--- title: "Chinese Ghosts: Jiangshi, Hungry Ghosts, the Underworld and the Ghost Festival, With Pinyin" description: "The kinds of Chinese ghost and how to know them, from the hopping 僵尸 and the long-tongued hanged ghost to the vengeful ghost in red, the underworld of 阎王 and 孟婆, the Ghost Festival, and 48 words with pinyin and sound." canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-ghosts" author: "Mandarin The Wild" --- Free · 48 words # Chinese ghosts and spirits [Print as flashcards](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-flashcards?level=mine&words=%E9%AC%BC%20%E9%AC%BC%E9%AD%82%20%E5%B9%BD%E7%81%B5%20%E5%A5%B3%E9%AC%BC%20%E6%B0%B4%E9%AC%BC%20%E9%A5%BF%E9%AC%BC%20%E5%8E%89%E9%AC%BC%20%E5%86%A4%E9%AD%82%20%E9%AC%BC%E7%81%AB%20%E5%83%B5%E5%B0%B8%20%E7%8B%90%E7%8B%B8%E7%B2%BE%20%E5%A6%96%E6%80%AA%20%E5%A6%96%E7%B2%BE%20%E9%98%B4%E9%97%B4%20%E5%9C%B0%E7%8B%B1%20%E9%98%8E%E7%8E%8B%20%E9%98%8E%E7%BD%97%E7%8E%8B%20%E5%88%A4%E5%AE%98%20%E9%BB%91%E6%97%A0%E5%B8%B8%20%E7%89%9B%E5%A4%B4%E9%A9%AC%E9%9D%A2%20%E5%AD%9F%E5%A9%86%20%E5%AD%9F%E5%A9%86%E6%B1%A4%20%E5%A5%88%E4%BD%95%E6%A1%A5%20%E9%AC%BC%E9%97%A8%E5%85%B3%20%E7%81%B5%E9%AD%82%20%E9%AD%82%20%E9%AD%84%20%E6%8A%95%E8%83%8E%20%E8%BD%AE%E5%9B%9E%20%E9%AC%BC%E8%8A%82%20%E4%B8%AD%E5%85%83%E8%8A%82%20%E7%BA%B8%E9%92%B1%20%E5%86%A5%E5%A9%9A%20%E9%97%B9%E9%AC%BC%20%E9%AC%BC%E5%B1%8B%20%E9%AC%BC%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B%20%E7%AC%A6%20%E9%81%93%E5%A3%AB%20%E9%92%9F%E9%A6%97%20%E8%BE%9F%E9%82%AA%20%E8%A7%81%E9%AC%BC%20%E6%92%9E%E9%AC%BC%20%E5%B0%8F%E9%AC%BC%20%E8%83%86%E5%B0%8F%E9%AC%BC%20%E9%85%92%E9%AC%BC%20%E9%AC%BC%E8%84%B8%20%E6%90%9E%E9%AC%BC%20%E9%AC%BC%E9%AC%BC%E7%A5%9F%E7%A5%9F) Speed ## Kinds of Chinese ghost, and how to know them | | In Chinese | How to know it | | --- | --- | --- | | Hopping corpse | 僵尸 jiāngshī | Stiff, in a Qing official’s robe and hat, hopping with arms held out; a yellow paper talisman on its forehead stops it | | Female ghost | 女鬼 nǚguǐ | White robe, long black hair over the face; usually a woman who was wronged | | Vengeful ghost | 厉鬼 lìguǐ | Comes back for revenge; someone who dies in red is said to return as one, so the ghost in a red dress is the most feared | | Hanged ghost | 吊死鬼 diàosǐguǐ | A long tongue hanging down to its chest | | Water ghost | 水鬼 shuǐguǐ | A drowned soul that pulls swimmers under, to be free by taking their place | | Hungry ghost | 饿鬼 èguǐ | A huge belly and a neck as thin as a needle, so it can never eat its fill; fed at the Ghost Festival | | Fox spirit | 狐狸精 húlijīng | A fox that turns into a beautiful woman to lead men astray | | White and Black Impermanence | 白无常 · 黑无常 Bái Wúcháng · Hēi Wúcháng | Two guards in tall hats who come for the dead: the white one with a long tongue, 一见生财 on his hat; the black one, 天下太平 | | Ox-Head and Horse-Face | 牛头马面 Niútóu Mǎmiàn | The underworld’s guards, a man’s body with an ox’s or a horse’s head | ## Ghosts guǐ鬼 ghost; spirit guǐ鬼hún魂 ghost; spirit of the dead yōu幽líng灵 ghost; specter nǚ女guǐ鬼 female ghost shuǐ水guǐ鬼 water ghost (ghost of a drowned person) è饿guǐ鬼 hungry ghost lì厉guǐ鬼 malicious ghost; vengeful spirit yuān冤hún魂 ghost of someone wrongfully killed guǐ鬼huǒ火 will-o'-the-wisp ## Monsters and spirits jiāng僵shī尸 zombie; hopping corpse hú狐li狸jīng精 fox spirit yāo妖guài怪 monster; demon yāo妖jing精 demon; evil spirit ## The underworld yīn阴jiān间 the underworld dì地yù狱 hell yán阎wáng王 Yama; King of Hell yán阎luó罗wáng王 Yama (king of the underworld) pàn判guān官 judge of the underworld (in folk religion) hēi黑wú无cháng常 Black Impermanence (underworld guard who escorts the dead in Chinese folk belief) niú牛tóu头mǎ马miàn面 Ox-Head and Horse-Face (guardians of hell) mèng孟pó婆 Meng Po (goddess who serves the soup of forgetfulness in the underworld) mèng孟pó婆tāng汤 Meng Po's soup (drink of forgetfulness given to souls before rebirth) nài奈hé何qiáo桥 Bridge of Helplessness (bridge into the underworld in Chinese folklore) guǐ鬼mén门guān关 gate of hell ## Souls and rebirth líng灵hún魂 soul; spirit hún魂 soul; spirit pò魄 soul; spirit tóu投tāi胎 to be reincarnated lún轮huí回 (Buddhism) reincarnation; samsara ## The Ghost Festival guǐ鬼jié节 Ghost Festival (15th day of the 7th lunar month) zhōng中yuán元jié节 Ghost Festival (15th day of the 7th lunar month) zhǐ纸qián钱 paper money burned as an offering to the dead míng冥hūn婚 ghost marriage nào闹guǐ鬼 to be haunted guǐ鬼wū屋 haunted house guǐ鬼gù故shi事 ghost story ## Keeping ghosts away fú符 talisman; charm dào道shì士 Taoist priest zhōng钟kuí馗 Zhong Kui (mythological demon queller) bì辟xié邪 to ward off evil ## Everyday words with 鬼 jiàn见guǐ鬼 damn it; what the hell zhuàng撞guǐ鬼 to have rotten luck; what the heck xiǎo小guǐ鬼 (affectionate) kid; little rascal dǎn胆xiǎo小guǐ鬼 coward; scaredy-cat jiǔ酒guǐ鬼 drunkard; alcoholic guǐ鬼liǎn脸 funny face; grimace gǎo搞guǐ鬼 to play tricks; to make mischief guǐ鬼guǐ鬼suì祟suì祟 sneaky; furtive ## How do you say ghost in Chinese? 鬼 (guǐ), or 鬼魂 (guǐhún), a dead person’s spirit; 幽灵 (yōulíng) is closer to a Western phantom. A haunted house is a 鬼屋 (guǐwū), to be haunted is 闹鬼 (nàoguǐ), and a ghost story is a 鬼故事 (guǐ gùshi). 鬼 is also in everyday words: a 胆小鬼 (dǎnxiǎoguǐ) is a coward, a 酒鬼 (jiǔguǐ) a drunk, and 见鬼 (jiànguǐ), to see a ghost, means “damn it!” ## What is a jiangshi, the Chinese hopping vampire? 僵尸 (jiāngshī), a stiff corpse. Too stiff to walk, it hops with its arms held out, in the robe and hat of a Qing dynasty official, and kills the living to take their 气 (qì), their life force. A Taoist priest, 道士 (dàoshì), stops it with a yellow paper talisman, 符 (fú), stuck on its forehead. The legend says priests once led the dead home to be buried, hopping in a line; Hong Kong films of the 1980s, like Mr. Vampire, made it famous. In Chinese today 僵尸 also means a zombie. ## Where do the dead go in Chinese belief? To the underworld, 阴间 (yīnjiān), through the gate of the dead, 鬼门关 (guǐménguān). The King of Hell, 阎王 (Yánwáng), and his judges, 判官 (pànguān), weigh each life, and the wicked are punished in the eighteen levels of hell, 十八层地狱 (shíbā céng dìyù). Then the soul crosses the Bridge of Helplessness, 奈何桥 (Nàihé Qiáo), where 孟婆 (Mèng Pó) gives it a soup to forget its past life, 孟婆汤 (Mèng Pó tāng), and it is reborn, 投胎 (tóutāi). ## What is the Chinese Ghost Festival? 中元节 (Zhōngyuán Jié), or 鬼节 (Guǐ Jié), on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the middle of Ghost Month, when the gates of the underworld open and ghosts roam. The next one falls on Monday, August 16, 2027. Families burn paper money, 纸钱 (zhǐqián), and set out food for their ancestors and for hungry ghosts with no one to feed them; the front row at shows is left empty for the ghosts. Many people avoid swimming, staying out late at night and moving house that month. Our superstitions guide has the rest. ## Why do Chinese ghosts wear red? Red is the colour of luck and life, and of weddings, so it is never worn to a funeral. In ghost stories the reverse holds: someone who dies in red, or is buried in red, is said to come back as a vengeful ghost, 厉鬼 (lìguǐ), stronger than any other. That is why the woman in a red dress is the most frightening ghost in Chinese horror. ## What is a Chinese ghost marriage? 冥婚 (mínghūn): a wedding for someone who died unmarried, so their soul is not alone and has family to make offerings to it. Usually two dead people are married, or the dead are married to a living person in a ceremony with a paper effigy. It is an old custom, now rare and in places against the law. ## Can’t hear it? Play uses your device’s Mandarin voice. Edge, Chrome and Safari have one; a browser with none plays each character in our recorded voice instead. ## More Chinese folklore - [Chinese gods and mythology names](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-mythology-names) - [Chinese superstitions and the Ghost Month](https://mandarinthewild.com/guides/chinese-superstitions) - [Chinese funeral words and customs](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-funeral-words) - [Chinese Buddhist words](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-buddhist-words) Words, pinyin and meanings from our own dictionary; the date from the Hong Kong Observatory tables; the folklore from Wikipedia’s Chinese ghosts, Jiangshi and Ghost Festival, and it varies by region.