Looking for Zombie Records in China's Classical Literature

In unofficial history in Qing Dynasty, there was a story about zombies (written by the owner of Dong Xuan). Roughly speaking, in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there was a small village in the west of southern Hunan. A rogue in the village was poisoned by ptomaine for robbing a tomb, but was rescued by an old man, but was beaten by the whole village for misconduct, and then left to fend for itself in the grass in the back hill. A few days later, he asked for help again, but this time no one wanted to help him. The villagers beat him and tied him to a tree. Although some people spoke out to discourage it, no one paid attention. Finally, he died in a tree. In the evening, the villagers wanted to bury him, but they found the body missing. Finally he came back and killed the whole village. The villagers were bitten and turned into zombies. Some villagers who left in time turned into zombies when they visited the village in the morning.

Zombies prevailed after the middle of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most people recorded zombies in Qing Dynasty, and Yuan Mei's Woods Language and Ji Xiaolan's Notes on Yuewei Caotang were the first two, which can be said to be complete works of zombies.

The theory of corpse removal in western Hunan, also known as the theory of moving souls, belongs to the You Zhu family in Maoshan, and originated in Yuanling, Luxi, Chenxi and Xupu counties in western Hunan. When the body was not rotted, it was rushed back to the village by the warlock. Corpse hunters and magicians travel in small groups. Some of them tied the bodies with ropes every few feet, and then put yellow paper symbols on their foreheads. Others beat gongs to clear the way and row boats at night. Throw away the stack before dawn, uncover the paper, stand against the wall and continue on the road at night.

It was also pointed out that the corpse driver actually carried the corpse, but because he was dressed in black at night, passers-by naturally couldn't see the corpse driver and thought there was a corpse.

Another name

Move a corpse, walk a shadow, walk a corpse.

The concept of corpse change

The Notes of Yuewei Caotang divides the corpse into two reasons: the sudden change of the new corpse and the long-term burial without decay.

Vegetarian meal in a corpse, which is more scientific? The pH of soil is extremely unbalanced, which is not suitable for the growth of organic matter, so it will not breed ants and bacteria. Even if the body is buried for a hundred years, the muscle hair will not rot. Some data show that the hair and nails of the corpse will continue to grow. There is also this sentence in Feng Shui.

It is rumored that Taoism has the method of refining the Taiyin. When a body is buried for hundreds of years, it will come back to life at the expiration. The dead body is possessed by evil things/spirits, and the body absorbs the yang, which makes the body change when people are angry. When a person dies, the soul is scattered and stagnated.

Yuan Mei's Woods Speech: The human soul is good and evil, but the human soul is ignorant, and the soul dominates the human body. When the soul leaves the human body, it will become an evil spirit zombie.

Three souls and seven spirits is a Taoist saying.

Soul is a positive spirit, which is attached to human spirit and dominates spiritual thinking activities.

Spirit is a kind of female spirit, which is attached to human body and dominates human physical activities.

The possibility of corpse degeneration

Even in the 1950 s, there were funerals and mortuaries in Hong Kong, so the theory of social corpse transformation was very popular at that time, such as lightning and thunder, when a pregnant cat jumped over a coffin, the corpse would change.

A magic weapon against zombies

The recovered zombie artifacts include the following categories:

The mirror "Compendium of Materia Medica" mentioned: "The mirror is the essence of golden water, and the inside is bright and the outside is dark. 」

Zhi Tao and Tao Mujian's Chronicle of Jingchu: "Tao Zhe, the essence of the five elements, can hate evil spirits and control hundreds of ghosts. 」

The chicken is called "Woods Language": "Ghosts shrink when they crow. 」

Seven jujube stones "Woods Yan": "Seven jujube stones, nailed to the back of the corpse. 」

Burning is the ultimate way to destroy a corpse. Yu: "set fire to it, croak and blood gush." 」