Ghosts and the disquieted dead abound in China and, as elsewhere, these manifold specters hold up a dark mirror to society as a whole. Chinese folklore features hungry ghosts, hanged ghosts, sexually abused ghosts, and happy, helpful servant ghosts. There are the wrongfully dead ghosts who were denied justice by merciless bureaucrats and there are drowned ghosts who always lurk in the water grabbing at things. There are ghost brides, ghost thieves, and ghost hunters. All of this is in addition to the countless fiends, demons, nature spirits, immortals, monsters, gods, and supernatural animals which make up the endlessly invigorating Chinese pantheon. Yet out of all the many sorts of ghosts and revenants, one particular category of Chinese apparition stands out as an exemplary type specimen of the undead. These are the jiāng shī, the hopping reanimated corpses which are analogous to the vampires and mummies of western horror. In English such undead beings are called hopping ghosts or Chinese vampires.
Like vampires, jiāng shī feed off of the life energy of the living and command supernatural powers, but there are some big differences. Jiāng shī are created in many different supernatural ways when the po, an aspect of the soul, is returned to the body (this often involves a shock of yin energy from cats or the moon), but they are essentially of two varieties: 1) recently dead souls who died far from home and literally hop back to where they are from sometimes with the help of a Taoist sorcerers, and sometimes through pure homesickness ; and 2) ancient corpses which have gone so long without decaying that they become reanimated by dark yin magic. The Chinese name means “stiff corpse” and the undead monsters are literally stiff from rigor mortis. Because of this handicap, jiāng shī have a hard time with mobility and their movements are often unnatural and erratic—hence they are believed to move by means of hopping (although some of the more powerful and ancient ones are also reputed to fly). Unfortunately their lack of agility is more than made up for by superhuman strength.
Contemporary hopping ghosts look like contemporary corpses–except for the fact that they are animated and are hopping violently and quickly towards you to suck out your qi energy (oh and they have long sharp fingernails). Ancient jiāng shī, however, have a very distinctive and operatic look: they are dressed in Qing dynasty graveclothes and they have pale green skin and white hair (as well as claws and fangs). Both sorts of hopping ghosts bear an overwhelming smell of putrefaction with them—which is so appalling that it is occasionally fatal. They feed on qi energy which they strangle/gouge out of their victims, either manually or by hopping on top of the heads of sleepers.
If you are having trouble with hopping ghosts, there are several ways of dealing with them. The animated corpses are driven off by Taoist mirrors, brooms made with real straw, rice, or fresh chicken blood. Sometimes applying a yellow and red Chinese death blessing to their forehead will give the jiāng shī peace (although this should be attempted only in extreme circumstances!). They cannot abide the light of the sun. In the end though there is only one sovereign remedy to permanently get rid of jiāng shī, and it is the ultimate solution to any undead problems. If you burn a jiāng shī and all of its accessories (creepy funeral suit, coffin, etc.) you will be permanently rid of the monster.
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October 18, 2012 at 1:07 AM
Artie
Excellent. I enjoy all of your posts, by the way. Thanks a lot.
One of the hilarious South African comedy movies “The Gods must be Crazy” (perhaps the third–I remember at least four or five of them) introduced one of these Chinese vampires. This particular jiāng shī was being returned to the homeland by a relative but it fell from the plane over a tribe of Kalahari Bushmen (among others). That particular movie was full of action and teeth… but you could only die laughing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy
Regards, Artie
October 18, 2012 at 9:57 AM
Wayne
I greatly enjoyed The Gods Must be Crazy I & II but I found it hard to imagine how Chinese vampires could get involved in the affairs of the Kalahari! Consulting Wikipedia, however, one learns that there were three unofficial Hong Kong sequels filmed in Cantonese (starring the San actor Nǃxau) which were never released in the west. Wikipedia describes the plot of The Gods Must be Crazy III as “A hopping vampire wreaks havoc in Nǃxau’s tribe, but soon they discover how to handle him and he becomes a great asset to them. Meanwhile a Chinese necromancer, sent by the corpse’s descendants, searches for him, together with a bumbling cowardly representative charged with ensuring that the necromancer returns his ancestor as desired.”
Wow! I don’t know about the gods, but film producers certainly must be crazy! Thanks for the reference, Artie.
October 18, 2012 at 1:09 AM
Artie
Sorry about the misspells: hilarious & it words
October 18, 2012 at 12:46 PM
Wayne
I fixed them for you.
October 18, 2012 at 12:22 PM
SpidrGoddess
I took a course in college called “The Supernatural in Ancient Chinese Literature.” I found the folklore and such to be absolutely fascinating and extremely rich!
October 18, 2012 at 4:54 PM
Wayne
That sounds like an amazing course–I wish i had been able to sit in on it.
June 16, 2021 at 7:51 PM
megaraptor97
The first Zompires, before that creatures from I am legend.