, if you liked it, giving some more of this book a chance, because I do think there is at least something here for everyone.

Averaging out my ratings for each individual story came out at 4 stars but the history and contextualization provided by the translator's notes bumps this collection as a whole to 5 stars. I enjoyed this immensely and I'm glad I took my time reading it, only focusing on a couple of stories a day.

Xueting Christine Ni set out to compile short story collection that could showcase the breadth and diversity of modern Chinese horror writing and in my opinion, she has succeeded admirably. There are stories here that touch on ghosts, cryptids, domestic violence, murder, suicide, urban legends, Saw-like imprisonment, abandoned tombs, clones, and unintentional curses. What sets this apart from other short story collections I've read this year, is the translator's efforts to expand on not just how each author fits into the modern Chinese horror scene - letting the intended foreign audience get a gauge on who is the sitting Stephen King-figure of Chinese horror and who is an up-and-coming newbie - but also how certain tropes are seen in Chinese culture. The relationship between the living and the dead in Chinese society really plays a role in how these ghost stories are constructed and learning about that enhanced my enjoyment of them. More than that, it has given me a framework to explore more Chinese horror stories, by these same authors and others, while having a deeper understanding of the genre. To me, that means Xueting has achieved what she set out to do with this collection.

I don't often buy physical copies of eARCs I've already read, but if I can get my hands on a copy here in South Africa, this is one I will definitely purchase for my shelves. I could definitely see myself rereading some of these stories.

Premetto che l'horror orientale, per quello che ne ho letto e visto (giapponese e coreano finora) non mi fa né caldo né freddo, ho trovato abbastanza medi i racconti (con alcune ottime punte, come The Yin Yang Pot, Ti'Naang, Huangcun, e soprattutto il terribile The Death of Nala) ma interessantissime l'introduzione e le note di commento che la curatrice inserisce alla fine di ognuno, contestualizzando il racconto all'interno della cultura, geografia, mitologia e società cinesi, con le infinite sfaccettature regionali che un Paese così sterminato presenta.
Una lettura interessante, che vale la pena prendere in mano anche solo per esplorare (in tutti i sensi) un genere e una nazione.

Sinophagia is a well curated celebration of Chinese Horror. While not every story landed for me, the project as a whole is intriguing, and Xueting Christine Ni put some absolutely fantastic work into the editing of this collection.

Ni's editor introduction really sets the tone for how she approached collecting submissions for this, and talks a little bit about the state of Horror as a genre in Chinese literary circles at this moment. It was interesting backstory that I loved learning about - which is part of the reason we pick up anthologies like this, right? To expose ourselves to other cultures and trends we normally don't read. Ni also does her best to include a list of content warnings for each story, AND she has a brief write up reflecting on each story after you've read it. The editorial care in this collection is just fantastic.

What about the stories themselves? Well, like with any short story anthology or collection out there, some stories are going to work for you, and some are not. Sinophagia is no exception there. Some of the stories were duds, some were great, and many were simply okay. I wish I had liked more stories more enthusiastically, but I have to remember that I'm reading these through two filters: these are all translated, and I'm not personally familiar with the cultural factors that inform this type of horror (despite Ni's great introduction).

Sinophagia is still a great short story collection to get your hands on if you want to expand and explore in your horror reading.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion for the eARC to review. Sinophagia will be released on September 24th - just in time for spooky season!

3.5 Stars

Thank you to Solaris and NetGalley for my digital review copy.

I really enjoyed this collection!

It's a wide array of horror, covering all basis, that will appeal to anyone who likes horror!

Some of the tales in here are incredibly long and as with all anthologies, there were some stories I prefered more than others.

The type of horror in this is very different from Western horror and I really enjoyed being able to read about another country's relationship with horror. I loved the editor's note at the beginning (that helped to highlight how different this would be form the horror that I am used to, but also brought to my attention how difficult it was for the editor to get good quality, diverse horror as a lot of the submissions were misogynistic.) I also really loved the inclusions of the editor's notes at the end of each tale as they helped to explain about why the stories fit under the horror genre, as well as give extra context that I lacked.

The translations were great and really athmospheric.

I am very glad I gave this translated horror anthology a go!

I was gifted this eARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This is my first anthology or horror stories that are of Chinese culture, and it won't be my last. These stories were excellent!

.Not only just stories about unseen beings, this anthology also includes “horror” stories that brought forth the struggles, plight and the bizarre climate in current China,

I know about the Chinese culture of one child policy causing the many kidnappings of young women from the city but, all the others like expensive cemetery lands in Beijing causing wealthy people to buy apartment complexes to keep their loved one’s ashes, I have never heard of.
I don't really have a favorite because they all were so weird but wonderful!
Will totally recommend!!!

There were a handful I didn’t like at all, but more than half that I did. There were a good few stories that have really stuck with me. I took my time reading this to allow each story to sink in and it was worth it.

LOVE that this had content warnings for each story at the start. That must have taken ages to do but I really appreciated it.

I deffo think this could have been separated into two books because some of the stories were really long and made this collection drag.

Here are my individual ratings for each story:

The Girl in the Rain 4/5
This was great story and was well told. There were parts of it toward the end that were a bit too tell and not show and I think it would have worked better to leave some things open to the readers interpretation.

The Waking Dream 3/5
I liked the point this was making but I found the world building was lacking a bit which meant the point was a bit blurry.

Immortal Beauty 2/5
I didn’t really vibe with this one. I liked the editorial notes, but the story itself was lacking for me.

Those Who Walk at Night, Walk With Ghosts 2/5
This one was too long. It had the right vibes but there was too much happening outside of the main point and I found it distracting.

The Yin Yang Pot 5/5
I will surely never forget this story. Chuan honestly gets what he deserves…but it doesn’t make it any less horrifying lol

The Shaxiao 2/5
It had some interesting ideas but it wasn’t memorable imo

Have You Heard of ‘Ancient Glory’? 2/5
This was ok but again I don’t think I’ll remember it

Records of Xiangxi 1/5
I truly did not care about this story 🥴 it was far too long!

The Ghost Wedding 2/5
I thought I’d enjoy this one more than I did. It was ok.

Night Climb 4/5
Short and sweet (or bitter!)
Could have done with a little bit more suspense, but overall a really good vignette.

Forbidden Rooms 4/5
This earned its length! It wasn’t boring for a second and I was compelled to stay awake to keep reading. It really made its point and I’ll think about it for a long while!

Ti’naang 4/5
Dammit I knew where this was going and it still hit hard. A LOT to explore here around mother x daughter relationships, women’s agency (or lack thereof) over their bodies and familial sacrifice.

Huangcun 4/5
Another solid story. I liked the layers in this and there was a lot left open to interpretation which also liked!

The Death of Nala 4/5
Oh :(
This could have used some more depth but overall it delivered.

Major kudos to Xueting Christine Ni, the editor and translator of Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror for a stellar job of compiling an amazing anthology of Chinese horror and tales of the supernatural. This collection is a labor of love, and Ni starts the book with an introduction of how she started the monumental task of reaching out to Chinese authors because she wanted to bring these tales of horror to light, as the genre is often neglected even in Chinese culture. Unfortunately, she also notes that many of the submission she received were heavily misogynistic, so I actually appreciate the feminist works in this book even more. She not only wanted to showcase acclaimed Chinese authors but also support new and budding authors too.

Translation is an underrated art, and Ni does a beautiful job of maintaining a composed and descriptive writing style throughout the anthology and showcasing the original author’s work. I usually have a little trouble with anthology works because of the drastic change in tone, style, and writing talent between different authors and stories, but here is a great example of how having the same translator can really make the work cohesive.

Each story really resonated with me in an impactful and different way, and I had to pause in between some of them to recollect my thoughts - much in the same way as after watching an episode of Black Mirror. This compilation is very well curated and each story includes a wonderfully written editor’s note on the story’s background. My personal favorites were The Yin Yang Pot (as I’m partial to any story about love and food), Ti’Naang, and Forbidden Rooms.

These stories are much more complex than the scary stories most of us grew up with. Some tales illustrate the changes between ancient and modern China and provide background and commentary on mental health issues, geographical conflicts, feminism, parental-child conflicts, and the societal effects of long working hours and sweeping political decisions like the one-child policy. On the horror side, there are tales of psychological thrillers, survival horror, ghostly beings, supernatural beasts, and elements of the Chinese Gothic genre.

I’m not someone who usually seeks out scary stories (or actively avoids them), but this book caught my attention because of the introduction to a different culture’s interpretation of the horror genre. I think Ni did a fine job of celebrating Chinese horror stories and makes me look forward to the future of horror, feminist works, AANHPI stories, and translated literature.

Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for providing an ARC for review.

Unfortunately, none of these stories clicked with me. The introduction was very interesting and I believe I reviewed a science fiction anthology from the same editor which if I remember was very good and I called for more multi-cultured anthologies in the publishing world. Although this was not to my tastes, as much to the editors disappointed, no story stuck with me, no story scared me, thrilled me or had any effect on me, I still believe we need more translated fiction. We need new ideas, new cultures etc in the publishing world. And I have no doubt this editor will impress me with their next anthology.

4.5/5 rounded up.

eARC gifted by publisher and NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

This is an excellent anthology of horrorstories from the Chinese culture. Not only just stories about unseen beings, this anthology also includes “horror” stories that brought forth the struggles, plight and the bizarre climate in current China, for eg one child policy causing the many kidnappings of young women from the city as brides, expensive cemetery lands in Beijing causing wealthy people to buy apartment complexes to keep their loved one’s ashes, etc etc

And my favourite stories among all is the “red-white Hotpot”!!
I can never see my favourite Mala ying yang hotpot the same ever again 😂 such a bizarre but wonderful folklore.

I am reading this during the 7th lunar month. 😂
Will totally recommend!!!