Jiangshi

A jiangshi, also known as a Chinese "hopping" vampire or zombie, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. "Jiangshi" is read goeng-si in Cantonese, cương thi in Vietnamese, gangshi in Korean and kyonshī in Japanese. It is typically depicted as a stiff corpse dressed in official garments from the Qing Dynasty, and it moves around by hopping, with its arms outstretched. It kills living creatures to absorb their qi, or "life force", usually at night, while in the day, it rests in a coffin or hides in dark places such as caves. Jiangshi legends have inspired a genre of jiangshi films and literature in Hong Kong and East Asia.

Genesis

The Qing Dynasty scholar Ji Xiaolan mentioned in his book Yuewei Caotang Biji (閱微草堂筆記) that the causes of a corpse being reanimated can be classified in either of two categories: a recently deceased person returning to life, or a corpse that has been buried for a long time but does not decompose. Some causes are described below:

Jiang Shi

Jiang Shi (1818-1866) was a Chinese official and poet of the late Qing period, primarily famous for his use of simpler language within the general context of Song School poetry (Neo-Confucianism). He was also expert in calligraphy, line drawing and Chinese brush painting.

Life and poetry

Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Jiang served various posts in the imperial government of Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian and Zhejiang. Due to the Taiping Rebellion, Jiang spent quite a lot of time wandering from one place to another. This part of life experience was reflected in his roaming poems, which illustrated people's livelihood and local conditions in South China of the early 20th century, as well as social problems including the opium trade of that time. His works also voiced changes in his mentality during the drifting: Jiang gradually realised the hopelessness in an official career and eventually turned to poetry, the true means of his life.

His works are compiled in Fuyutang Poems.

Comments

Shi

Shi or shi may refer to:

Language

Art

People

Surnames

Acronym

Japanese honorifics

The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people. These honorifics attach to the end of people's names, as in Aman-san where the honorific -san was attached to the name Aman. These honorifics are often gender-neutral, but some imply a more feminine context (such as -chan) while others imply a more masculine one (such as -kun).

These honorifics are often used along with other forms of Japanese honorific speech, keigo, such as that used in conjugating verbs.

Usage

Although honorifics are not part of the basic grammar of the Japanese language, they are a fundamental part of the sociolinguistics of Japanese, and proper use is essential to proficient and appropriate speech. Significantly, referring to oneself using an honorific, or dropping an honorific when it is required, is a serious faux pas, in either case coming across as clumsy or arrogant.

They can be applied to either the first or last name depending on which is given. In situations where both the first and last names are spoken, the suffix is attached to whichever comes last in the word order.

Shi (surname)

Shi ([ʂɨ])) is the romanization of several Chinese surnames, including 石, 史, 師, 時, 士, and 施. Several of these are common Chinese surnames. Five other variations are listed as variations in the Hundred Family Surnames - 張 唐 傅 崔 師 - but these are written in traditional Chinese, a character set no longer used in mainland China. As with other family names in Asian cultures, the surname is written before the given name.

士

Shì in Pinyin.

石

Shí in Pinyin.