Background:
The Legend of Zhong Kui took place in Tang Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Ming
We can find this story in the book The History of Tang
Zhong Kui is a figure of Chinese Mythology, famous for catching and vanishing evil spirits.
He is described as a man with very dark skin, a square face with beard on his face, with fearful eyes and a big mouth.
The legend of Zhong Kui
Under the reign of Emperor Da, Zhong Kui and his friend, Du Ping left their hometown and went to the capital 長安to take part in the imperial examination. Zhong Kui was very happy to see the beauty of the capital. He walked around and saw a word-fortune telling stall. He stepped forward and said to the fortune teller, “Sir, I am the candidate of the imperial examination this year, can you see if I have a good result?” Then he wrote the word “kui”, that is his given name. He gave it to the fortuneteller. The fortuneteller looked at the word carefully, thought for a while
and said, “You must write a very good essay in this exam and achieve a good honor, but you are in a bad luck, you are not only stripped the honor, but your life may be at risk.” The fortune teller explained with the word he had written, “the word ‘Kui’ is combined with ‘九’ means September and ‘首’means first. It is September now and you come to take the examination, the word means you must rank the first honor in September. However, the ‘首’ is at the side, I am afraid that something bad must happen to you, you have to keep an eye on that.” After listened to the fortune teller, Zhong Kui thought, “I am a man with righteousness and have done nothing, what should I scare of?” He paid the fortune teller and left.
A few days later, Zhong Kui took the imperial examination. He looked at the questions carefully and finished it very quickly. He submitted it and left. When the two examiners looked at his essay, they said surprisingly, “excellent! What a wonderful essay!” They immediately ranked him the title “zhuangyuan”. After the emperor heard that the zhuangyuan this year was very talented, he summoned him to the palace. However, he realized that he was ugly and whispered, “Why this ugly guy is ranked as the zhuangyuan?” Then the examiner kneeled down and said,” A person’s is not depend on his outlook.” The emperor replied, “You are right. But we once have 18 handsome bachelors at the time of the previous emperors. I am afraid that my people will laugh at me for having such an ugly guy as the zhuangyuan.” The officer didn’t want to make the emperor angry and said, “Yes, the zhuangyuan should be handsome both inside and outside, we’d better choose another one.” Then the emperor stripped his title of zhuangyuan just because of his ugly face. Zhong Kui was so upset about that and took the swod from the guard in the palace and killed himself. The emperor was surprised by the act with him; he buried him with great honor.
There is another version of the story which is almost the same. It only differs from the way of Zhong Kui’s death. Zhong Kui committed suicide upon the palace steps by hurling himself against the palace gate until his head was broken. And then his friend, Du Ping, the one who accompanied him to the capital city, buried him.
During Zhong’s life time, he didn’t catch any ghost indeed.
His popularity of catching ghosts after an incident happened to another emperor, Emperor Ming. One day, Emperor Ming fell very ill and had a recurring dream in which he saw a small stole a purse from imperial consort Yang Guifei and a flute from the emperor. Luckily, the bigger ghost, wearing the hat of an official, swallowed the small ghost. The bigger ghost then introduced himself as Zhong Kui. He told Emperor Ming that he was stripped the title of zhuangyuan because of his ugly face. After his death, he began to vanish troublesome ghosts.
After Emperor Ming awake, he had recovered from his illness without taking any medicine. He immediately instructed an artist to paint a portrait of Zhong Kui and hang it up in the palace.
Ever since, people believed that Zhong Kui is a spirit that specialized in driving away evil spirits. Pictures of Zhong Kui are hung in people’s homes to keep away trouble and preserve peace and harmony. Later, his image is painted on household gates as a guardian spirit to drive away evil spirits. Although Zhongkui, strictly speaking, is not a Door God because Door Gods are always
appearing in pairs, Zhong Kui’s image is often put at the side door or back door.
Beside the portrait of Zhong Kui to guard people’s house, there are other stories circulated among people. Stories like How’s the life of Zhong Kui in the hell after his death, how’s he catch different kinds of ghost and many other stories about ghosts. Another famous story is Zhong Kui marries off his sister. This story is also sung in the Chinese opera.
Comparision:
Roman mythology : Janus
- god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings.
- Two-faces looking in opposite directions, some places four-faced.
- January
- Represented sun and moon
The Legend of Zhong Kui took place in Tang Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Ming
We can find this story in the book The History of Tang
Zhong Kui is a figure of Chinese Mythology, famous for catching and vanishing evil spirits.
He is described as a man with very dark skin, a square face with beard on his face, with fearful eyes and a big mouth.
The legend of Zhong Kui
Under the reign of Emperor Da, Zhong Kui and his friend, Du Ping left their hometown and went to the capital 長安to take part in the imperial examination. Zhong Kui was very happy to see the beauty of the capital. He walked around and saw a word-fortune telling stall. He stepped forward and said to the fortune teller, “Sir, I am the candidate of the imperial examination this year, can you see if I have a good result?” Then he wrote the word “kui”, that is his given name. He gave it to the fortuneteller. The fortuneteller looked at the word carefully, thought for a while
and said, “You must write a very good essay in this exam and achieve a good honor, but you are in a bad luck, you are not only stripped the honor, but your life may be at risk.” The fortune teller explained with the word he had written, “the word ‘Kui’ is combined with ‘九’ means September and ‘首’means first. It is September now and you come to take the examination, the word means you must rank the first honor in September. However, the ‘首’ is at the side, I am afraid that something bad must happen to you, you have to keep an eye on that.” After listened to the fortune teller, Zhong Kui thought, “I am a man with righteousness and have done nothing, what should I scare of?” He paid the fortune teller and left.
A few days later, Zhong Kui took the imperial examination. He looked at the questions carefully and finished it very quickly. He submitted it and left. When the two examiners looked at his essay, they said surprisingly, “excellent! What a wonderful essay!” They immediately ranked him the title “zhuangyuan”. After the emperor heard that the zhuangyuan this year was very talented, he summoned him to the palace. However, he realized that he was ugly and whispered, “Why this ugly guy is ranked as the zhuangyuan?” Then the examiner kneeled down and said,” A person’s is not depend on his outlook.” The emperor replied, “You are right. But we once have 18 handsome bachelors at the time of the previous emperors. I am afraid that my people will laugh at me for having such an ugly guy as the zhuangyuan.” The officer didn’t want to make the emperor angry and said, “Yes, the zhuangyuan should be handsome both inside and outside, we’d better choose another one.” Then the emperor stripped his title of zhuangyuan just because of his ugly face. Zhong Kui was so upset about that and took the swod from the guard in the palace and killed himself. The emperor was surprised by the act with him; he buried him with great honor.
There is another version of the story which is almost the same. It only differs from the way of Zhong Kui’s death. Zhong Kui committed suicide upon the palace steps by hurling himself against the palace gate until his head was broken. And then his friend, Du Ping, the one who accompanied him to the capital city, buried him.
During Zhong’s life time, he didn’t catch any ghost indeed.
His popularity of catching ghosts after an incident happened to another emperor, Emperor Ming. One day, Emperor Ming fell very ill and had a recurring dream in which he saw a small stole a purse from imperial consort Yang Guifei and a flute from the emperor. Luckily, the bigger ghost, wearing the hat of an official, swallowed the small ghost. The bigger ghost then introduced himself as Zhong Kui. He told Emperor Ming that he was stripped the title of zhuangyuan because of his ugly face. After his death, he began to vanish troublesome ghosts.
After Emperor Ming awake, he had recovered from his illness without taking any medicine. He immediately instructed an artist to paint a portrait of Zhong Kui and hang it up in the palace.
Ever since, people believed that Zhong Kui is a spirit that specialized in driving away evil spirits. Pictures of Zhong Kui are hung in people’s homes to keep away trouble and preserve peace and harmony. Later, his image is painted on household gates as a guardian spirit to drive away evil spirits. Although Zhongkui, strictly speaking, is not a Door God because Door Gods are always
appearing in pairs, Zhong Kui’s image is often put at the side door or back door.Beside the portrait of Zhong Kui to guard people’s house, there are other stories circulated among people. Stories like How’s the life of Zhong Kui in the hell after his death, how’s he catch different kinds of ghost and many other stories about ghosts. Another famous story is Zhong Kui marries off his sister. This story is also sung in the Chinese opera.
Comparision:
Roman mythology : Janus
- god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings.
- Two-faces looking in opposite directions, some places four-faced.
- January
- Represented sun and moon
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