Images of Artifact Spirits in Prose Romances of the Tang Dynasty

Spirits are frequently portrayed in ancient novels in classical Chinese whose top achievement was realized by prose romances of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). A variety of artifact spirits found their way in the prose romances. On the one hand, the depiction of the artifact spirits in the prose romances follow the resemblance in form as in the Chinese supernatural tales of the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). On the other hand, the artifact spirits show a tendency of humanization and secularization. Therefore, the artifact spirits described in the prose romances of the Tang Dynasty represent various cultural implications.