Hopping Jiangshi

The jumping jiangshi is the classic and most recognizable form of the Chinese reanimated dead. Tradition links it to the corpse that dies far from its native village and is not returned in time to receive ritual burial; the critical period is set at forty-nine days (Buddhist tradition) or one hundred (Taoist tradition). A historical motive fueled the legend: the «corpse drivers» of Hunan (xiangxi ganshi), who supposedly transported at night the bodies of the emigrants back to their villages, guiding them in a line with bells under the direction of Taoist priests. From that image of «walking» corpses emerged the figure of the jiangshi that advances by jumps due to the rigidity of its limbs.

The hopping jiangshi moves by leaps, with rigid arms extended forward, because cadaveric rigidity prevents it from walking or bending the joints. Its food is not blood, but qi, the breath or vital energy of the living, which it absorbs when approaching them; the blood vampirism sometimes attributed to it is a modern elaboration, popularized by Hong Kong cinema of the eighties, alien to classical folklore. It possesses notable strength and hardened claws, and tracks its victims by breath. Tradition holds that a Taoist talisman of yellow paper (fú) stuck on the forehead, with the formula «急急如律令», paralyzes it, and that holding the breath prevents it from detecting it.

The image of the jiangshi is fixed by its attire: the funeral uniform of a Qing dynasty official, with its hat, over grayish or greenish skin. The yellow paper talisman on the forehead is its most characteristic emblem, symbol of the Taoist power that subdues it. It is combated with decapitation, fire, peach tree wood, glutinous rice, black rooster blood and mirrors, all apotropaic elements of Chinese tradition. As the central figure of the jiangshi cycle, the hopping corpse embodies the belief that a restless soul can animate its own body, and has become one of the most iconic monsters of East Asian popular culture.