Chinese Monsters IV: Mythological Creatures
Having explored in the first three articles of this mini-series, deadly demons, friendly fiends, gorgeous ghouls and saucy spooks in Chinese supernatural lore, I come to the mythical monsters.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, creatures, culture, horror, monsters, mythical, myths, supernatural
Chinese Monsters III: Gorgeous Ghouls and Saucy Spooks
And here is the finale of my mini article series on Chinese ghosts, with links at the end to more devilishly delicious reading on featured beings, if you wish!
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, culture, demons, Ghost Month, ghosts, Halloween, monsters, supernatural, Zhong Yuan
Chinese Monsters II: Friendly Fiends
Welcome to the second in my mini article series on Chinese Monsters – this one is about friendly creatures of the dark!
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, culture, demons, ghosts, monsters, supernatural
Chinese Monsters I: Deadly Demons
Tomorrow is Halloween or All Hallows Eve, the biggest festival featuring supernatural phenomenon in the West. The closest thing on the Chinese calendar took place this year about a month ago. That was Zhong Yuan, or Ghost Month, the biggest of three festivals of the dead. China has a rich history of ghosts and spirits, as many as 1520 have been compiled. To celebrate the global love of ghosties and ghoulies, I’ll be publishing a mini series of articles on the collection 33 ghosts I talked about over this year’s Ghost Month, to give you a flavour of Chinese ghosts and an idea of just how wide a range there is.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, culture, demons, ghosts, Halloween, spirits, supernatural
On Chinese Horror: From Xiangxi Legends to HK Zombies
Continuing on with my series on Chinese Horror, I want to talk about Jiangshi (僵尸) films that have made them the overriding image of the Chinese Supernatural.
The beginning of the 1980s saw the release of a wave of Hong Kong zombie movies featuring those blue green doleful jiangshi that hop around in Qing Dynasty official uniforms. These pioneers and the plethora of imitators, were mostly inspired by the legend of the Xiangxi Corpse Handlers from Hunan.
Posted in Culture and tagged china, Chinese, film, HK cinema, horror film, Jiang Shi, movie, Mr Vampire, New Wave, Spooky Bunch, supernatural, zombie