Hopping corpse
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In popular Chinese mythology, hopping corpses (Template:Zh-tsp; literally "stiff corpses") are reanimated corpses that hop around, killing living creatures to absorb life essence (qi) from their victims. Jiangshi is also pronounced Geung si, which is the Cantonese pronunciation for Hopping Corpse. They are said to be created when a person's soul (魄 Po) fails to leave the deceased's body. The influence of Western Dracula stories brought the blood-sucking aspect to the Chinese myth in modern times. In fact, Dracula is translated to Chinese as "blood-sucking jiang shi" where the thirst of blood is explicitly emphasized because it is not a traditional trait of a jiang shi. Because hopping corpses often wear Manchu-style warrior clothes, this can lead to make us think that hopping corpses are actually Manchu warriors who were already killed in battle before they were brought back to life by witchcraft. Therefore, hopping corpses strongly resembled Manchu warriors from Hell.
It came from the myth of "The Corpses who Travel a Thousand Li" (千里行屍), which describes Tao wizards who transport corpses over long distances to hop on their own feet back to their hometown for proper burial. Some people speculate that hopping corpses were originally smugglers in disguise who wanted to scare off law enforcement officers.
Hopping Corpses were a popular subject in Hong Kong movies during the 1980s; some movies even featured both Chinese Hopping Corpse and "Western" zombie. In the movies, hopping corpses can be put to sleep by putting on their foreheads a piece of yellow paper with a spell written on it (Chinese talisman or 符 pinyin fu2). Generally in the movies the hopping corpses are dressed in imperial Qing Dynasty clothes, their arms permanently outstretched due to rigor mortis. Like those depicted in Western movies, they tend to appear with an outrageously long tongue and long fingernails. They can be evaded by holding one's breath, as they track living creatures by detecting their breathing. Their visual depiction as horrific Qing Dynasty officials reflects a common stereotype among the Han Chinese of the foreign Manchu people, who founded the much-despised dynasty, as bloodthirsty creatures with little regard for humanity.
It is also conventional wisdom of feng shui in Chinese architecture that a threshold (Chinese: 門檻), a piece of wood approximately six inches high, be installed along the width of the door to prevent a hopping corpse from entering the household.
Hopping Corpses in Japanese Mythology
Kanshi, are traditional Japanese spirits (called yokai) that appear in ghost stories, specifically those geared toward children. They are most often portrayed as a pale-skinned humanoid figure (often an old man) dressed in a dull or shabby hooded robe. They are usually carrying with them a walking cane or staff, or more commonly, a lantern alight with supernatural fire which is part of the kangsi's spirit.
Kanshi are aesthetically somewhere between Western vampires and "the boogeyman." They can be either benevolent or malevolent, possessing traits of both. They seem to have some form of clairvoyance or are at least able to perceive omens. Kanski are also capable of "eating" humans, either literally or by draining their blood or "life force" vampirically, though it is only the most malicious of kanshi who do so.
The malevolent sort of kanshi are more common in tales of horror, often shown as demonic entities that abduct misbehaving or disrespectful children, either eating them or giving them horrible nightmares (equating them with the "boogieman.")
An example of a benevolent kanshi can be found in a more light-hearted tale of a man meeting a kanshi by the roadside on the way home. The creature warned the man not to return to his house, but the man ignored the warning. When he arrived, the kanshi stood in his doorway, terrifying the man. As he was running, lightning struck the house, thus the man owed his life to the kanshi.
References in works of fiction
"Geeonshe", a word based on the Japanese pronunciation of jiangshi, is used in some obscure games and trading card games as a term for creatures that combined the characteristics of Chinese and "Western" vampires.
The hopping corpse has appeared in a handful of films from Hong Kong that have seen Western release, including the Geung si sin sang (aka Mr. Vampire) series featuring Lam Ching Ying.
In the video game Super Mario Land one of the minor enemies, Pionpi, has characteristics of the Jiang Shi.
Poes, enemies that appear in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, are similar to (and possibly based on) kangsi, though they lack legs and have more shadowy-translucent bodies.
Another video game, Phantom Fighter for the Nintendo Entertainment System, featured Kyonshies almost exclusively as enemies. As the Chinese hero Kenchi, you battled the hopping phantoms with punches and kicks, and even took control of a kyonshi infant by ringing a special bell hidden in some stages.
In the fighting game Darkstalkers, the character Hsien-Ko (Lei-Lei in the Japanese version) is based on the Jiang Shi.
In the role-playing game Shining Force III, Scenario 1, the inhabitants of Quonus Village have been cursed and transformed into hopping corpses named "kyon-shi", a Japanese pronunciation of Jiang Shi. They attack the player, and can either be killed or relieved of their curse and brought back to life with a holy Elbesem Orb. One of the kyon-shi, a dark wizard called Noon, becomes a playable character when rescued.
In the anime and manga Shaman King, the Tao family has a massive army of Jiangshi at the family's call. One certain Jiangshi the show focused on was Lee Bailong (a.k.a. Lee Pai-Long), who is a thinly veiled reference to Bruce Lee.
In the novel Anno-Dracula by Kim Newman, a hopping vampire appears as a minor villain.
In the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II, Heartless with charateristics of the Jiang Shi appear in Mulan's world, the Land of Dragons. The Heartless' name is "Night Walker".
In the MMORPG "Ragnarok Online", monsters known as Munaks and Bonguns were heavily based on the Jiang Shi figure. Both of these creatures have a loathing for living alone and bounce around looking for a player to approach so they may attack. The difference between them is that the weaker Munaks are females clad in traditional red outfits and have long queues, while the more formidable Bonguns are males wearing blue and own shorter queues. While fighting these monsters, a player may even be lucky enough to find a Munak or Bongun hat which they can equip for a substantial advantage over most headgear in the game. These hats even include the yellow sheet of paper hanging over the face, though it should be noted that the paper seen on Bonguns has been somehow torn in half. Both monsters can also be tamed and kept as pets. With the addition of the Louyang patch, a new Jiang Shi-type monster was introduced; the Hyegun. Hyeguns wear a yellow-green version of what Munaks and Bonguns wear, and have their paper talismans hanging from the side of their hats instead of the front. They can be found only in the Louyang dungeon along with Munaks (and other monsters), and has a Munak Doll among the list of items that can be obtained from it - which suggests a romantic rivalry with the Bongun "for Munak's love". Unlike Munaks and Bonguns, Hyeguns don't have the possibility of dropping a cut lock of their hair nor an equipable version of their hat when they "die", and they can't be tamed to become pets. In addition, Hyeguns are levels way higher than Bonguns, give way more experience points, and are way more dangerous.
A Jiang Shi was featured in an episode of the children's cartoon show Jackie Chan Adventures. In this depiction the Chinese Vampire was depicted as feeding off his victim's chi (life force) rather than drinking their blood. The victims could be revived by a magical chi transfer that temporarily left the revived individual with some of the personality of the chi donor.
In the animes Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT it is believed by some fans that the charecter Chaozu is loosely based on the Jiang Shi
The vampires became the main theme in three successive television series in Hong Kong, "My Date with a Vampire" (我和殭屍有個約會), which were loosely continued from two earlier series starring Lam Ching-Ying as his typical role of a taoist priest. Many of the international myths of vampires were incorporated into the program, including the idea that vampires are in classes, depending on what class of vampires bite them, as well as many Chinese legends, some of which are changed for the sake of entertainment, e.g. Pangu, the mythical creator of the world, was in fact a clan of people, and that all the vampires of the world can traced back to one of its members, who was not technically a vampire for he was never a mortal to start with. The vampires were also changed (at least the first five classes anyway) to resemble human beings, apart from the time they use their powers and drink blood. This also saw the transformation of vampires from stereotype villains to heroes.
In the Steve Jackson game, Munchkin Fu, one enemy is the "Hopping Vampire" (a vampire on a pogostick), which gains a special bonus if the monster enhancer, "Hopped Up On Lotus", is played.
In the anthropomorphic game Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves, when the player is in China (General Tsao's level), General Tsao summons grasshopper hopping corpses.