Yaoguai

thumb|240px|Creatures depicted in [[Luo Ping's Gui Qu Tu (; )]]

Yaoguai () represent a broad and diverse class of ambiguous creatures in Chinese folklore and mythology defined by the possession of supernatural powers and by having attributes that partake of the quality of the weird, the strange or the unnatural. They are especially associated with transformation and enchantment. They often dwell in remote areas or on the fringes of civilization where they produce all manner of unexplainable phenomena and mischief. They often have predatory or malevolent tendencies.

Yaoguai vary considerably from one another in appearance and powers, and depending on particular individual or type, as being capable of shapeshifting, creating illusions, hypnosis, controlling minds, causing disease, clairvoyance, and draining the life force of mortals.

While yaoguai are not evil in the sense Western demons are, they are usually weird and dangerous, tending to exert a baleful influence on mankind. In more superstitious times, confusion and bewilderment,

Yaoguai are popular staples of modern Chinese fiction, appearing in books, movies and comics. They have also begun to appear in video games.

Distinction between yaoguai and other supernatural beings in Chinese folklore

thumb|240px|Ghostly skeletons depicted in the Gui Qu Tu

Gui, Guai, Yao, Mo and Xie

Chinese texts and beliefs abound with descriptions of the strange and supernatural, and do not always use consistent terminology. The word itself carries strong connotations of supernatural power, usually of the kind that runs contrary to the prescribed order of nature or heaven, and yaoshu () means sorcery.

In Chinese texts, specific are sometimes referred to as , , or . Despite the overlapping connotations and senses and their somewhat interchangeable use, these words have different core meanings and commonly refer to creatures that are not . The narrow sense of each word refers to different kinds of beings that can be distinguished, usually as follows:

• Gui () more properly refers to the spirits of the dead, although it can also refer to specters and daemons such as the yao () generally.
• Guai () means any strange event, object (animate or inanimate) or person ("") while guaiwu () means "strange thing" ("").
• Xie () carries the connotation of spiritual deviance, heterodoxy, or moral corruption and can even be used to refer to specific deities, as in xieshen (), or corrupting devils (). Sometimes, used to described the yao () in limited contexts.
• The phrase means all varieties of supernatural and strange beings but can be used as a metaphor to refer to all kinds of bad people.

Attributes, powers and origins

General attributes

A is an eldritch and potentially predatory creature with uncanny properties, Whatever could not be readily understood by the population and that frightened them was generally regarded as .

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If [while one is] in the midst of the mountain valleys, yaoguai [are found] acting, [then] this is not auspicious.

thumb|240px|The surrender of [[Heifeng Guai, the Black Wind Demon, a yaoguai from Journey to the West]]

In their capricious tendencies and powers, they have some resemblance to the fae of Irish legend or the fairies of European lore. However, unlike the fae, the often possess the nature of a specific kind of animal or a plant (a vixen, a snake, a butterfly, or a tree or a flower), which may have been their original form. They are capable of assuming human, or near-human form, and of wielding either innate supernatural powers or abilities associated with Taoist cultivation.

The existence of these creatures or phenomena associated with them is generally an ill-omen and is described arising due to natural fluctuations in yin and yang, or to human activity which disrupts the moral or normative order.

Typical powers

Possession of supernatural power defines the yaoguai, distinguishing them from other monsters. or else from the passive absorption of universal energies of yin and yang over a long period of time. They may also have developed into their current state from engaging in the deliberate cultivation of supernatural power.

• Tiger Demons (): A recurring being in Chinese zhiguai () genre of literature, and also often blamed for actual missing persons cases in ancient China. Men were sometimes accused of being ravening tigers in human form and killed either by lynch mobs or being delivered up to magistrates to be put to death with state sanction. Sometimes these men had themselves confessed, likely under torture, to consuming other human beings.
• Wolf Demons (): Occurs sporadically in tales, but less frequently than fox spirits and tiger demons. Some Chinese writers supposed that the ancient Huns, Turks and Mongols were capable of transforming into wolves at leisure. A tale relates the discovery Wang Han from Taiyuan, whose father was Han Chinese and mother was a Hunnish woman adept at hunting. As his mother aged, she became unable to maintain her human form and eventually was discovered to be a wolf, escaping into the wilderness. Other tales relate of werewolves during a famine in the Ming dynasty.
• Snake Demons (): Appears as an instrument of divine punishment but sometimes persecutes even the worthy. Occasionally appears as a seducer, shapeshifting into human form to gratify its lusts. Also said to be able to cause diseases, manifesting as horrific skin sores, through supernatural power.

thumb|200px|Daji, the fox demon in her human guise

Specific characters from literature and folklore include:

• Bai Suzhen: a demon in Journey to the West, whose true form is a centipede and whose eyes radiant brilliant light. He assumes the form of a Taoist priest and is attended to by seven spider demons.
• Sun Wukong, sometimes called a "stone monkey demon", who grows powerful enough to challenge the entire Taoist pantheon.
• Zhu Bajie, a heavenly general demoted to a pig monster and junior disciple of Sun Wukong in Journey to the West.
• Spider Demons: Seven sisters whose true form is that of a spider, and who are able to shoot webs from their navels. They assist the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord in Journey to the West.
• Lady White Bones (colloquially "Baigujing"): a shapeshifting demoness whose true form is a white skeleton, and who desires to eat the flesh of a holy man in order to obtain immortality.
• Niumowang: literally, "bull demon king"
• Daji: the thousand-year-old "fox spirit" in Fengshen Yanyi who seduces the last king of Shang in order to precipitate the fall of his kingdom.
• Pipa Jing and Jiutou Zhiji Jing in Fengshen Yanyi, a magical pipa and a nine-headed pheasant who accompany Daji in her mission.

Typology

Shapeshifters causing supernatural afflictions

Folkloric belief and literature are replete with tales of shapeshifting "daemons" with the power to assume human form, to afflict with poison and disease, to bewilder, and to enthrall and seduce. and even inorganic matter such as rocks and musical instruments may gain supernatural power, immense wisdom, or human form through years of cultivation. The acquisition of sentience and supernatural power is called chengjing (). A few take their cultivation even further, achieving immortal xian () status.

This category or type of Yao often appears in classic stories such as Journey to the West, Legend of the White Snake, Investiture of the Gods and Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. It is also alluded to in the works of the secular and naturalistic philosopher Wang Chong, who denied the existence of an afterlife and of ghosts, but claimed objects could acquire strange powers due to immense age.

Demoted gods

In the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West, some gods were banished to the mortal world and became Yaoguai because they violated the laws of heaven. The most representative ones are Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing. In addition, in Journey to the West, in the heavenly court, some immortals decide to privately descend on their own accord. Many of them are waiters and mounts around the gods, such as the Golden and Silver Horned Kings of the Taishang Laojun; the Yellow Robe Demon, which was originally Kui Mulang; Maitreya Bodhisattva's Yellow Brows Great King; Manjushri's Azure Lion and so on. These end up becoming yaoguai.

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File:Gong Kai-Zhong Kui Traveling.jpg|Gong Kai's Zhongshan Going on Excursion (13th or 14th century), depicting Zhong Kui with a retinue of subjugated demons

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Literature

Shenmo (lit. "gods and demons") genre of literature or mythic literature

Investiture of the Gods

In the literary text Investiture of the Gods, the fox-sprite Daji is sent on a mission by the goddess Nüwa, to corrupt the last king of the Shang and to instigate the fall of his dynasty, as punishment for the latter composing a ribald poem. She is accompanied and aided by two other yaoguai Pipa Jing, a magical instrument who has taken on the form of a maiden, and Jiutou Zhiji Jing, a nine-headed pheasant who has also acquired human form.

Journey to the West

In Journey to the West, many yao seek immortality through the abduction and consumption of a holy man (in this case, Tang Sanzang). This includes a baigujing, who was originally the exposed white skeleton of a maiden that upon absorbing the energies of the sun and moon over a long course of time, transforms into a yaojing with shapeshifting powers.

Baigujing yearns to consume the flesh of a holy man in order to obtain immortality. Other yao were fallen pets or mounts of deities, who, having been expelled from heaven, proceed to make a nuisance of themselves on earth. The text also describes yaoguai kings () that command a number of lesser demon minions.

Notably, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, uses this term often to insult his adversaries. However, Wukong himself is also referred to as a demon not long after his birth by the narrator of Journey to the West and by his adversaries during his conflict with Heaven.

Zhiguai (lit. "strange tales") genre of literature

Yaoguai are the antagonists in a genre of literature known as zhiguai literature. Although they were produced principally for entertainment, it is worth noting that the appearance of anomalies in this genre literature is often associated with sociopolitical portents and a reflection of the current state of the cosmopolitical order, and are powerless to resist the yaoguai. Yue Jun however, publicly disclaimed any didactic purpose in his writing, saying that these tales were not to be taken too seriously, implying they were written for the purposes of entertainment.

thumb|The Painted Skin, a tale from Pu SongLing, narrates a story of a yaoguai that collects and disguises itself in human skin |265x265px"Painted Skin"

Another theme is the ambivalent nature of beauty, which can mask great evil. This theme was the driving force behind Pu Song Ling's tale the "Painted Skin", as the author himself noted in a postscript:

Etymology and disambiguation

Etymology

Yaoguai () is a compound word consisting of two Chinese characters often translated as monster,

• means strange or unusual when used as an adjective, and any monster or strange and unusual creature as a standalone noun. from which their association with sorcery derives,

Comparison to Japanese yokai

Japanese yokai is the Japanese transliteration or pronunciation of the Chinese term yaoguai and involves similarly strange creatures, with both languages using the same Chinese characters to describe them.

Comparison to Western demons

A popular translation for them in Western texts is simply "demon", but this label can be very misleading; demons in the religious sense are termed mo () "goblin", These creatures blur the boundaries between the natural and the unnatural, the human and the non-human, and their appearance in tales is often related to political portents or as a reflection of the social and cosmopolitical order.