Yaoguai

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Yaoguai (Chinese: 妖怪; pinyin: yāoguài) are a class of creatures in Chinese mythology, folk tales, and literature that are defined by their supernatural (or preternatural) abilities^[1][2] and by being strange, uncanny or weird.^[1][3][4] A popular translation for them in Western texts is simply "demon",^[5][6][7] but this label can be very misleading, demons in the religious sense are termed "mo" (魔)^[8] rather than "yao" (妖). Other translations include "fiend",^[3] "monster",^[7][9][10] "goblin",^[7] "evil spirit" or "bogeyman".^[11][9][12] These creatures blur the boundaries between the natural and the unnatural, the human and the non-human,^[13] and their appearance in tales is often related to political portents or as a reflection of the social and cosmopolitical order.^[14][15][16]

Possession of supernatural power defines the 妖怪 (yāoguài) and distinguishes them from other monsters.^[1] They are described as possessing powers beyond the ordinary, such as shapeshifting,^[17][18] enchantment, creating illusions, hypnosis, controlling minds, causing disease, clairvoyance, and draining life force. They typically dwell in remote areas or on the fringes of civilization, occasionally interacting with human life and inflicting harm. They are usually malevolent and tend to exert a baleful influence on mankind.^[16][19]

Instances of erratic behaviour or bewilderment,^[16] strange disease, eerie sights and sounds, and even unexplained missing persons and unsolvable murders are often attributed to them. This belief has given rise to the folk saying: "Whenever extraordinary things happen, there must have been a yao (acting) (出反常必有妖)".^[20]

The folkloric tradition, their existence derives partly from the general fear of the unknown or the unknowable. General anxiety over social and political undercurrents, as well as psychological escapism may have provided the impetus for the literary tradition. The popular imagining of the yaoguai may also have received further stimulus from the activities of suppressed fox-spirit cults and other heterodox religious sects in China,^[21] from which their association with sorcery derives,^[19] as well as from the beliefs of minority tribes.^[22] Today, they are popular staples of the xianxia (Chinese: 仙侠) genre or "cultivation fantasy" genre^[23] in movies, books and comics, serving as companions, antagonists, foils to the heroes, and even as protagonists. Yaoguai is often translated as "demon" in English, but unlike the European concept of demons, a term heavily laden with moral and theological implications, the yaoguai are simply a category of creatures with supernatural (or preternatural) abilities and may be amoral rather than immoral, capricious rather than inherently wicked. As described in literature, many of them are capable of falling in love with mortals, repenting, and of exhibiting the full range of human emotions, desires and values.

When demons in a religious sense are being referred to, the proper Chinese term is "mo" (魔) rather than "yao" (妖).

Japanese "yokai" is the Japanese transliteration or pronunciation of the Chinese term "yaoguai" and involves similarly strange creatures, with both languages using the same Chinese characters to describe them.^[24]