Description: “There are a lot of Zombie stories in China, especially the middle part of China. There’s a lot of mysterious people who are so skilled at controlling zombies to do something very bad. These people are suppressed by Chinese people in mid 20th century because the communist party would suppress them and their stories. Stories still circulate today. We call the people who control the zombies goyang-si. In Chinese it means the people who chase the zombies to control the zombies. They control zombies so they could use them to force people to give them money and if people give them money they would not use the zombies to damage their homes or damage their families. There’s specific details in ancient Chinese books. These are real jobs 200 years ago but it’s prohibited by governments in different eras because they’re mystical. Also, people who take those jobs are against the government.” This element of Chinese culture is not necessarily one seen only in China. Even more so, it’s not necessarily only seen in the eastern parts of the world. For example, there are very similar characteristics associated with voodoo practices in the caribbean. As far as I know from my subject, there aren’t exactly “good voodoo” practitioners in china with zombies like there are in the caribbean. It’s also worth noting that he made an effort to outline the fact that he couldn’t remember all the details that he’s read in the ancient Chinese books. That means not only were these stories spread by word of mouth, but apparently there were some fairly well developed written accounts of these stories. That could possibly mean that these books contain not only written accounts of these individuals known as the “Goeng-Si” but it’s also possible that they include instructions on how to actually perform the deed of raising the dead as well.”

2. Andrew grew up hearing stories about these zombies. They came in through books and childhood stories.

3. I walked into his dorm and asked him to tell me some Chinese folklore. This was one of the stories that he told me.

4. I think these stories also offer interesting similarities to voodoo stories from Haiti. They both contain some sort of mind control. However, the Asian zombies don’t tend to have a priest of a good morale. All their leaders are bad. In fact, one thing that strikes me as interesting is how the suppression of these people has influenced their work as a whole. It’d be interesting to write a paper comparing the two practices.