Chinese Ghost stories (1)--Ghostdom
By Xiaodan Zhou
@zhou17306 (49)
Hangzhou, China
December 15, 2015 3:12am CST
Here I come finally!I promised to post the series of Chinese Ghost stories. I want to say sorry to my friends, I am late.
It is really difficult to start, I even don't know how to translate the names of Chinese Ghosts. Anyway, I will try my best with my Chinglish.
How to start? Hmmm, I think it's to introduce the Chinese Ghostdom/Netherworld. That will be helpful to understand the following stories.
There are 3 realms in China, Heaven(where the gods live), Mortal World(where the human live ), Ghostdom(where the ghost live).
When people die, most of them go to Ghostdom and become ghost, waiting for reincarnation , only the great and good people can have the access to the Heaven and become god.
The Ghostdom has the "goverment" named Hades and the place like "prison/execution ground" named Hell. Only the bad ghost will be put in the hell to be punished.
In the Hades system, the boss is " Dizang Bodhisattva"(Ksitigarbha, I am not sure if the translation is exact). But he is not well-known by us. Under him, each ghost performs its own duties to manage the whole Ghostdom.
The famous roles, like Yama, Black&White Wuchang...
In the next post, I will tell the story of Black&White Wuchang.
Welcome to your comments, questions and suggestions!
16 people like this
16 responses
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
17 Dec 15
There you are, Zhou! I came looking for you a few days ago, then forgot to check back again until now!
I am quite happy to see you! (I was starting to worry about you, you know!)
Does the Ghostdom Emperor have a name, Zhou, or is it too difficult to translate for us?
I am so excited about reading more about your culture and your tales of ghosts and the supernatural! I will let others know you have said you will start writing these! Thank you!
7 people like this
@zhou17306 (49)
• Hangzhou, China
18 Dec 15
Hi man~~ I know you came here and worried about me. I am really sorry to be late. I saw your messages in the notifications on my mobile phone, but when I were ready to reply you and explain, I couldn't find them(I am still not familiar with MYLOT. I don't want to say I am stupid.
I searched many places.) So, I came here to write the first post of the series, I think that is the good thing I do for you. Thanks for your concern, I am just a little busy and don't have enough time to use my PC.
I know you came here and worried about me. I am really sorry to be late. I saw your messages in the notifications on my mobile phone, but when I were ready to reply you and explain, I couldn't find them(I am still not familiar with MYLOT. I don't want to say I am stupid. I searched many places.) So, I came here to write the first post of the series, I think that is the good thing I do for you. Thanks for your concern, I am just a little busy and don't have enough time to use my PC.1 person likes this
@zhou17306 (49)
• Hangzhou, China
18 Dec 15
Yes, Ghostdom Emperor is not exact name, he has the special name, we call him " Dizang Bodhisattva"(Ksitigarbha). But he is not well-known by us. Actually, the Hades are managered by several. Yama is the one of them, the most famous role.
1 person likes this
@Namelesss (3368)
• United States
17 Dec 15
Thanks for the suggestion Rob, I'm interested to see these stories from China.
2 people like this
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@vandana7 (98830)
• India
17 Dec 15
You can come up with some French ghost stories too. May be those from French Revolution...and may be we can start exporting a few Indian ones and you can export some of yours. Such ghost trade relations will be very helpful...you see, Indian ghosts would not know french and therefore they will not trouble you all, after all they haven't any reason to. The other way round French ghosts will be surprised how bad we Indians can be. They will wonder why were we so decent.
3 people like this
@vandana7 (98830)
• India
18 Dec 15
@topffer ..yeah..I remember. It did nothing to you though...and that is a chance I am willing to take. Our ghosts usually have neatly straightened and combed hair...and wear spotless white sarees ...could easily be mistaken as lady nurses in some of the hospitals out here..if it were not for their faces. These ladies (yeah almost all of them are women ...possibly a way of acknowledging that women are wronged more out here) have all kohl around them....they never lose their teeth even though they don't get the best of toothpastes. They never have problem in maintaining their waist also.
2 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
17 Dec 15
@vandana7 I do not know a lot of ghost stories, but I lived in a haunted house during 2/3 years, and I have a personal experience with a ghost that I already told here. I will look for typically French ghost stories to satisfy your curiosity (and mine).
.3 people like this
Kidding...we are bound to have something common...after all Buddhism was born here. :)
@zhou17306 (49)
• Hangzhou, China
16 Dec 15
in our culture, Hell belongs to Hades, Hades range covers Hell.
I am glad you like the stories. I will post more.3 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
17 Dec 15
This sounds as if it's going to be an interesting series, and it's good to see you again. Thanks to @DaddyEvil for telling me about this.
3 people like this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
17 Dec 15
Don't forget to include, CowHead and HorseFace! Looking forward to it.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
19 Dec 15
That is very interesting and I look forward to your next story. Similar to some of our belief that when you die you get more lessons to learn and continue learning through other lives.
1 person likes this
@Namelesss (3368)
• United States
17 Dec 15
I'm looking forward to reading your ghost stories. Now I'm curious what other places can be found in Hades.
1 person likes this
@Syllogism (206)
• China
15 Dec 15
Hmm, I think Yama is a more accurate name for Hades.
2 people like this
@zhou17306 (49)
• Hangzhou, China
15 Dec 15
Aye! So, how do you think you will name "Hei Wuchang" and "WhiteWuchang" in English?2 people like this
@zhou17306 (49)
• Hangzhou, China
16 Dec 15
@Syllogism haha, it seems to be right! Really difficult. Hope you can help me in my following stories.
3 people like this
@Syllogism (206)
• China
15 Dec 15
@zhou17306 How about "Black Wuchang and White Wuchang the Ghost Messengers"?
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
4 Jan 16
Zhou? Hon? Are you ever coming back?
I hope you had good holidays!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Miss you, hon..... come back when you can.
