Chinese Ghost Stories

When in London, I was hanging out with the anthropology study researchers from East Asia Study in LSE. One of the researchers has been dedicating her life into those girls who die before getting married. This book caught my attention naturally, it analyzes the ghost stories from Ming and Chin dynasties, trying to figure out how Chinese view death, after-life and how to make peace with it. It is pretty common feeling toward the dead, sarrow and fear. Feeling sad for the loss of the descease and fear of what it may become.

If the person died of an unnatural cause, the "Hun"(魂) will not rest until the mistake is corrected. For example, the murdurer is caught. The "Hun" is the backbond of ghosts. Also, there is another case where the "Hun" has died, but the "Po"(魄) remains. This creates monsters crawling out of the grave. Their hair and nails grow, they need to drink fresh animals' blood to survive, however, they don't recognise their families nor understand their lifes before death.

Chinese respect the dead family members yet are afraid of being haunted. That explains the ghost marriage. The parents would try to marry the pass-away daughter to a young man, dead or alive. Becasuse they fear the ghost of the daughter would come back and haunt them.