Wang Kui Betrays Guiying
Wang Kui Betrays Guiying (王魁負桂英) is a Chinese story dating from 11th-century Song dynasty. The story was apparently quite popular by the 13th century (late Song dynasty and early Yuan dynasty), and is still a favorite among Chinese opera enthusiasts. The male protagonist Wang Kui (王魁) was either based on or created to slander Wang Junmin (1035–1063), who finished first in the 1061 imperial examination but almost immediately developed a mental illness and died 2 years later while in office. (Kui means champion in Chinese.) The story that began to circulate after his somewhat baffling  death goes something like this: A young courtesan named Jiao Guiying (敫桂英 or 焦桂英) falls in love with an impoverished student named Wang Kui, and supports him with her savings as he prepares for the imperial examination. Wang Kui promises her that once he succeeds in the examination held in the capital Kaifeng, he would immediately fetch her. After finishing first in the examination and becoming the talk of the capital, he cruelly writes Guiying a letter telling her that he now plans to marry a high-ranking minister's daughter. When Guiying receives his letter, she commits suicide. Her  ghost then wanders from the Underworld to Wang Kui's residence, where she haunts him and later captures and drags him to Hell. (Somewhat different versions exist.)