Chinese vampires
Ever wondered why are Chinese vampires stereotyped as the floppy-sleeved, arms-extended, 2 legged hoppers?
According to an email I received, this is the reason why:
For the benefit of those who can't understand Mandarin, translations are provided below each picture.
Long long ago, in the western province of China... ya, right.
Alright. There's this town in China that's set on the moutains. The difficult terrain made it tough for the townsfolk to earn a living, and thus most of them chose to work, and eventually, live out of their hometown.
When these people passed away, their bodies had to be buried back in their hometowns. As there were quite a large number of people who lived the rest of their lives away from home, the transportation of dead bodies back to this town eventually evolved into a form of business.
During the initial stages of the business, stretchers were used to carry the dead bodies. However, it only allowed 2 persons to transport 2 bodies lying horizontally at once. This was rather inefficient.
New methods of transportation were devised to improve the efficiency of transporting dead bodies. The efficiency was doubled as it allowed 2 persons to transport up to 4 bodies this time.
This method of transportation uses 2 bamboos poles just like the previous method, only that it suspends each body vertically from the poles. Each corpse was secured to the 2 bamboo poles by tying each arm around each bamboo pole that passes beneath their arm.
The vertical suspension helped to save space, which in turn allowed the bearers to carry more corpses using the same length of bamboo poles.
At that time, dead bodies were clothed in dark costumes with long and very wide sleeves that covered most of the body. The bamboo poles that were fastened under the arms of the corpses were usually hidden from sight by those oversized sleeves.
From afar, it would seem as though a single file of people were walking with both arms fully extended in front.
Due to the weight of the bodies, the bamboo poles would oscillate vertically with each step the bearers took. And in order to reduce the rate of decay of the corpses, bearers would travel by night to avoid the sun from shining directly on them.
Visibility is quite poor at night, and therefore, it seems as though there is a file of dead hopping in between the 2 bearers with their arms extended to the front. This sight often scares the others off.
I wonder how true this is.
According to an email I received, this is the reason why:
For the benefit of those who can't understand Mandarin, translations are provided below each picture.
Long long ago, in the western province of China... ya, right.
Alright. There's this town in China that's set on the moutains. The difficult terrain made it tough for the townsfolk to earn a living, and thus most of them chose to work, and eventually, live out of their hometown.
When these people passed away, their bodies had to be buried back in their hometowns. As there were quite a large number of people who lived the rest of their lives away from home, the transportation of dead bodies back to this town eventually evolved into a form of business.
During the initial stages of the business, stretchers were used to carry the dead bodies. However, it only allowed 2 persons to transport 2 bodies lying horizontally at once. This was rather inefficient.
New methods of transportation were devised to improve the efficiency of transporting dead bodies. The efficiency was doubled as it allowed 2 persons to transport up to 4 bodies this time.
This method of transportation uses 2 bamboos poles just like the previous method, only that it suspends each body vertically from the poles. Each corpse was secured to the 2 bamboo poles by tying each arm around each bamboo pole that passes beneath their arm.
The vertical suspension helped to save space, which in turn allowed the bearers to carry more corpses using the same length of bamboo poles.
At that time, dead bodies were clothed in dark costumes with long and very wide sleeves that covered most of the body. The bamboo poles that were fastened under the arms of the corpses were usually hidden from sight by those oversized sleeves.
From afar, it would seem as though a single file of people were walking with both arms fully extended in front.
Due to the weight of the bodies, the bamboo poles would oscillate vertically with each step the bearers took. And in order to reduce the rate of decay of the corpses, bearers would travel by night to avoid the sun from shining directly on them.
Visibility is quite poor at night, and therefore, it seems as though there is a file of dead hopping in between the 2 bearers with their arms extended to the front. This sight often scares the others off.
I wonder how true this is.
posted by Tengkia | 4:41 pm
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Level of response: 2
Level of response: 2
the flow of explanation sounds so logical. haha. how true this is? mmmmmmmmmmmmmm - JJ
Impossible. The dead does not move their feet. The transporters would have to drag the deads along the way. - m.y
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