a strange creature with a body covered in monster fungus with pale long white and messy
hair wandering around with her arms spread and having extraordinarily long tongues and black
pointed fingernails what does this remind you of you're right today we'll be talking about zombies
who have become one of pop culture's most popular characters in movies television shows and cartoons
zombies are the classic example of history repeating itself where many television
series have attempted to create frightening and fascinating zombie plots a popular television show
the walking dead is one such example but long before the series became popular zombies may be
seen imprinted in paintings of chinese culture and one such popular zombie in chinese mythology is
jiangxi a kind of zombie or vampire from china that hops around and drains you of your life force
however don't be scared it's commonly believed that if you place a piece of paper with a spell
inscribed on it on the zombie's forehead it will stop and you will be saved and don't thank us
already for this brilliant zombie defeating trick because we got the story of zhang shi covered
in detail for you right in this video but before we begin make sure you hit the like button and
subscribe to our channel so you may be notified of future uploads now without wasting another
moment let's get started for centuries common creatures like ghosts vampires werewolves and
zombies have been in the human imagination while zhang shi is not a popular figure in the west
he is well known in china taiwan japan and other asian countries but who is zhang shi and how does
he fit into chinese mythology so zheng shi is a chinese vampire or zombie whose name translates
to stiff corpse it's a horrifying creature that normally hops along sucking the life energy from
any victims it comes across there are undead humans who have spent thousands of years hunting
feeding on and infecting the living unlike other zombies they don't walk stumble or stagger instead
they hop although a hopping zombie may appear to be comical zhang shi's are scary hoppers who would
emerge in front of you or behind you at any time and surprise you on a lighter note if you actually
hate surprises you'd hate to meet a jiangxi however these beings aren't the outcome of ancient
bad forces which is surprising rather the people who fear them were the ones who invented them
their story begins more than two thousand years ago before china was unified
so it all began in 1790 with the establishment of the largest chinese dynasty the qin dynasty and
qin shi huang china's first emperor when jiangxi was born the emperor was still in the process
of conquering the chinese states and hence esc they were once living breathing thinking humans
it's possible that these hopping vampires would not have existed if qin shi huang hadn't fought
this unification war warriors sent to protect state borders and fend off qin xi huang's army
frequently traveled long distances and during the conflict several of them died their families
couldn't afford to have their remains returned to them which was a major source of stress for them
efforts were undertaken during the xing dynasty to return the bodies of these chinese workers
who perished far away from home to their birth place there appeared to have been people
called corpse drivers who specialized in this profession and were in charge of transporting
the bodies back to their ancestral places in another version of this myth the common people
flocked a taoist priest in search of closure and possibly the body of a lost loved one
these priests would undertake a sacred ceremony in order to touch the deceased's body and soul
they then offered the deceased person a set of instructions that would enable them to come home
they encouraged the deceased to hop their way back to their loved ones because of rigor mortis which
caused the bodies of the deceased to become stiff and inflexible because it was considered bad luck
for a living person to see a dead body however how could so many people come to believe that the
dead bodies were moving there are two different explanations for it based on the myth you agree
upon the first one is that one of the corpse drivers carried the bodies on their back and
covered it with a cloak as they traveled the cloak covered the corpse driver and the body appeared
to walk on its own the other is that the priest would tie the deceased upright to bamboo poles
with the poles on their shoulders one guy stood in front and the other in the back the bamboo pulse
flexed as they walked and the corpses rocked up and down with the movement of the bamboo
from a distance the bodies appeared to be hopping around with their arms outstretched
it was also believed that the taoist priests utilize their magical abilities to guide and
control the zhang shi to move when and where they chose now that you know how and why these hopping
vampires were created could you spot one if you saw one most likely you wouldn't because you're
not aware of their appearance so let's look into it zhang shi's appearance has been described in a
variety of ways a peculiar glowing green mold appeared to cover the whole body of zheng shi
allowing them to glow somewhat it had a long tongue large protruding eyes and a flashy
costume according to certain legends it was noted for wearing outfits from the shin dynasty and was
frequently seen wearing a shin dynasty uniform a dark coat or robe and a round cap some seem to
be in good condition while others look decayed like a shark they have a mouth full of sharp
serrated teeth some said that they have thick long fingernails that are impossible to break or split
it is said to emerge only at night and would steal the qi or life force of living victims in order to
survive and grow more powerful and this is how its victim would get killed in one of these stories
zhengxi vomits on three individuals and kills them this is not only disgusting but it could also be a
misunderstood story of an old illness that spreads by contact with body fluids but thankfully there
are ways in which human beings could survive an encounter with zhang xi to get away from zheng
xi's grasp people could for example drop a bag of solid gold coins on the floor the hopping vampires
would stop moving and count the shiny coins that have scattered across the ground that is however
an expensive option a simpler and more efficient option was to hold a taoist sign near his forehead
the zheng xi will be unable to hop away as long as the symbol was held against the head
and the list does not end here there appears to be a number of other ways to defeat a jinxi
showing it a mirror can also help because it is believed to be afraid of its own reflection
but our suggestion and the best practical way to avoid a zhengxi encounter would be to avoid
wandering the streets late at night and with this we come to the end for this
video modern horror novelists particularly those from southeast asia have made zheng xi
a must read their ability to mutate their ever-changing look and the mystery underlying
their power have continued to peak everyone's interest if you are too a zombie fan let us know
in the comments section below how true do you think the story of xingxi is also remember to
like share and subscribe we'll see you again with more of such myths next time until then goodbye