Jiangshi Fiction
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Jiangshi fiction, or goeng-si fiction in
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, is a literary and cinematic genre of horror based on the
jiangshi A jiāngshī, also known as a Chinese hopping vampire, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. The characters for "jiāngshī" are read goeng-si in Cantonese, cương thi in Vietnamese, kyonshī in Japanese, and gangsi ...
of Chinese folklore, a reanimated corpse controlled by
Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
priests that resembles the
zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
s and
vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
s of Western fiction. The genre first appeared in the literature of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
and the jiangshi film () is a staple of the modern
Hong Kong film The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, British Hong Kong, Hong Kong had a gr ...
industry. Hong Kong jiangshi films like '' Mr. Vampire'' and ''
Encounters of the Spooky Kind ''Encounters of the Spooky Kind'' () is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts comedy horror film directed by and starring Sammo Hung, who also wrote the film with Huang Ying, and produced by Hung's production company Bo Ho Film Company. Released as ''Sp ...
'' follow a formula of mixing horror with comedy and
kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...
.


Literature

Derived from Chinese folklore, jiangshi fiction first appeared in the literature of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. The jiangshi is a corpse reanimated by a Taoist priest. The priest commands the jiangshi and directs it to a location for a proper burial. Jiangshi hop as they move and are able to absorb '' qi'', the essence of the living. The ties between jiangshi and vampires, and the English translation of jiangshi as "hopping vampire", may have been a marketing ploy manufactured by Hong Kong studios eager to enter Western markets. Unlike vampires, jiangshi do not drink blood or desire immortality. Fictional accounts of jiangshi were included in Qing collections of
ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...
and other supernatural tales. They are featured in the story ''A Corpse's Transmutation'' (''Shibian'') in the ''Shuyiji'' collection, ''A Vampiric Demon'' (''Jiangshi gui'') and ''Spraying Water'' (''Penshui'') in
Pu Songling Pu Songling (, 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi''). Biography Pu was born into a poor merchant family from Z ...
's ''
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio ''Liaozhai zhiyi'', sometimes shortened to ''Liaozhai'', known in English as ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' or ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', is a collection of Classical Chinese stories by Qing dynasty writer Pu Songling, ...
'', and ''The Demonic Corpse'' (''Jiangshi gui'') in Dongxuan Zhuren's ''Shiyiji''. In ''Spraying Water'', the animated corpse spews a liquid that kills the wife of a government official and her two servants. A traveler is chased by a jiangshi in ''A Corpse's Transmutation'', which killed three of his companions. There are thirty stories of jiangshi in ''
Zi Bu Yu ''What the Master Would Not Discuss'' (, alternatively known as Xin Qixie ) is a collection of supernatural stories compiled by Qing Dynasty scholar and writer Yuan Mei. The work has also been called ''What the Master Does not Speak of'' and ot ...
'', written by
Yuan Mei Yuan Mei (; 1716–1797) was a Chinese painter and poet of the Qing Dynasty. He was often mentioned with Ji Yun as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji" (). Biography Early life Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang (, in modern Hangzhou), Zhejiang province, to a cu ...
. Qing writer
Ji Xiaolan Ji Yun (; 1724–1805), also known as Ji Xiaolan () or Ji Chunfan () was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was an influential scholar of Qing dynasty China and many anecdotes have been recorded about him. Ji Yun left behind a bo ...
provides a detailed description of jiangshi folklore in his book ''Yuewei Caotang Biji''
''The Shadow Book of Ji Yun''
Empress Wu Books, 2021).


Hong Kong cinema

A number of monster films were produced before the jiangshi boom of the 1980s and the 1990s. The earliest concerning vampires is ''
Midnight Vampire ''Midnight Vampire'' (午夜殭屍) is a 1936 Hong Kong film directed by Yeung Kung-Leung. It is the first movie to feature a Jiangshi A jiāngshī, also known as a Chinese hopping vampire, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends a ...
'' (午夜殭屍) directed in 1936 by Yeung Kung-Leung. Vampire films were also made in the 1970s, which merged the vampires of Western horror with the martial arts of Hong Kong
kung fu film Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...
s. The jiangshi films of the 1980s were a departure from the Dracula-like vampires of its predecessors. Cinematic portrayals of jiangshi show the corpses wearing traditional
changshan (; ), also known as (), and (), is a form of , Chinese robe, which was derived from the Qing dynasty , the traditional dress of the Manchu people, which were worn by Manchu men. The was actually developed by the Han Chinese through the mod ...
garments with a
talisman A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...
placed on its head that allows the Taoist priest to control the cadaver. The tropes expropriated from Western horror were fewer, but still visibly present. The cloak, a motif from Hollywood's adaptations of ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'', appears in the jiangshi films ''Vampire vs Vampire'' and ''A Bite of Love''. ''
Encounters of the Spooky Kind ''Encounters of the Spooky Kind'' () is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts comedy horror film directed by and starring Sammo Hung, who also wrote the film with Huang Ying, and produced by Hung's production company Bo Ho Film Company. Released as ''Sp ...
'', directed by
Sammo Hung Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...
in 1980, was the first film based on the jiangshi of Chinese legends and the progenitor of the genre in the Hong Kong film industry. The film is an early example of
kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...
horror comedy Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...
in Hong Kong and the jiangshi of the film are played by martial artists. A sequel, ''
Encounters of the Spooky Kind II ''Encounters of the Spooky Kind II'' (Chinese: 鬼咬鬼) is a 1990 Hong Kong martial arts comedy horror film directed by Ricky Lau. It was produced by and stars Sammo Hung, who also choreographed the combat. The film was produced by Hung's p ...
'', was directed by Ricky Lau in 1990. '' Mr. Vampire'', directed by
Ricky Lau Ricky may refer to: Places *Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic *Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic *Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...
, was the breakthrough success of the genre. The film established many of the genre's recognizable tropes. The protagonist is a Taoist priest, skilled in casting magical spells and performing kung fu, who uses supernatural powers to control the undead. He is assisted by incompetent sidekicks, whose antics are a source of
comic relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
, and must face a
vengeful ghost In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial or crema ...
. In later jiangshi films, jiangshi interact and exist alongside Western vampires. In the 1989 film ''
Vampire vs. Vampire ''Vampire Vs Vampire'' (一眉道人) is a 1989 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by and starring Lam Ching-ying. The title references the interaction in the film between a jiangshi child, a creature from Chinese jiangshi fiction, "hopping" c ...
'', a Taoist priest and childlike jiangshi encounter a British vampire. The jiangshi saves the priest when his spells for taming the jiangshi are fruitless against the vampire. The trope of jiangshi children, an allusion to a similar character in ''
Mr. Vampire II ''Mr. Vampire II'', (Chinese: 殭屍家族) also known as ''Mr. Vampire Part 2'', is a 1986 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by Ricky Lau, starring Yuen Biao, Moon Lee and Lam Ching-ying, and produced by Sammo Hung. The film is the second ...
'', shows an awareness in jiangshi films of the genre by referencing its past cliches. Jiangshi films declined in popularity around the mid-1990s. There was a brief resurgence in jiangshi and vampire films during the early 2000s.
Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...
produced ''
The Era of Vampires ''The Era of Vampires'' is a 2002 Hong Kong martial arts horror film directed by Wellson Chin and written and produced by Tsui Hark. An edited version of the film was released in North America under the title ''Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters''. The ...
'' in 2002 and ''
The Twins Effect ''The Twins Effect'', also known as ''Vampire Effect'' in the United States, is a 2003 Hong Kong martial arts comedy-horror film directed by Dante Lam and Donnie Yen. The film was derived from Cantopop group Twins, starring both members Charlen ...
'', directed by
Dante Lam Dante Lam Chiu-Yin () is a Hong Kong film director, writer and actor who is a major figure in Chinese action cinema. Background He was trained in the tradition of John Woo as an assistant director and worked as an actor and producer. He often wr ...
and
Donnie Yen Donnie Yen Chi-tan (; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Yen is one of Hong Kong's top action stars. Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the mainstream Asian cinema by cho ...
, was released in 2003. ''The Era of Vampires'' was not a comedy like earlier jiangshi films, a move that provoked criticisms from the genre's fans who felt that the film was trying to appeal to a more "Hollywood" demographic. In 2009, Katy Chang made ''Nanjing Road'', a jiangshi horror movie set against China's economic expansion. In 2013, Juno Mak made ''Rigor Mortis'' as a tribute to earlier series such as ''Mr. Vampire''. In 2014, Daniel Chan made Sifu vs Vampire. Jiangshi films have attracted an international audience since its heyday. In the West, the genre is popular because it both resembles and is distinct from the monsters of European and American folklore. It is also popular in the Chinese diaspora and in southeast Asia.


Television series

* The ''
Jackie Chan Adventures ''Jackie Chan Adventures'' is an American animated television series, created by John Rogers, Duane Capizzi and Jeff Kline, and produced by Sony Pictures Television (originally as Columbia TriStar Television for the first three seasons). The car ...
'' episode "Chi of the Vampire" involves the main characters being attacked by a Jiangshi while visiting an abandoned mountain castle in China. The vampire drains qi from Tohru, Jade, and Uncle; which also turns Uncle into another vampire, enslaved as the Jiangshi's minion. After the stolen qi is returned, the Jiangshi is destroyed by sunlight, much like a Western vampire. * In '' Power Rangers: Jungle Fury'', the minions led by the main antagonist Dai Shi, known as "rin shi" seem to based on the jiangshi. * Jiangshi appear in '' Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'', in the episode "The Po Who Cried Ghost". * Jiangshi appear in ''
Dragon Ball Super is a Japanese manga series written by Akira Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou. A sequel to Toriyama's original ''Dragon Ball'' manga, it follows the adventures of Goku and friends during the ten-year timeskip after the defeat of Maj ...
'' where they are depicted as human-type Earthlings transformed into Jiangshi by witchcraft using special paper talismans. This technique is used by former Crane School student Yurin to take revenge on Tienshinhan by turning his students and Master Roshi into Jiangshi. However Goku manages to defeat Jiangshi Max Power Master Roshi due to Yurin failing to command Roshi to counter Goku's Kamehameha. Tien and Goku foil Yurin's plot and allows the transformed students to return to normal. However the students destroyed a nearby town while in Jiangshi form forcing Tien to take part in the Tournament of Power to pay to fix the damages. * Japanese professional wrestler the Great O Khan adopted a costume and ring entrance inspired by the jiangshi while on learning excursion in Britain's
Revolution Pro Wrestling Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro/RPW) is a British professional wrestling promotion founded on 26 August 2012 by Andy Quildan after separating from International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom. Revolution Pro Wrestling currently has partnershi ...
after graduating from the New Japan Dojo. The wrestler himself, Tomoyuki Oka, has Chinese-Mongolian ancestry. However, his persona is still that of a normal (brutish) human.


Video games

In '' Touhou Shinreibyou ~ Ten Desires'', the boss of the 3rd stage, Yoshika Miyako, is a jiangshi.
Hsien-Ko (), known in Japan as , is a fictional character from the '' Darkstalkers'' fighting game franchise. She was introduced in '' Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge'' in 1995. Her character is based on vampires of Chinese folklore known as jiā ...
from the '' Darkstalkers'' fighting game series is a jiangshi. The video game '' Sleeping Dogs'', which takes place in Hong Kong, features an expansion called ''Nightmare in North Point.'' The expansion is based on Chinese horror and folklore and features jiangshi as enemies to fight. The hero
Mei Mei may refer to: Names * Mei (surname), a Chinese, Italian, Russian or Estonian family name * Mei (given name), a given name Places * Mei County, Guangdong, China, a county * Mei Pass, Guangdong, a strategic mountain pass * Mei River, Guangdong ...
from the
Blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...
video game ''
Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: ''Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fea ...
'' has a Jiangshi-inspired skin for the Halloween Terror 2017 in-game event, as well as a "hopping" emote where she will hop continuously in a straight line with her arms outstretched. Jiangshi (going by their Japanese names of Kyonshi) are the primary enemies in the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
video game, '' Phantom Fighter''. However, they are mistakenly referred to as
zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
s instead of vampires. Jiangshi appear as enemies in the Chai Kingdom, the fourth and final world of the 1989
Nintendo Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same tea ...
video game '' Super Mario Land''. Jiangshi are featured as enemies in the game ''
Spelunky ''Spelunky'' is a 2008 source-available 2D platform game created by independent developer Derek Yu and released as freeware for Microsoft Windows. It was remade for the Xbox 360 in 2012, with ports of the new version following for various platfo ...
''. They can be found as early as the second area of the game. The Tale of the Dragon DLC for the strategy game
Age of Mythology ''Age of Mythology'' (''AoM'') is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 30, 2002, in North America and a week later in Europe. A spin-off from the '' ...
: Extended Edition, which features units based on various mythical creatures, has the Jiangshi as a possible unit for the god
Shennong Shennong (), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerat ...
. Jiangshi appeared as a secret and optional miniboss in '' Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia''. In ''
Kingdom Hearts II is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hearts (video game), King ...
'', the Nightwalker Heartless enemies, which primarily appear in the Land of Dragons world based on ''
Mulan (1998 film) ''Mulan'' is a 1998 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, and was Disney's 36th animated feature and the ninth animated film p ...
'', are based on Jiangshi. A Jiangshi-inspired hat, the Kyonshi Hat, was added on October 5, 2018 to ''
Splatoon 2 is a 2017 third-person shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was released on July 21, 2017, and is a direct sequel to ''Splatoon'', which includes a new story-driven single-player mode and various online ...
'' as part of a Halloween event. Jiangshi are playable zombies in
Counter-Strike Online ''Counter-Strike Online'' is a tactical first-person shooter video game, targeted towards Asia's gaming market released in 2008. It is based on ''Counter-Strike'' and was developed by Nexon with oversight from license-holder Valve. It uses a m ...
in some modes: Zombie:The Hero, Zombie-Z, Zombie 2 Norowara and Kyonpan, two unused Pokémon from ''
Pokémon Gold and Silver and are 1999 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. They are the first installments in the second generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. They were released in Japan i ...
'', are based on the jiangshi. In the
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
horror game
SOMA Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
, there are reanimated corpse monsters who act like ghosts and are referred to as Jiangshi. An insect (
praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
) inspired version of the Jiangshi appears in
Sucker Punch Productions Sucker Punch Productions, LLC is an American video game developer based in Bellevue, Washington. It is best known for creating character action games for PlayStation consoles such as ''Sly Cooper'', ''Infamous (series), Infamous'', and ''Ghost ...
' 2005 video game, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves in the heist episode A Cold Alliance, they are the only non-
Chinese Zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain ...
inspired enemy to appear in the enemy boss General Tsao's entourage.
Genshin Impact ''Genshin Impact'' is an action role-playing game developed and published by miHoYo. It was released for Android (operating system), Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows in 2020, on PlayStation 5 in 2021, and is set for release on Nintendo ...
, a 2020 video game by
miHoYo miHoYo Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese video game development and publishing company. In addition to games, the company has created various products such as animated series, novels, comics, music, and merchandise. The company is the creator of ''Gen ...
, features a playable character named Qiqi who is based on the jiangshi, though she is referred to as a "zombie" in the English language version of the game.


See also

*
Vampire literature Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of vampires. The literary vampire first appeared in 18th-century poetry, before becoming one of the stock figures of gothic fiction with the publicat ...
*
Zombie film A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror g ...


Notes and references


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * {{Film genres Horror genres Chinese horror films Cinema of Hong Kong Film genres Hong Kong horror films Literary genres Television genres Zombies and revenants in popular culture