A young man was sleeping in his home, when he heard a noise. It was quite a strange noise; nothing that he had ever known to come from the fields. Therefore, he got out of bed and went to go find out what it was, heading down the stairs to the main living area of his him. He stopped and saw no one in the room, proceeding to head out the front door and looking out at the field. All was quiet, though that gave a rather airy feeling. The man continued to walk towards the field, seeing something. There then came a scream, the man running into the house and back up the stairs to his bedroom. When he got there, he saw a decayed corpse in robes of a Qing Dynasty official with arms stretched out and attempting to dread his wife of her qi. The man fearing for his life and the life of his wife took a mirror and held it up to the corpse, it disappearing. This story, although a fictionalized account with some minor alterations, show the hallmarks of a Jiang Shi encounter for someone of Chinese originals. The Jiang Shi is an undead being coming from Chinese folklore, whose name literally translated means stiff corpse. However, this creature was not just native to China, being present in Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese folklore. This not being overly surprising, considering that China had great influence over most of Asia and the Chinese believes being brought into these countries in some way. The Jiang Shi can be separated into two groups, as described by the Qing Dynasty Scholar, Ji Xiaolan, old corpses and freshly buried corpses. The old corpse in decaying and is far similar to our understanding of the zombie, where the freshly buried corpse looks more like the person and thus appears to be more related to the western vampire (Sutherland). However, in both cases it appears that this being is a beastly creature, who’s only instinct is to kill and feed.
However, the Jiang Shi is called the Chinese Hopping Vampire; it is more generally equated to zombies than vampires in the western world. This is directly seen with the decaying form and the lack of mobility, only being able to move through hopping, that the west typically attribute to zombies, at least old school zombies that come Haiti believes. In addition, does bring up the Jiang Shi’s other name of the hopping zombie. Similarly to the Haiti version of the undead, zombie, the Jiang Shi can be created through the use of magic (History.com Editors). However, unlike the zombie of Haiti, the Jiang Shi was not used for revenge or as slaves. This was typically done as a way to bring the dead back home, during the Qing Dynasty with many labors working so far from their ancestral homes. To accomplish this task the family, in many cases having very little, would hire someone, most likely a Taoist priest, to perform the ritual and bring the body back home. The reason for the hoping and outstretched arms, besides the onset of rigor mortis, was that the body would be tied to a stick or piece of bamboo. Those viewing this would most likely be shocked and frightened by this, as they would see the corpse seeming to move due to the bouncing of the bamboo (Mingren). However, in other cases the family would also pay a corpse-driver, who would use necromancy (All About History Team). In both cases however, the dead would only be transported during the night, as a way to slow the decay. This does also give credence to the belief of the Jiang Shi being a creature of the night, typically hiding during the day and hunting at night.
This does draw back to the vampiric concept of the Jiang Shi, as vampires in the modern continuousness are the lord of the night. This not being dissimilar to the image portrayed in such works as Bran Stoker’s “Dracula.” However, Stoker’s Dracula can go out during the daytime, but is weaker. This is not the only similarity that the Jiang Shi have to their western vampiric brethren, both creatures consuming something that is highly vital to life. For the western vampire it is blood, but for the Jiang Shi it is chi or qi, the life force (Sutherland). The act of the Jiang Shi doing this can be due to a lack of a proper burial and typically go after the living members of the family that did not properly honor the dead relative. However, this can just be extended to any living being. The two also share a similarity in the way they choose to hide from the daylight, though the Jiang Shi will also hind in a dark cave, they both using a coffin. This coffin can be assumed to be the coffin to which the dead was buried in or being used to transport them back home. However, the Jiang Shì has also taken on many similar powers as their western counterpart, such as flying, this giving credence to the idea that the Jiang Shì did not develop completely isolated from the ideas of the Slavic Vampire. A side note is the Jiang Shi, like the western vampire, has also inspired many films in Hong Kong during the 1980s (Mingren). However, where the vampire can be stopped by the use of garlic or wooden stake to the heart, the Jiang Shi can be stopped in a number of ways.
One rather comedic way to stop a Jiang Shì is to simple push them over, it being believed that they will be unable to get back up on their own. This however does not seem to make much sense, if the Jiang Shi does have the power of flight. A more useful way to stop a Jiang Shì would be to hold a mirror to them, it being believed that they are frightened of their own reflection. This also differs from their western brethren with the western vampire not being able to appear in mirrors. It is also believed that using magic, as the Jiang Shi was created through the use of magic and it being in full following of the advice from Uncle in “Jackie Chan Adventures”, “Only magic can defeat magic.” This can be achieved by using a Taoist talisman could be used, sticking the talisman to the forehead of the Jiang Shi and immobilizing them. Another humorous way to stop the Jiang Shì could be dropping a bag of coins in front of them, thus forcing the Jiang Shì to stop and count the coins. Regardless, it is best to avoid the Jiang Shi.
The Jiang Shi is a terrifying creature and seems to be closer to the western view of the zombie than that of the vampire. However, there similarities with the western vampire cannot be disputed either, where it does seem that there is some influence of the west in the Jiang Shi’s powers. This seems to be very similar to how this creature was present in many other Asian countries folklore. Regardless of the view of this creature, it is best to avoid them.
Works Cited
AncientPages.com, and On This Day In History: King Alexander II Was Crowned At Scone. “Jiangshi — Terrifying Ancient Chinese Vampire In Disguise.” Ancient Pages, 21 Apr. 2018, www.ancientpages.com/2016/01/12/jiangshi-terrifying-ancient-chinese-vampire-in-disguise/.
“Chinese Vampire.” TV Tropes, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChineseVampire.
Dhwty. “The Living Dead: Chinese Hopping Vampires.” Ancient Origins, Ancient Origins, 8 June 2016, www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/living-dead-chinese-hopping-vampires-006050.
History.com Editors. “Zombies.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Sept. 2017, www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-zombies.
Team, History. “Chinese Hopping Vampires: The Qing Dynasty Roots behind the Jiangshi Legend.” All About History, www.historyanswers.co.uk/people-politics/chinese-hopping-vampires-the-gruesome-origin-of-the-jiangshi-legend/.
