I’m sharing spooky content all October long. Subscribe at the bottom of this page for an ancient jiangshi legend, as well as photos from my travels to haunted sites around the world.
Here’s a bit about one of my favorite creatures — the jiangshi.
What is a Jiangshi?
Jiangshi are horrible, qi-sucking vampires with origins in Chinese myth and alchemy. Afflicted by rigor mortis, they hop stiffly from place to place, searching to drain the life force energy (qi) of unsuspecting victims.
The legend has roots in historical China, where families would pay Taoist priests to transport their deceased relatives home for burial. While some corpse transporters performed their job through conventional methods like carriages and tied bamboo, some priests would do so by re-animating the deceased relative, and having it hop back to its hometown.
Professional corpse-transporters worked mostly at night, when the air was cool and the streets were empty.
Diverse practices of Taoist alchemy flourished in these times. Taoist priests, through waidan physical alchemy and neidan spiritual alchemy, sought to blur the line of mortality and achieve eternal life; it’s no surprise that they were a first choice for the task of corpse resurrection.
Traditionally, a jiangshi is portrayed with cold, blueish skin and sunken eyes. They can be immobilized when a specific paper talisman is attached to its forehead.
Jiangshi in Ancient China
Actually, necromancy and the undead are described in great detail in classical Chinese literature.
There’s the historical Pu Songling, recently portrayed by Jackie Chan, whose Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio offers an anthology of over 500 now-famous stories of ghosts and paranormal phenomena; then there’s the Qing Dynasty scholar Ji Yun, whose Thatched Cottage Notes outlined specific types of undead and ways they could be created.
Another author, Yuan Mei, was considered downright heretical. Since the Analects states that “Confucius did not speak of strange events, violence, riots, or supernatural things,” Mei wrote What the Master Would Not Discuss, a collection of supernatural stories that also touched on themes of violence, sex, queerness that were present in daily life. It was so popular that the government later tried to censor it.
Jiangshi Fiction
Naturally, China’s vampire tales gave way to plenty of re-tellings over the years, across books, film, TV, and video games; my first encounter with a jiangshi was via Jackie Chan Adventures, then later through Yu-Gi-Oh!
These re-tellings constitute the world of jiangshi fiction, an entire subgenre of undead-centric work which — much like the modern trope of zombie movies in the West — has become a cult staple of the Hong Kong film industry. No instance of this phenomenon stands taller than the Mr. Vampire series, whose unique fusion of kung fu, horror, and comedy breathed new life into the myth.
So there we have it. The jiangshi is an age-old part of Chinese alchemy and folklore; it’s also a familiar concept to vampire-loving westerners, AND a staple of international fiction across genres, mediums, and eras. What’s not to love?
Pay your respects to the jiangshi this Halloween, and brush up on your talismans just in case.
I’ll be posting my favorite ancient jiangshi ghost story later this week. Subscribe to the Earthshifting newsletter to catch it, or follow on Instagram/Twitter!