Liao Zhai (聊斋), the classic Chinese ghost tale collection, gets a new 40-episode adaptation. It drops on August 27, 2026 — the Ghost Festival. Tencent Video hosts the exclusive run. The show pairs a young fox spirit with a demon hunter. But the real buzz? Song Zuer plays the Tree Demon Grandmother as a chilling beauty in blue. And Lin Yun carries a bleeding head in a blood-red wedding gown. That single frame has already broken social media. Why does this version feel different from every Liao Zhai before it? And why does the Ghost Festival release date matter so much?
Why the Ghost Festival?
August 27 is no accident. In Chinese tradition, the Ghost Festival opens the gates of the underworld. Spirits roam the living realm. That’s the perfect night to launch a show about vengeful ghosts, shape-shifting trees, and twisted fates. The producers knew exactly what they were doing. The calendar choice alone built half the anticipation — 3 million users already hit the “remind me” button on Tencent’s platform.
But timing only works if the visuals deliver. Lin Yun’s red bridal dress isn’t just red. It’s embroidered with the Past Life Mantra (往生咒) and diagrams of the eighteen hells. She stands in a moonlit old mansion, holding a severed head that still drips. Her eyes show no fear — only rage. That image loops across short-video apps. People don’t scroll past it. They stop. They watch. They feel that specific chill that doesn’t come from a loud noise but from something ancient and familiar.
This isn’t jump-scare horror. It’s the kind that crawls under your skin because it taps into folk beliefs, ancestral fears, and moral unease. The director, Sha Weiqi (沙维琪), previously worked on Ultimate Note and Eagle Hunt. He knows how to build suspense without cheap tricks. The trailer already shows that gloomy, textured atmosphere — dark wood, flickering candlelight, paper figures that seem to breathe.
Not Your Grandfather’s Liao Zhai
Older adaptations used standalone episodes. Each story began and ended within its own hour. This new version flips that structure. A main thread runs through all forty episodes. Zhang Miaoyi plays Joy, a fox spirit who’s lived among humans for centuries. Chang Huasen plays Xia Feixue (夏飞雪), a demon hunter who believes all supernatural beings must die. They meet by accident. They travel together. And along the way, they encounter six strange cases — each one a separate unit, but each also pushing the main pair’s relationship forward.
That setup creates natural tension. Xia starts with absolute certainty: kill every demon. Joy knows that humans can be more monstrous than any spirit. Their arguments aren’t forced. They grow from real situations — a ghost seeking revenge for a wrongful death, a paper doll that gains a soul, a judge who swaps hearts between the living. The show asks: who is truly the monster? The one with claws, or the one with a smug smile and a judicial robe?
Six units mean six different flavors. Beautiful Head (美人首) deals with facial swaps and vengeance. Su Qiu (素秋) features a paper-craft artisan. Lu Pan (陆判) explores heart transplantation as a moral metaphor. Nie Xiaoqian (聂小倩) and Xiao Xie (小谢) revisit classic love-horror dynamics. Dragon Flying Prime Minister (龙飞相公) adds a political twist. Each runs six to seven episodes — no filler, no stretched arcs. The variety keeps the show fresh. You don’t get bored because each unit resets the tone while feeding back into the central conflict.
Three Faces That Steal the Show
Lin Yun pulls double duty in Beautiful Head. She plays Princess Yaohua from a past life and the vengeful ghost Chunhua (春花) in the present. The transformation scene — where she peels her own face off in front of a mirror — has already become a meme. It’s not gore for gore’s sake. It’s a ritual. She does it slowly, deliberately, as if removing a mask she’s worn for centuries. That single shot conveys more backstory than ten pages of exposition.
Then there’s Song Zuer as the Tree Demon Grandmother. In every previous version, this character was a hunched, wrinkled old crone. Here, she’s twenty-five, draped in pale blue, with a cold and seductive glare. A vermilion flower mark on her forehead signals her demonic nature. Fans have already crowned her the “most beautiful grandmother” online. But she’s not just pretty — she’s dangerous. Her movements in the trailer suggest power without effort. She doesn’t chase. She waits. And when she smiles, you feel sorry for whoever stands opposite her.
Chen Yao returns to her dark roots. Remember her as Yue Qiluo (岳绮罗) in Wu Xin: The Monster Killer (无心法师)? That same eerie quality appears here. She plays a paper-craft artisan in the Su Qiu unit, wrapped in puppet strings, her face painted ghost-white. Papier-mâché figures surround her workshop. Some blink. Some whisper. Chen Yao’s performance rides that line between craftswoman and possessed medium. The leaked behind-the-scenes shots alone pulled in a new wave of followers for the show.
Supporting Cast and the Big Picture
Li Jiaqi and Chen Ruoxuan take on Lu Pan, the heart-swapping tale. He Siyu plays Nie Xiaoqian (聂小倩), with Gao Han as Ning Caichen (宁采臣) — the classic doomed lovers. Song Zuer appears again as the Grandmother in that unit, tying the threads together. Chen Xiaoyun and Zhang Chenxiao feature in Dragon Flying Prime Minister. Yang Xizi and Wu Yuheng headline Xiao Xie. Add special appearances by Zhang Zhixi, Ma Wenyuan, and Wang Yijin, and the cast list reads like a who’s-who of rising and established talents.
But star power alone doesn’t make a show stick. The real bet is on the combination: Chinese folk horror + unit mystery + buddy dynamics between enemies. That triad gives the writers room to explore moral gray zones. Xia Feixue starts as a rigid killer. By the end of the sixth unit, he’s seen too much. He’s watched humans sacrifice their children for wealth. He’s seen ghosts protect orphans with fierce loyalty. His worldview cracks. That arc — not the scares — is what might keep viewers returning each week.
Forty episodes on Tencent Video, starting the Ghost Festival. Lin Yun’s blood-red head-holding shot and Song Zuer’s icy tree demon are already viral. But the deeper hook is this: can a monster be more human than a human? And can a hunter become the hunted by his own prejudice? The show doesn’t answer those questions in the trailer. It just sets the mood. Dark. Wet. Full of rustling silk and creaking wood. And somewhere in that old mansion, someone — or something — is waiting for you to press play.