On Chinese Horror: the Jiangshi
In honour of World Zombie Day 2014, I wrote about the China’s traditional monster of the undead, which I have revised and updated for Ghost Month 2021. You might know these are the “hopping vampires” (a misnomer that I shall address in this article). The proper name for them is Jiangshi, and in fact, they had lived in the Chinese fictional imagination for 900 years before the movies.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, cinema, culture, film, horror, Jiang Shi, literature, movie, zombie
On Chinese Horror: Early Zhi Guai (Tales of the Strange)
2014’s Zhongyuan or Ghost Month, took place in August, and Xiayuan was not until December. Nevertheless, with the crisp scent and keenness of the autumn air, I felt the delicious anticipation for All Hallow’s Eve. So I started a series on the Chinese horror genre. This was the first in the series, now with updates and revisions. It will focus on attitude towards the supernatural and the history of this kind of storytelling.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, culture, film, Hong Kong cinema, horror, Liao Zhai, Pu SongLing, zombie
The Corpse Flower – A Candle in the Tomb Sample
Chunk and Hu, ex-military and diehard, are accompanying an archaeological expedition near the Kunlun Mountains to discover the lost ancient city of Jingjue. With their aid, Professor Chen, his students, and their overseas sponsor, Shirley Yang, have managed to make her way into the secret city of the Taklamakan. In the final resting chamber of the Queen, they have found her coffin. A magnificently carved Kunlun Wood casket, but growing from the lid, is a large, scarlet, sickly smelling blossom.
Posted in Translation and tagged book, china, Chinese, culture, Ghost Blows Out The Lamp, grave robber, horror, translation
Fairytale Killer: A Twisted Tale of Heroism and Redemption
Fairytale Killer, released in Asia in May last year, is the work of influential Hong Kong director Danny Pang (Bangkok Dangerous, The Eye), in collaboration with the excellent Thai director, Decha Srimantra (Ong Bak, Chocolate). It stars Sean Lau (Mad Detective, A Life Without Principle), Wang Bao Qiang (Blind Shaft) and star of Pang’s The Child’s Eye, Elanne Kwong.
Posted in Commentary and tagged china, Chinese, cinema, culture, Danny Pang, Decha Srimantra, fairytale, film, Hong Kong cinema, horror, Thai cinema, thriller
Chinese Zombies: Why Do The Jiangshi Look Like Qing Officials?
Have you ever seen a Chinese horror film with zombies in it? I should like to clarify that by Chinese zombies I mean those stiff, lugubrious bluish green things that hop on two legs, with arms stretched straight out in front that so often get mixed up with Chinese vampires in the West. Have you ever wondered why these zombies tend mostly to be dressed in Qing official uniforms?
Posted in Culture and tagged corpse trainer, festival of the dead, Ghost Month, ghoul, horror, jiangshi, monsters, the undead, Zhong Yuan, zombies