On Zhang Hua on the Bowu zhi, see source 4.1b. This passage is the earliest extant written record of the myth of “barbarians” with flying heads.

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In the south, there are Head-dropping Insect (luotou chong 落頭蟲) people whose heads can fly. People of their kind make regular offerings to them called “insect drops” (chongluo 蟲落), and that is where their name comes from. Their heads fly off at night, using the ears as wings. They return close to dawn and reattach to the body. The Wu state captured such people from time to time.¹

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1. Wu was a regional state that ruled much of south China from 222 until its conquest by Western Jin in 280. It controlled Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam) directly from 227 to 263 and again from 271 to 280. ↩︎