Chinese Vampire and Zombie Apocalypse

Hey guys, welcome to Off the Great Wall, I'm Mike Chen. And I'm Yeet. Now there has been this love affair with zombies and vampires going on everywhere. And overall, the depiction of them are pretty much the same. Zombies are mindless, rotting dead people strolling around in constant search for human flesh and brains. I'm still not quite sure why zombies need to yeet, and where does it go after they yeet it? Do zombies need to go to the bathroom? And vampires are blood-sucking hotties that either burn up or get all glittery when they're in the sun. But in China, zombies and vampires are both referred to as Jiangshi, and stories and legends of Jiangshi have been floating around in China since the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century AD. Jiangshi literally means stiff corpse. Supposedly, they are so stiff that they travel by holding their arms in front of them and they can only hop around. But they are extremely strong and live off the blood or life essence of humans and animals. The most popular Chinese legend says Jiangshi were created by Taoist priests as a cheap way to transport corpses. A practice called Xiangxi Ganshi, which means driving corpses in Xiangxi, is a very popular Chinese legend. When the relatives of a person who died far away from home could not afford to have the deceased person's body transported home for burial, they would hire a Taoist priest to conduct a ritual to reanimate the dead person and have the body hop its way home. The Taoist priest would make the Jiangshi hop by sticking an incantation on each Jiangshi's forehead. The priest would transport the corpses only at night and would ring bells to notify others in the vicinity of their presence because it was considered bad luck for a living person to set eyes upon a Jiangshi. It was called Xiangxi Ganshi because Xiangxi was a city in Hunan Province, China, where a lot of people traveled far away for work. After they died, their bodies were transported by Taoist priests back to their hometown because it was believed that their souls could not rest if they were buried somewhere they were not familiar with. Other Chinese legends say that there are 18 different types of Jiangshi and that they can be split into six different categories based on how dangerous they are. And we are going to break these down for you from the weakest to the strongest. The first category of Jiangshi are called white Jiangshi. These are the weakest of all Jiangshi and they are called white Jiangshi because they are covered with little white hairs. These Jiangshi are extremely slow and are basically afraid of everything, especially sunlight, fire, water, chickens, dogs, and people. So these Jiangshi are completely harmless to humans until they start feeding. After white Jiangshi consistently feed on the blood of cows and sheep for many years, the white hairs on their body turn black. And they will no longer be afraid of chickens and dogs, but are still afraid of the sun and fire, and still move very slowly. They will not directly confront a human being, but will attack a human when the human is asleep, and they will suck their blood. Many villagers in China have reported random attacks on their animals by blood-sucking creatures, and often those same villagers believe it to be the work of the black Jiangshi. Category 3, jumping Jiangshi. After sucking blood for a few decades, the hair on the black Jiangshi falls off and they will start hopping around, but they can hop far and very quickly. They are no longer afraid of sunlight, animals, or people. Dogs are extremely scared of jumping Jiangshi and stay abnormally quiet when they are around, but cats are fierce and hiss at them. That's why I like cats. Why? Because they hiss at jumping Jiangshi. Yeah. They protect me from like all these jumping Jiangshi that's around my neighborhood. Category 4, flying Jiangshi. After 100 years, jumping Jiangshi turns into flying Jiangshi. Flying Jiangshi moves with a blazing speed and can climb trees and tall structures in a flash. They now feast on the life essence of people, war, and animals, and are able to do so without leaving a mark. Now, are we sure Superman isn't a flying Jiangshi? Well, he looks good for one, and Jiangshi usually have very pale skin. Superman's kind of pale. Category 5, ba. After hundreds of years of sucking life essence, flying Jiangshi turn into a demon-like creature called ba. These creatures are also called hanba or drought ba. These things look very frightening, and they have the power to shapeshift and cause droughts and plagues wherever they go. In ancient China, when a plague is accompanied by a drought, people believed that the ba is responsible. Category 6, the demon king. After thousands of war, tens of thousands of years, the ba makes its final transformation into the demon king. Wow. And they have almost limitless powers. That's crazy. I know. So in China, it is wise to deal with a Jiangshi before it becomes too powerful. And in case you do run into a Jiangshi, or if a Chinese Jiangshi apocalypse happens, well, we've got you covered. Now, if you guys really like this video, we will teach you how to defend yourself against Jiangshi attacks and how to take care of the Jiangshi for good. So in the meantime, don't get bit. You know, it's funny. In the West, zombies and especially vampires are romanticized. It's true. Like, they're all good looking, and they're sexy. Not zombies. But people want to be zombies here. Like, you'll never see people in China, like, dress up as a Jiangshi and just run around. It doesn't happen often. That's really scary, though. Because Asians, especially Chinese, they don't like any image of demons or ghosts. I think it has something to do with really spiritual. Like, I mean, the people who are still spiritual in China, which is a good... Like, there's some people who kind of, like, really believe in the negative, like, energy that's brought about by, like, things like this. Even if you dress up and you're just playing around, they're like, you're bringing bad energy here. Like, shoo, shoo, you know? Yeah, I remember when I was eight years old, and I went to this New Year's Eve party with my parents. And I won a kite. And all the kids had a kite. And I had a kite, but it had an image of a monster on it. And my mom made me throw it away. She's like, no, you can't fly that kite. So I was the only kid without a kite. Sad. That's why I am who I am today, without that kite. No, seriously, I had a headband with, like, little skulls on it, and my grandma crushed it. Because she was like, you can't wear skulls on your head. Like, what is wrong with you, girl? You know? And I'm like, it's just a headband. It was kind of cool. Well, let us know if you guys can relate to any of that. And if you guys really like this video, please like this video. And let us know in the comments below. And we will make part two, where we actually teach you how to defend against Jiangshi. That's right. All right, guys. Don't forget to share this video. Please subscribe to our channel. And if you want to support us, go on Subbable. Here's the link right here. You can support our show there. Thanks so much. Thanks for watching. See you guys next time. Bye!