Painted Skin
(Hua Pi Zhi Yinyang Fawang)

Wang Shunsheng is misérable : he has failed the impérial exam yet again, he bas no money to bis name and still bas no children from bis wife, Chen. One evening, be meets a young woman who says her name is Yu Feng. Fascinated by her beauty, Wang offers to put ber up for the night. But as his attempts to seduce her are about to be rewarded, dawn breaks and the woman pushes him away, hiding in the half-shadows. Wang tells his wife about Yu. Curious, Chen secretly observes her and what she sees leaves her speechless : Yu is a ghost. Wang asks for help in a Taoist monastery, where he discovers that Yu is a soul dominated by a powerful evil spirit who forces ber to roam the earth. After much tribulation, the evil spirit is vanquished and Yu is finally able to be reincarnated. At the party held to celebrate the birth of Wang and Chen’s much-desired child, the couple are offered a portrait : that of the beautiful Yu.