Chinese Religions

This chapter explores how Chinese cinema reflects the syncretic nature of Chinese religiosity by examining four major cinematic trends produced in Hong Kong and mainland China: (1) the jiangshi (stiff corpses) genre, and film adaptations of (2) A Chinese Ghost Story , (3) Painted Skin , and (4) Journey to the West . The jiangshi genre blends the Xiangxi region’s corpse-herding practice with Chinese exorcism, featuring the popular use of Daoist talismans. The film trends, A Chinese Ghost Story and Painted Skin , integrate Daoist and Buddhist exorcistic techniques, the belief in ghosts and fox spirits, and tales from Liaozhai , a prominent work in the zhiguai (strange account) literature. The Journey to the West adaptations intermingle the spiritual struggle to achieve non-attachment as a Mahāyāna Buddhist bodhisattva with the Confucian notions of Tian and Tian ’s mandate. Across these four trends, the concept of qi/chi appears as breath, life force, or aura. These cinematic works illuminate how organized and popular Chinese religious elements, along with romantic encounters between humans and the supernatural, are melded, adapted, reinterpreted, and visualized in modern storytelling.