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Jiang Shi

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It has been suggested that Jiang Shi in popular culture be merged into this articleor section. (Discuss)

Jiang Shi (simplified Chinese:; traditional Chinese: or; pinyin: jingsh;literally "stiffcorpse" or "zombie")are reanimated corpses that hop around, killingliving creatures to absorb life essence (/ q) from their victims. Jingshispronounced gngsi in Cantonese, orkyonshi in Japanese. They are said to be createdwhen a person's soul (p) fails to leave the deceased's body, due to improper death,suicide, or just wanting to cause trouble.[1][2]

Generally their appearance can range from plain ordinary (as in the case of a recently

deceased person) to downright horrifying (i.e. rotting flesh, stiffness, rigor mortis, thelike commonly associated with corpses that have been in a state of decay over a period of

time). A peculiar feature is their greenish-white furry skin; one theory is this is derived

from fungus ormold growing on corpses. They are said to have long white hair all over

their heads[3] and they may be animals.[4] The influence of Western vampire storiesbrought the blood-sucking aspect to the Chinese myth in more modern times.

A supposed source of the jiang shi stories came from the folk practice of "Traveling a

Corpse over a Thousand Li" (), where traveling companions or family memberswho could not afford wagons or had very little money would hire Taoist priests to

transport corpses of their friends/family members who died far away from home over

long distances by teaching them to hop on their own feet back to their hometown forproper burial. Taoist priests would transport the corpses only at night and would ring

bells to notify other pedestrians of their presence because it was considered bad luck for aliving person to set eyes upon a jiang shi. This practice () was popular inXiangxi where many people left their hometown to work elsewhere.[5][6] After they died,

their corpses were transported back to their rural hometown using long bamboo rods,

believing they would be homesick if buried somewhere unfamiliar. When the bambooflexed up and down, the corpses appeared to be hopping in unison from a distance. [7][8][9]

Once it was a myth.[10] Some people speculate that the stories about jiang shi was

originally made up by smugglers who disguised their illegal activities as corpse

transportation and wanted to scare offlaw enforcement officers.[11]

There may be victims ofpremature burial.[12]

They are sometimes called Chinese vampires by Westerners, despite the fact that unlike

vampires, most jiang shi usually have no self-awareness, consciousness or independent

thought, so they are also called Chinese zombies

[edit] Jiang shi in film

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Jiang shi became a popular subject in Hong Kong films during the 1980s, primarily due

to the films ofSammo Hung, including Encounters of the Spooky Kind(1980) and Mr.

Vampire (1985). Some movies even featured both jiang shi and Western zombies. AJiang Shi is a main character in the 1991comedyThe Gods Must Be Crazy III.

In the movies, jiang shi can be put to sleep by putting a piece of yellow paper with a spellwritten on it on their foreheads (Chinese talisman or, pinyin: f). Generally in themovies the jiang shi are dressed in imperial Qing Dynasty clothes, their armspermanently outstretched due to rigor mortis. Like those depicted in Western movies,

they tend to appear with outrageously long tongues and long razor sharp black

fingernails. They can be evaded by holding one's breath, as they track living creatures by

detecting their breathing.[13] They are blind, and lack knowledge.

Because it usually takes decades for a unattended resentful corpse to become a Jiang Shi,

they are usually depicted wearing attire identified with the previous dynasty. Their

modern visual depiction as horrific Qing Dynasty imperial officials may have been

derived by the anti-Manchu sentiment of the Han majority during the Qing Dynastyperiod, who were viewed as bloodthirsty creatures with little regard for humanity.

A Jiang Shi also appeared in Jackie Chan Adventures, in Season 2 Episode 35.

It is also the conventional wisdom offeng shui in Chinese architecture that a threshold

(simplified Chinese:; traditional Chinese:; pinyin: mnkn), a piece of woodapproximately 15 cm (6 in) high, be installed along the width of the door at the bottom to

prevent a jiang shi from entering the household.[14]Sticky rice is believed to draw the evilspirit of the jiang shi out.[citation needed] In the film Mr. Vampire, only sticky rice works, and

mixing it with regular rice diminishes its effectiveness. Furthermore, the glutinous rice

must be in its uncooked form for it to be effective. Other items used to repel jiang shi infilms include chicken's eggs (whereas duck's eggs are ineffective), and the blood of a

black dog.[15]

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