active 317-322 Bao Gan

Gan Bao was a Chinese historian and writer of the Western Jin period, active in the 4th century. He is best remembered for Soushen Ji (In Search of the Supernatural), a collection of stories about ghosts, divine signs, unusual events, and local legends that became a landmark of early Chinese supernatural literature.

He also worked as an official historian, and later sources connect him with the Book of Jin. That mix of court history and fascination with the uncanny helps explain why his writing has lasted: he treated strange stories not just as entertainment, but as part of how people made sense of fate, morality, and the unseen.

For modern readers, Gan Bao stands out as a bridge between history and imagination. His surviving reputation rests on the way he gathered folklore into literary form, preserving stories that might otherwise have disappeared.