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Many kinds of ghosts have been introduced throughout Chinese folklore and philosophy. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra , ghosts are depicted as the souls of wicked humans who, after undergoing punishment for their offenses in the afterlife, are eventually reborn as demons.
See also: Ghosts in Chinese folklore. Shui gui (Chinese: 水鬼; pinyin: shuǐ guǐ; lit. 'water ghost') are the spirits of people who have drowned through either accident or by suicide. [38] They are also known as 'water monkeys' (水猴) and are invoked as explanation for drownings.
The five- thousand-year Chinese culture, over the centuries, has produced hundreds of legends about monsters, ghosts, demons, and spirits. Many of these demons and ghosts influenced Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore folklore.
There’s a rich history of Chinese ghosts — as many as 1,520 spirits have been compiled. To celebrate the global love of ghosties and ghoulies, here is a collection of 33 creatures, spirits and demons from across Chinese folklore.
Ghosts were taken very seriously by the ancient Chinese. In modern-day China, ghosts only have power to harm if one believes in them, but in ancient China, they were a reality whether one believed in them or laughed them off. When a person died their soul journeyed across a bridge to the afterlife.
In Chinese texts, specific yao 妖 are sometimes referred to as 鬼 (gui, spectre or ghost), 怪 (guai, strange monster), 魔 (mo, demon close to the Western sense) or 邪 (xie, spiritually deviant or morally corrupt being).
Chinese mythology recognizes a wide range of ghosts and spirits, including hungry ghosts, immortal spirits, mountain spirits, evil spirits, and ghost apparitions of deceased humans. How are ghosts and spirits exorcised in Chinese culture?
Zhong Kui (鍾馗) is the vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings. Portraits of him were hung in Chinese houses at the end of the Chinese lunar year to scare away evil spirits and demons. He is depicted as fierce man with a black face and a comic beard brandishing a magic sword.
As Chinese began accepting and following the teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, they incorporated the ideas of souls and ghosts from these cultivation ways. And after thousands of years of syncretism, there are now a wide variety of ghosts in Chinese culture.
Chinese art has long depicted ghosts, often portraying them in a manner that reflects their dual nature as protectors and harbingers of fear. Traditional paintings may feature ethereal figures, symbolizing the connection between the earthly realm and the spirit world.