In ancient times, Chinese people imagined the existence of foreign lands inhabited by strange, monstrous beings whose bodies were different from their own in at least one fundamental aspect, such as the number of eyes, heads, or limbs. The Shanhai jing (Itinerary of Mountains and Seas), an ancient collection of mythological geographical lore, contains many descriptions of such peoples inhabiting imaginary lands.1 Encyclopedias like the Luochong lu (see source 3.14), the Sancai tuhui, and the Gujin tushu jicheng still repeated these fanciful descriptions in the late imperial period, along with similar monster myths from later texts, despite the lack of any evidence to support their veracity.
However, the influence of monster myths on Chinese perceptions of actual foreign peoples was limited. Although early non-Confucian works like the Huainanzi (see source 4.1a) postulated correlations between geographical direction (east, west, north, south, and center) and bodily features, intelligence, and temperament, Confucian theories of qi determinism tended instead to focus on asserting and explaining Chinese moral superiority over all “barbarian” peoples, as we saw in Chapter 3. In fact, most of the “barbarian” peoples with whom the premodern Chinese interacted were so physiologically and phenotypically similar to them that discourses of ethnic difference tended to focus on hairstyle, clothing (or lack thereof), bodily adornment, and diet. For example, elite writings commonly used “robes folded to the left” (zuoren 左衽) as a shorthand for “barbarians” and their ways, alluding to Analects 14.17 (see source 1.3). Rhetoric on northern steppe peoples dwelt on their distinctive hairdos (e.g., shaved heads or pigtails), their use of fur and felt clothing, and their diet-based “reek of mutton” (xingshan 腥膻 or shanxing 膻腥). Ethnographic descriptions of southern peoples frequently noted their “mallet-shaped” topknots, half-naked tattooed bodies, and bare feet.2 . Only rarely was a Confucian thinker interested in explaining why some foreign bodies were significantly different from those of the Chinese: for example, Cheng Yi’s theory (which apparently draws on monster myths) that “the further away [the qi] is, the more different it will be from ours, to the point of even human bodies being different” (see source 3.5).
Nonetheless, the Chinese did develop discernible tropes about the distinctive phenotypical traits of certain foreign peoples, such as the “deep-eyed and high-nosed” peoples of Central Asia (known to the Chinese as Hu 胡), the light-haired and blue-eyed Yenisei Kyrgyz, and the dark-skinned peoples of Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Africa (known generically as Kunlun 崑崙). The sources in Part 4 of this chapter show that the Chinese already associated dark-skinned peoples with slavery many centuries before Portuguese merchants arrived on their shores with enslaved Africans. The sources in Part 5 suggest that preexisting tropes related to the Hu, the Kyrgyz, and the Kunlun all influenced Chinese impressions of Europeans and Africans in the early modern period.
Among imperial Chinese beliefs about foreign bodies, one was particularly pervasive and enduring: The notion that among certain peoples of the southern frontier or Southeast Asia, there occurred individuals whose heads could detach and fly. This myth was not a Chinese invention but rooted in Southeast Asian folklore: The peoples of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, and Indonesia have long believed in a nocturnal spirit (usually female) that appears as a floating human head, with entrails hanging down, and eats raw or smelly things (including excrement). The spirit is known by various names, including krasue, leyak, and penanggalan. It may be inferred that this belief was first introduced to Chinese scholars by soldiers and officials who encountered it on the frontier between Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam) and Champa (central and southern Vietnam). Over the centuries, it was repeatedly corroborated or supplemented by Chinese merchants and envoys who visited Southeast Asia, as well as foreign visitors to China. Part 6 of this chapter collects examples of the “flying-head barbarian” myth from the third century CE to the eighteenth.
Sources
Part 1: Early myths and theories of bodily difference
4.1a Huainanzi 淮南子 (Master Huainan), ca. 139 BCE
4.1b Zhang Hua 張華, Bowu zhi 博物志 (A Treatise on Multifarious Things), ca. 280
4.2 Che Pin 車頻, Qinshu 秦書 (History of the Former Qin), 451
Part 2: The Hu peoples of Central Asia
4.3 Po Qin 繁欽, “Sanhu fu” 三胡賦 (Rhapsody on Three Kinds of Hu), early third century
4.4 Jinshu 晉書 (History of the Jin), 648
4.5 Liu Yiqing 劉義慶 ed., Youming lu 幽明錄 (Stories of the Hidden and Visible Realms), 430s-440s
4.6 Hou Bai 侯白 (attr.), Qiyan lu 啓顔錄 (Stories to Make You Laugh), seventh century
4.7 Zhang Zhuo 張鷟, Chaoye qianzai 朝野僉載 (Collected Tales from the Court and the Country), ca. 730
4.8 Liu Su 劉餗, Sui-Tang jiahua 隋唐嘉話 (Excellent Words from the Sui and Tang), eighth century
4.9 Ping Zhimei 平致美, Jimen jiluan 薊門紀亂 (Account of the Disorder in Youzhou), late eighth century
Part 3: Light-haired peoples
4.10 Yang Fu 楊孚, Yiwu zhi 異物志 (A Gazetteer of Exotic Things), ca. 76-88 CE
4.11 Liu Jingshu 劉敬叔, Yiyuan 異苑 (Garden of Marvels), fifth century
4.12 Yan Shigu 顏師姑, Commentary to the Hanshu 漢書, ca. 640
4.13 Ge Jiayun 蓋嘉運, Xiyu ji 西域記 (Account of the Western Regions), ca. 738-740
4.14 Du You 杜佑, Tongdian 通典 (Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Institutions), ca. 801 CE
4.15 Duan Chengshi 段成式, Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎 (Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang), ca. 853-863
4.16 Anonymous, Luochong lu 臝蟲錄 (Record of Naked Creatures), ca. 1391-1430
Part 4: Dark-skinned peoples
4.17 Yang Fu 楊孚, Yiwu zhi 異物志 (A Gazetteer of Exotic Things), ca. 76-88 CE
4.19 Anonymous, Linyi ji 林邑記 (A Record of Linyi), fifth/sixth century
4.20 Jinshu 晉書 (History of the Jin), 648
4.21 Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 (Old History of the Tang), 945
4.23 Yuan Jiao 袁郊, “Tao Xian” 陶峴, from Ganze yao 甘澤謠 (Ballads of Timely Rain), 868
4.24 Liu Xun 劉恂, Lingbiao luyi 嶺表錄異 (Record of Exotica in the Lingnan Region), ca. 900
4.25 Pei Xing 裴鉶, “Kunlun nu” 崑崙奴 (The Kunlun Slave), from Chuanqi 傳奇 (Amazing Tales), ca. 878
4.26 Zhu Yu 朱彧, Pingzhou ketan 萍洲可談 (Table Conversations from Pingzhou), 1119
4.27 Ye Ziqi 葉子奇, Caomuzi 草木子 (Master of Grass and Trees), ca. 1380
4.28 Qu Dajun 屈大均, Guangdong xinyu 廣東新語 (A New Account of Guangdong), 1687
Part 5: Europeans and Africans
4.29 Ye Quan 葉權, You Lingnan lu 游嶺南錄 (A Record of a Tour in Lingnan), 1565
4.30 Cai Ruxian 蔡汝賢, Dongyi tushuo 東夷圖說 (An Illustrated Account of the Eastern Barbarians), 1586
4.31 Wang Linheng 王臨亨, Yuejian bian 粵劍編 (The Yue Sword Collection), 1601-1602
4.32 Guo Fei 郭棐 et al., Guangdong tongzhi 廣東通志 (Comprehensive Gazetteer of Guangdong), 1602
4.33 Zhang Xie 張燮, Dongxiyang kao 東西洋考 (An Investigation of the Eastern and Western Oceans), 1617
4.34 Qu Dajun 屈大均, Guangdong xinyu 廣東新語 (A New Account of Guangdong), 1687
4.35 Huangqing zhigong tu 皇清職貢圖 (Illustrations of Tributary Peoples of the August Qing), ca. 1761
4.36 Zhao Yi 趙翼, Yanpu zaji 簷曝雜記 (Miscellaneous Notes from the Sunny Awning Studio), 1810
Part 6: Southern “barbarians” with flying heads
4.37 Zhang Hua 張華, Bowu zhi 博物志 (A Treatise on Multifarious Things), ca. 280
4.38 Gan Bao 干寳, Soushen ji 搜神記 (An Account of Inquiries into the Supernatural), ca. 330
4.39 Duan Chengshi 段成式, Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎 (Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang), ca. 853-863
4.41 Ma Huan 馬歡, Yingya shenglan 瀛涯勝覽 (A Comprehensive Survey of the Ocean’s Shores), 1451
4.42 Huang Zhong 黃衷, Haiyu 海語 (Tales of the Sea), 1536
4.44 Kuang Lu 邝露, Chiya 赤雅 (Dictionary of the Red [Southern] Region), 1635
4.45 Wang Dahai 王大海, Haidao yizhi 海島逸志 (A Desultory Account of Islands in the Sea), 1791
Further reading
Abramson, Marc S., “Deep Eyes and High Noses: Physiognomy and the Depiction of Barbarians in Tang China,” in Nicola Di Cosmo and Don J. Wyatt eds., Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries, and Human Geographies in Chinese History (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), 119-159.
Abramson, Marc S., Ethnic Identity in Tang China (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), Chapter 4.
Drège, Jean-Pierre, “Des têtes qui volent: Un aspect du vampirisme sino-asiatique” (Flying Heads: One Aspect of Sino-Asian Vampirism), Études chinoises 34/1 (2015), 17–44.
McManus, Stuart M., “Multiethnic Slavery and the African Diaspora in Macau: The Search for the Geographic Limits of Vast Early America,” The William and Mary Quarterly 81.2 (2024), 395-430.
Strassberg, Richard E., A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways through Mountains and Seas (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002).
Wyatt, Don J., The Blacks of Premodern China (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010).
Wyatt, Don J., “The Image of the Black in Chinese Art,” in David Bindman, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Suzanne Preston Blier eds., The Image of the Black in African and Asian Art (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018).
Wyatt, Don J., Slavery in East Asia (Elements in the Global Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
- For Richard Strassberg’s full and illustrated translation of the Shanhai jing, see “Further Reading.” ↩︎
- For examples, see Erica F. Brindley, Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c. 400 BCE – 50 CE (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), Chapter 6; Sean Marsh, “Clothes Make the Man: Body Culture and Ethnic Boundaries on the Lingnan Frontier in the Southern Song,” in Victor H. Mair and Liam C. Kelley eds., Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbors (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2015), 80-110. ↩︎
Ethnic Identity in Imperial China 