page_title: Ghosts in Chinese culture
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ghosts in Chinese culture / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Chinese tomb guardian, or Zhenmushou. Roughly around the Northern Wei/Northern Qi dynasties. Earthenware and paint.
context_page_description: Chinese folklore features a rich variety of ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural creatures. According to traditional beliefs a ghost is the spirit form of a person who has died. Ghosts are typically malevolent and will cause harm to the living if provoked. Many Chinese folk beliefs about ghosts have been adopted into the mythologies and folklore of neighboring East Asian cultures, notably Japan and Korea. Beliefs about ghosts are closely associated with Chinese ancestor worship, where much have been incorporated into Buddhism and in turn influenced and created uniquely Chinese Buddhist beliefs about the supernatural.
  Traditionally, the Chinese believed that it was possible to contact the spirits of deceased relatives and ancestors through a medium. It was believed that the spirits of the deceased can help them if they were properly respected and rewarded. The annual Hungry Ghost Festival, celebrated in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and elsewhere in the Chinese diaspora, is dedicated to performing rituals to honor and remember the spirits of the dead. On this day ghosts and other supernatural creatures come out from the Underworld and move among the living.
context_section_description: There has been extensive interaction between traditional Chinese beliefs and the more recent Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
  Ancestor worship is the original basic Chinese religion. The core belief is that there is a continued existence after death.
  It is thought that the soul of a deceased person is made up of yin and yang components called hun and po (魂 and 魄). The yin component, po, is associated with the grave, and the yang component, hun, is associated with ancestral tablets. At death the components split into three different souls; the po stays with the body to the grave, another goes to judgment, and the hun resides in an ancestral tablet. The po and hun are not immortal and need to be nourished by offerings made by descendants. Eventually both the po and hun go to the underworld, although the hun goes to heaven first. Unlike in western usages of the term, underworld has no negative connotation.
  King Xuan of Zhou (827–783 BCE) according to Chinese legend executed his minister, Tu Po, on false charges even after being warned that Tu Po's ghost would seek revenge. Three years later, according to historical chronicles, Tu Po's ghost shot and killed Xuan with a bow and arrow before an assembly of feudal lords. The Chinese philosopher, Mo Tzu (470–391 BCE), is quoted as having commented:
  "If from antiquity to the present, and since the beginning of man, there are men who have seen the bodies of ghosts and spirits and heard their voices, how can we say that they do not exist? If none have heard them and none have seen them, then how can we say they do? But those who deny the existence of the spirits say: "Many in the world have heard and seen something of ghosts and spirits. Since they vary in testimony, who are to be accepted as really having heard and seen them?" Mo Tzu said: As we are to rely on what many have jointly seen and what many have jointly heard, the case of Tu Po is to be accepted."
  Religious Taoism finally came together during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) around the time Buddhism was introduced to China, and it rose to predominance during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), which initially tolerated its coexistence. Reverence for nature and ancestor spirits is common in popular Taoism. Banned during the Cultural Revolution (along with all other religions), Taoism is undergoing a major revival today, and it is the spirituality followed by about 30% (400 million) of the total Chinese population
  Buddhism was introduced into China in the 1st century CE, and rapidly became popular with its belief in a continuous cycle of rebirth and more complex ghost beliefs, although the older beliefs lingered. The entry of Buddhism into China was marked by interaction and syncretism with Taoism in particular. Originally seen as a kind of "foreign Taoism", Buddhism's scriptures were translated into Chinese using the Taoist vocabulary.
  Elements of pre-Han Dynasty mythologies such as those in Shan Hai Jing were adapted into these belief systems as they developed (in the case of Taoism), or were assimilated into Chinese culture (in the case of Buddhism). On the other hand, elements from the teachings and beliefs of these systems became incorporated into Chinese mythology. For example, the Taoist belief of a spiritual paradise became incorporated into mythology, as the place where immortals and deities dwell.
  The state of ancestor veneration in modern-day China is reported to be declining in areas that were more heavily affected by the hostility towards religion under the Communist Regime. However, in rural areas of China, as well as Taiwan, ancestor worship and its practices can still be commonly found.
caption: Chinese Tomb Guardian from around the time of the Northern Wei/Northern Qi dynasties. Used to protect the soul of the deceased from evil.[6]
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