Jiangshi

Origin

The Chinese characters for jiangshi exist in both traditional and simplified forms, both combining jiang ('stiff, rigid') with shi ('corpse'). The earliest substantive literary attestations are the late-eighteenth-century Qing-era biji notation collections: Yuan Mei (1716-1797), Zibuyu (also known as Xin Qixie, c. 1788), and Ji Yun (1724-1805), Yuewei caotang biji (1789-1798). Both fix the image of an unburied corpse that, having grown rigid, returns to life and harms the living. Scholars trace the iconography to the Hunan Xiangxi corpse-walking custom (ganshi or zoushi), in which a Daoist sorcerer was said to lead, by means of talismans, the bodies of those who died abroad through the night in single file to their home villages, a practice reported as actual folklore in late-Qing nineteenth-century accounts. The visual iconography of the Manchu official's robe came together in early-twentieth-century Shanghai theatre and cinema, after the fall of the Qing, and Lau Koon-wai's 1985 Hong Kong film Mr. Vampire (Geung si sin sang) decisively fixed the visual canon.

Features

• Rigid post-mortem posture with arms outstretched forward
• Hopping locomotion with both feet held together
• Qing-dynasty Manchu official's robe (magua) and round cap
• Drains qi (life-energy) from the living through its breath
• Detects the living by the sound of their breath — holding one's breath conceals one
• Halted by a Daoist talisman (fu) affixed to the forehead

Stories

Lau Koon-wai's 1985 Hong Kong film Mr. Vampire (Geung si sin sang, produced by Sammo Hung, starring Lam Ching-ying as the Daoist priest) established the visual canon of the modern jiangshi. The Mr. Vampire series, from 1985 to 1992, drove the Hong Kong jiangshi-film boom; Lam Ching-ying's Daoist iconography became the genre standard. From the late 1980s the film genre was exported to Japan, where the Japanese kana spelling kyonshi was fixed, the 1986 Nikkatsu children's film Kodomo no Kyonshi and the 1988 NHK children's drama Kyonshi series brought the figure into Japanese children's culture. The jiangshi appears in Capcom's 1996 Soul Edge and the Dynasty Warriors series, in Western tabletop games (notably as the 'hopping vampire' of Dungeons and Dragons), and in modern Chinese cinema such as Juno Mak's Rigor Mortis (2013), a Hong Kong revival that paid homage to Mr. Vampire.

Weakness

The jiangshi's weaknesses are exceptionally well codified in Qing-dynasty biji literature and Daoist folk practice. The principal weakness is the Daoist talisman (fu), a strip of yellow paper inscribed in cinnabar ink with mantras: affixed to the jiangshi's forehead, it stops the creature on the spot, the central device of Mr. Vampire (1985). The second weakness is the breath-detection limit: the jiangshi locates the living by the sound of their breath, so holding one's breath conceals one from it, a key set-piece of the 1985 film. The third is folk pharmacology: glutinous rice (nuomi, used in preserving corpses), peachwood swords and stakes, mirrors (which give the creature a shock of self-recognition), chicken blood, and pearl powder are all canonical jiangshi-repelling tools. The fourth is the limit of posture: the rigid corpse cannot turn quickly, and stepping sharply aside leaves the jiangshi unable to follow. The fifth is sunlight, an addition standardised after Mr. Vampire (1985).

Cultural Significance

The jiangshi is not merely a corpse-yokai but the marriage of Qing-dynasty Daoist folk practice with the late-twentieth-century Hong Kong film industry. Qing-era biji literature laid the iconographic ground, and the Hunan Xiangxi corpse-walking custom united with the Daoist sorcerer's talisman ritual to fix the jiangshi-against-Daoist combat pattern. Lau Koon-wai's 1985 Mr. Vampire decisively visualised the hopping-jiangshi iconography and the talisman duel; the thirty-odd Hong Kong jiangshi films of 1985-1992 became the canon of East Asian horror. Lam Ching-ying, the Daoist priest of the Mr. Vampire series, was the absolute visual icon of the genre until his death in 1997. In Japan, late-1980s import fixed the kana spelling kyonshi and brought the figure into children's culture through the 1986 Nikkatsu film and the 1988 NHK children's drama series. Juno Mak's Rigor Mortis (2013) signalled the twenty-first-century revival of the jiangshi film, paying explicit homage to Mr. Vampire.

In Popular Culture

Yuan Mei, Zibuyu (Xin Qixie), c. 1788 — Qing-era biji establishment of the jiangshi iconographyJi Yun, Yuewei caotang biji (1789-1798) — substantive Qing-era literary attestationLau Koon-wai (director), Lam Ching-ying (star), Mr. Vampire (Geung si sin sang, 1985) — decisive visual canonMr. Vampire series (1985-1992) — Hong Kong jiangshi-film boomNikkatsu, Kodomo no Kyonshi (children's film, 1986) — Japanese children's culture entryNHK, Kyonshi children's drama series (1988) — Japanese popular cultureJuno Mak (director), Rigor Mortis (Geung si, 2013) — twenty-first century revival