Jiangshi

A jiāngshī (simplified Chinese: 僵尸; traditional Chinese: 殭屍; pinyin: jiāngshī; Jyutping: goeng1 si1), also known as a Chinese hopping vampire, 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". Historian J. J. M. 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 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. 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 als