List of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore

The following is a list of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore and fictional culture, originating from traditional folk culture as well as contemporary literature such as Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. This list only contains common supernatural beings who are inherently "evil" in nature such as ghosts and demons, or beings who are lesser than deities. There are also ghosts with other characteristics. Some buddhist sutras classify them.

List

Romanization	Hanzi	Definition
Bardo	中陰身	In Mahayana Buddhism a state of soul after death before reincarnation, usually within 49 days. But if died unnaturally (枉死), or with strong thoughts may become Yóu Hún Yě Guǐ and reincarnate later or not reincarnate, such as Diào Sǐ Guǐ, Shuǐ Guǐ and Yuān Guǐ.
Earth bound spirits	地縛霊	A ghost that is bound to a certain place, love about his land before death or tomb, some of them are Diào Sǐ Guǐ, Shuǐ Guǐ and Yuān Guǐ died unnaturally.
Bā Jiāo Guǐ	芭蕉鬼	a female ghost which dwells in a banana tree and appears wailing under the tree at night, sometimes carrying a baby. In some folk tales from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, some greedy people ask for lottery numbers from the ghost in hope of winning money. They tie a red string around the tree trunk and stick sharp needles into it and then tie the other end of the string to his/her bed. At night, the ghost appears and begs the person to set her free in return for winning lottery numbers. If the person does not fulfill his/her promise to set the ghost free after winning the lottery, he/she will meet with a horrifying death. This ghost is often likened to the Pontianak from Malay folklore.
Diào Sǐ Guǐ	吊死鬼	the spirits of those who have been hanged, either in execution or suicides. They are usually shown with long red tongues sticking out.
È Guǐ	饿鬼	A ghost which appears during the Hungry Ghost Festival. It is believed to be the spirit of a person who has committed sins of greed condemned to suffer in hunger after death. It has a mouth which is too small for ingesting food and is covered with green or grey skin, sometimes with a potbelly. The ghost suffers from insatiable hunger. It haunts the streets and kitchens, searching for offerings and decomposed food. These hungry ghosts consume anything, including excreted waste and rotten flesh. There are various types; some have fire-breathing abilities while others suffer from anorexia.
Guǐ Pó	鬼婆	a ghost which takes the form of a kind and friendly old woman. They may be the spirits of Amahs who used to work as servants in rich families. They return to help their masters with housekeeping matters or to take care of young children and babies. Some may have hideous appearances and look hostile like witches in fairy tales.
Guǐ Shù	鬼树	spirits which live in trees. They confuse travellers by appearing in random locations, especially in forests. Although the spirit does not appear to the living in its human form, the mere appearance of a tree itself at night evokes feelings of fear in a person. Hence there exists the popular sayings that one should not look up at a tree at night for fear of seeing something supernatural. A modern variation of the Guǐ Shù is the "Guǐ Lù" (鬼路) where travellers are drawn into an endless journey along a never-ending road.
Jiāng Shī	僵屍	the Chinese "vampire" which literally means "stiff corpse". In fact, it behaves more like a zombie rather than a vampire. They are reanimated corpses which move by hopping and kill living beings to absorb their "life essence". They arise when the soul of the dead fails to leave the corpse due to improper death or simply out of mischief. This ghost is very similar to Pocong from Malay Folklore.
Nǚ Guǐ	女鬼	a vengeful female ghost with long hair in a white dress. In folklore this ghost is the spirit of a woman who commits suicide while wearing a red dress. She usually meets with some injustice, such as being wronged or sexually abused, while she was alive. She returns to take her revenge. A tabloid story tells of a funeral ceremony where family members of a murder victim dress her in red, hoping that her spirit would return to take revenge on her murderer. In traditional folklore, the colour red symbolises anger and vengeance when applied to ghosts. On the other hand, some ancient folk tales tell of beautiful female ghosts who seduce men and suck their "Yang" essence or sometimes kill them. This type of female ghost is likened to the Western Succubus. Paradoxically, a vengeful male ghost (Nán Guǐ 男鬼) is rarely depicted.
Rì Běn Guǐ Bīng	日本鬼兵	the spirits of Japanese soldiers who died during the Second World War. Although these ghosts are not "Chinese" in nature, they specifically appear only in modern Chinese ghost stories. These ghosts are usually seen dressed in military uniforms and carrying rifles, or Katanas for officers. The Chinese, especially those who suffered during the Japanese occupation of eastern China and Southeast Asia during the War, see Japanese soldiers as brutal killers of countless civilians. The appearance of this ghost evokes feelings of loneliness, death, cruelty, torment and fear.
Shuǐ Guǐ	水鬼	literally means "water ghost". They are usually the spirits of those who drowned and continue living in the water. They attack unsuspecting victims by dragging them underwater and drowning them in order to take possession of the victim's body. This is known as "Tì Shēn" (替身), which means to "replace the body", as the spirit will now return to the living in the victim's body, whereas the victim's spirit becomes the new "water ghost" and seeks to return to the living again. The cycle repeats constantly.
Wú Tóu Guǐ	无头鬼	headless ghosts who roam about aimlessly. They are usually the spirits of those who have been sentenced to execution by beheading. In some popular tales, these ghosts approach the living at night and ask where their heads are. Sometimes they are shown as carrying their severed heads on their side.
Yóu Hún Yě Guǐ	游魂野鬼	the wandering spirits of the dead. They roam the world of the living during the Hungry Ghost Festival for a month. They include vengeful spirits who take their revenge, hungry ghosts and playful spirits who may cause trouble during that period. Some of them have no relatives to look after them after death, some have no respect place to go and some lose their way and are unable to return to the Underworld so they continue roaming the world of the living even after that month. They have other names such as You Ying Gong (有應公). Some scholars classify them. The Chinese proverb "gū hún yě guǐ" (孤魂野鬼), which describes these spirits, is used as a reference to those who wander around aimlessly. Some of may become good and powerful Wang Ye.
Yuān Guǐ	冤鬼	the spirits of those who have died wrongful deaths. The idea appeared very early on in China. Their spirits cannot rest in peace and go to the Underworld for reincarnation. They roam the world of the living as depressed and restless spirits who constantly seek to have their grievances redressed. In some popular tales, the spirits would approach a kind living person and attempt to communicate with them in order to lead the person to clues which point out that they have died wrongful deaths. The living person would then help them clear their name or otherwise ensure that justice is done.
fetus ghost	嬰靈	the spirits of those who have died before birth as a human. They purportedly originated from Japan. Memorial services are held for them in Taiwan. Unreleated dead children or babies, Lok Gork are made by common ajahn and Guman Thong are raised by Buddhist monks in Thailand to work for people and may be troublesome if their masters do not satisfy them. Some people raise more powerful adult Phra Ngan (Phra Chai). Some people said there is no such ghosts.
Jiàn	聻	Some reported ghosts would reincarnate. Some said they would become Jiàn and ghosts are afraid of Jiàn like people afraid of ghosts.Some said the idea developed from a Fulu
Zhǐ Rén	纸人	dolls made from paper which are burnt as offerings to the dead to become their servants. These dolls usually come in a pair of a male and a female, known as "Jīn Tóng Yù Nǚ" (金童玉女), which translates to "Golden Boy and Jade Girl". These dolls are not exactly spirits by themselves but they can appear to do the bidding of their deceased master.
Hēi Bái Wú Cháng	黑白无常	These are the Black Guard of Impermanence and White Guard of Impermanence- guards of Hell who are tasked to lead the spirits of the dead to the Underworld after death. The White Guard and the Black Guard are in charge of evil and good spirits respectively. They are worshipped in some Chinese temples and are colloquially referred to as "Dà Yé Bó" (大爷伯) and "Èr Yé Bó" (二爷伯), which means "Great Grand-Elder" and "Second Grand Elder" respectively. They wear tall hats bearing Chinese characters and long robes which cover their entire bodies. They carry seals on their right hands and sticks with pieces of cloth on their left hands. In some tales, they appear during the Hungry Ghost Festival and reward the good by granting them pieces of gold. Statues of them in temples depict them as having ferocious snarls on their faces and with long red tongues sticking out to scare away evil spirits. They are called General Fan and General Xie or 7th master and 8th master. The White Wuchang is called "Xie Bi-an 謝必安". He is tall and skinny, and people call him "Qi-Ye 七爺 (7th master)". The Black Wuchang is called "Fan Wu-jiu 范無救". He is short and fat, and people call him "Ba-Ye 八爺 (8th master)". It was said that they were policemen in ancient time. During a prisoner transfer, they lost the prisoner, so they decided to split up to search for the prisoner. They planned to meet up under the Bridge. However, it was raining hard, and Xie Bi-an did not make it in time. Fan Wujiu was waiting under the Bridge for a long time and dared not leave. Eventually, Fan was drowned when the flood came. When Xie arrived and saw Fan was dead, he killed himself by hanging. Afterwards, the Heavenly Emperor saw that they were loyal to their duties and each other, so he appointed them gods to pick up dead people's spirits. There are supposed spiritual meanings about their names. "Xie Bi-an" means that one would be saved if one sacrifice to the gods (酬"謝 Xie"神明) or repent ("謝 Xie" 罪悔過). "Fan Wu-jiu" means if one committed sins (Fan zui "犯"罪), one would not be saved (Wu-jiu 無救).
Niú Tóu Mǎ Miàn	牛头马面	guards of the Underworld similar to the "Hēi Bái Wú Cháng" originating from the Song Dynasty tale Transmission of the Lamp (景德传灯录). They have the heads of a bull and a horse in place of human heads, hence the term "Niú Tóu Mǎ Miàn", which translates to "Bull Head and Horse Face". They carry pitchforks and chains to bind spirits. The size and weight of the chain used reflects the seriousness of the sins committed by the spirit.

See also

• Chinese mythology#Important mythologies and deities
• Chinese folklore
• Hungry ghosts in Chinese religion
• Radical 194