Jiangshi

Jiangshi
Two people dressed up as jiāngshī. Here, the fulu is hanging from the forehead.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	殭屍
Simplified Chinese	僵尸
Hanyu Pinyin	jiāngshī
Literal meaning	stiff corpse
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin jiāngshī Bopomofo ㄐㄧㄤ ㄕ Gwoyeu Romatzyh jiangshy Wade–Giles chiang¹-shih¹ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization gēung sī Jyutping goeng¹-si¹ Southern Min Hokkien POJ khiong-si
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	cương thi
Chữ Hán	殭屍
Korean name
Hangul	강시
Hanja	殭屍
Transcriptions Revised Romanization gangsi
Japanese name
Kana	キョンシー
Transcriptions Romanization kyonshī

A jiāngshī (simplified Chinese: 僵尸; traditional Chinese: 殭屍; pinyin: jiāngshī; Jyutping: goeng1 si1), also known as a Chinese hopping vampire,^[1] is a type of undead creature or reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. Due to the influence of Hong Kong cinema, it is typically depicted in modern popular culture as a stiff corpse dressed in official garments from the Qing dynasty. Although the pronunciation of jiangshi varies in different East Asian countries, all of them refer to the Chinese version of vampire.

In popular culture, it is commonly represented as hopping or leaping. In folkloric accounts, however, it is more formidable, capable of giving chase by running, and if sufficiently ancient or if it has absorbed sufficient yang energy, capable also of flight. According to folkloric understandings, "jiāngshī” came from the hills, soaring through the air, to devour the infants of the people".^[2]

In both popular culture and folklore, it is either represented as anthropophagous (i.e. man-eating), therefore resembling Slavic vampires, or as killing living creatures by absorbing their qi, or "life force".^[3] It is usually not represented as blood-sucking, as in the West European conception. During the day, it rests in a coffin or hides in dark places such as caves and forests.^[4]

De Groot suggests that the belief in jiangshi was the result of the natural horror at the sight of dead bodies, nourished by the presence of unburied corpses in the imperial China, which "studded the landscape", the idea of the vital energy flowing through the universe as capable of animating objects - including exposed corpses, and by severe cultural taboos concerning postponement of burial.^[5] These fears are described as having preoccupied "credulous and superstitious minds in Amoy".

The belief in jiangshi and its representation in the popular imagination was also partly derived from the habit of "corpse-driving",^[6][7] a practice involving the repatriation of the corpses of dead laborers across Xiang province (present-day Hunan) to their hometowns for burial in family gravesites. The corpses were trussed up against bamboo sticks and carried by professionals known as corpse-drivers and transported over thousands of miles to their ancestral villages, which gave the impression of a hopping corpse. These professionals operated during the night to avoid crowds during the day, which served to amplify the fearful effects of their trade.

Jiangshi legends have inspired a genre of jiangshi films and literature in Hong Kong and the rest of East Asia. Movies such as Mr. Vampire and its various spin-offs Mr. Vampire II, Mr. Vampire III, and Mr. Vampire IV became cult classics in comedy-horror and inspired a vampire craze in East Asia, including Taiwan and Japan. Today, jiangshi appear in toys and video games. Jiangshi costumes are also sometimes employed during Halloween.