# data[].attributes.body
1950s-1960s:

A large number of spy films, not necessarily in the horror genre, but at most in the suspense genre, where the mysterious events were often backed by the actions of enemy agents who were "determined to kill us".

1960s-1980s

During the Cultural Revolution. Revolutionary Operas(樣板戲) were a literary theme at the time and only a few films were produced each year.

1980s: Re-emergence of Chinese horror films

The 405 Murders (1980)

A suspicious murder case and culminated in the revelation that the film's biggest culprit was a senior member of the local Public Security Bureau who had received instructions from the Gang of Four.

The Lonely Spirit in an Old Building (1989)

The main characters are two sound recordists who enter an old building to record sound footage during its demolition, only to be led by eerie sounds to the basement. It turns out that there was an unjust case of the Cultural Revolution here, and the ghosts of those years are coming to claim their lives.

Heavy-handed use of images and sound.

By the time the whole story is revealed to the audience, the writer-director turns the screen around and tells us that the horrific scenes were imagined by a group of psychopaths.

Features:

Films used the camera and atmospheric horror to speak about socially relevant issues.

Marxist atheism

National Radio and Television Administration: No Ghost in Ghost Movie.

# data[].attributes.headline
Case Studies: The House that Never Dies(京城八十一號)

# data[].attributes.subject
Case Studies: The House that Never Dies(京城八十一號)

# data[].attributes.body
Plot:
The stories were about the ethical, romantic entanglement happened in an old building. The horror story and the scenes, including the suspected ghost: a little girl in red dress were finally shown that are the results of character's illusion due to drug.

1. Challenges of the domestic genre: Need a plausible space for ghosts and monsters.

The modern civilisation are fundamentally lacking in space for ghosts and spirits.

Most ghost films simply set up a natural space on the edge of modernity, preserving the plausibility of ghosts and spirits in traditional culture, by stopping the flow of time.

2. Contradiction of presenting ghosts and monsters but denying them.

Domestic ghost films are always based on the enlightening theme of explaining modern civilization and traditional superstition, which leads to the contradiction.

The main part of the film is full of frightening images and sounds of ghosts and monsters, but at the end it returns to the logic of modern reality.

3. Current Chinese belief: Science as the banner of development.

Weakened the interest in ultimate human concern. The lack of realistic experiences of survival and death has also contributed to the pale monotony of the domestic ghost genre.

4. Ghost genre has lost its meaning as a spiritual cult in a culture that has fallen apart in contemporary society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
In Chinese literature ghosts often represented dead people returning to set matters straight, as in this detail from a late Yuan dynasty mural.

# data[].attributes.headline
East Asia shares cultural mythology based upon cultural proximity and intra-regional homologies, in which provides a template for ghost images

# data[].attributes.subject
East Asia shares cultural mythology based upon cultural proximity and intra-regional homologies, in which provides a template for ghost images

# data[].attributes.body
Many Chinese folk beliefs about ghosts have been adopted into the mythologies and folklore of neighboring East Asian cultures, notably Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
Our paper studies three cases of ghost images in Greater China, Japan and South Korea and analyze the tension between tradition and modernity in the ghost images in East Asia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Traditional Kaidan literature (above) and Japanese theatres are significant inspirations of Japanese ghost films

# data[].attributes.headline
For Japanese ghost films, traditional Kaidan literature and Japanese theatres, including Noh and Kabuki, are cited as significant influences on the film's production

# data[].attributes.subject
For Japanese ghost films, traditional Kaidan literature and Japanese theatres, including Noh and Kabuki, are cited as significant influences on the film's production

# data[].attributes.body
Kaidan formed the typical narratives of Japanese ghost images, in which a ghost's revenge motif often contained moralistic tones, especially Buddhist morals.

The avenging spirits punished the persons who harmed them, implementing the Buddhist belief that those who commit crimes will suffer for their misdeeds.

Noh theatre, which originated in ancient China and is characterized by its use of masks and stylization, also depicts dead people returning to the world to retaliate against their wrongdoers.

# data[].attributes.body
Japanese folklore includes a group of supernatural beings and spirits known as Yōkai ( refer to the "strange apparition").

Research has shown that 70% of the Yōkai archetypes come from China, 20% from India, and 10% are native to Japan.

The refinement of the categorization causing the mass media has given rise to the Yōkai film in Japan.

Gods:  with the mainstream classification standing for positivity

Ghosts: creatures that work in concert with hellish and dark powers to damage people’s normal life.

Yōkai: somewhere between "gods" and "ghosts", always depicted as the anthropomorphization of incomprehensible natural phenomena, mountains, and plants in ancient times, showing Japanese reverence for nature.

Yōkai genre is both a preservation of the traditional view of the strange apparition and a combination of modern interpretations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The cheonyo gwishin is the most well-known ghost, of a virgin girl.

# data[].attributes.headline
Korean Gwishin —— product of the combination of myth and religion in East Asian culture

# data[].attributes.subject
Korean Gwishin —— product of the combination of myth and religion in East Asian culture

# data[].attributes.body
1.The majority of the stories involving ghosts and creatures all into the shinhwa and mindam category, with “shin” referring to beings such as spirits, ghosts, and monsters.

2.In the development of the ghostly tradition, the beliefs of Shamanism, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism were incorporated, and based on the commonality of ideas, they interpenetrated and evolved into the present image of the ghost.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
People's imagination of hell VS Boiler Room

# data[].attributes.body
Scene Setting:
Buddhist setting of hell: Isekai

"Isekai" is a Japanese term used to describe a genre of fiction in which a protagonist from the real world is transported to or reincarnated in a parallel universe or a different world. The term "isekai" literally translates to "another world."

Sanzu no Kawa (Three way River)

Bridge of Helplessness

Work at night and rest in the daylight

Narrative:

1. Karmic Cycle

2. Tanha

Buddhist term that refers to the pursuit of worldly desires and pleasures.

Tanha creates inner dissatisfaction and suffering, as people become attached to their desires and struggle to satisfy them.

Buddhism emphasizes the need to let go of tanha in order to achieve inner peace and liberation from suffering.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The movie poster of A Tale of Two Sisters

# data[].attributes.headline
Textual analysis of the horror movie A Tale of Two Sisters

# data[].attributes.subject
Textual analysis of the horror movie A Tale of Two Sisters

# data[].attributes.body
Starting from the questions: Are ghosts real entities or virtual reflections about people themselves? What is the role of the ghosts in the transformation of society from tradition to modernity?
Sad and beautiful female ghosts as subjects

Female ghosts are mostly daughters or daughters-in-law who are forced to make sacrifices and suffer injustice under the logic of patriarchy. But it is interesting to note that the original version of this movie showed the female ghosts being temporarily relieved by male soothing and redemption, dissolving the pent-up "hatred" within and disappearing into the fear of the world. While in the latest version, the sisters take their own revenge in the form of ghosts, manifesting the return of a strong discourse. In this modern rewriting of ghost culture, there is a desire to subvert the patriarchal systems and ideologies in the shadow of East Asian culture.

The return of "hatred"

The Korean emotion of "hatred" is multifaceted, both as an emotion of sorrow and as a will to overcome, which has the roots in the history of the nation as a whole. However, the so-called "hatred" does not stop at sorrow, renunciation, tears and the whining of losers, but seeks to dissolve sorrow by means of an antidote to itself.

The role of edification

As a statement of justice, it aims to expose social problems such as domestic violence, school dictatorship and indifference, show the helplessness and suffering of the weak, point to the heart and distinguish right from wrong.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Black and White Impermanence(黑白無常) VS No Face Man

# data[].attributes.headline
No Face Man: Imagination of Modern Humanity (Modernity）

# data[].attributes.subject
No Face Man: Imagination of Modern Humanity (Modernity）

# data[].attributes.body
A demonic appearance

Nuo opera

Performances often involve stories of gods and supernatural beings

Drive away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune

Masks carved out of quality camphor or willow wood are the soul of Nuo Drama.

Black and White Impermanence

Humanlike Personality

Always feel empty, lost, and lonely

Receives flattery from others in exchange for a false sense of satisfaction through money

Loses himself in the milieu of greed and snobbery and indulges in the delights of power and money

By integrating a modern view of humanity into the traditional framework of Yokai, the Good and Evil in society are dissected, thereby shedding light on modern humanity.

# data[].attributes.headline
Supplemental Case Studies: Ghost image in other regions(Taiwan/Hong Kong)

# data[].attributes.subject
Supplemental Case Studies: Ghost image in other regions(Taiwan/Hong Kong)

# data[].attributes.body
Features:

1. Taiwan

Buddhist elements in the horror power(Mother-Buddha)

The horror power of the movie is basically came from the curse, the "ghost image" took less scene.

2. Hong Kong

Elements from folk stories: Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

Generally summary:

Have traditional ideas;

Various kinds of Ghost images (compared with the mainland ghost films);

CEPA(Closer Economic Partnership Agreement) treaty: Impact of the co-production era.

# data[].attributes.body
The ghost culture in South Korea have a unique feel, providing a look into how people views issues of justice, revenge, and the role of women in a Confucian society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
In Janghwa Hongryeon jeon, the ghosts of two sisters show up in front of the officials (always male) whom they believe can solve the sudden death and punishment

# data[].attributes.headline
Paradigmatic Korean folktales show how revenging ghost women are well controlled by legitimatized male power(s)

# data[].attributes.subject
Paradigmatic Korean folktales show how revenging ghost women are well controlled by legitimatized male power(s)

# data[].attributes.body
In Janghwa Hongryeon jeon, the ghosts of two sisters were given a Buddhist-type sacred rite involving a Buddhist monk praying that the ghosts who died with grudges can peacefully leave for the afterlife.

The paradigm also shows how the hierarchal Confucianism, as one of the dominant value systems in Asian countries, has operated to form the imagery and imagination surrounding the world of ghosts.

The overall purpose of traditional Korean ghost stories is not to scare the audiences but rather impart moral lessons to them, reminding them about the promotion of virtue and the reproval of vice. Scholars pointed out the similar purpose of Japanese Kaidan literature

Unlike the original Korean folktales, multiple contemporary adaptions of Janghwa Hongryeon jeon are notably devoid of male authority substituted for the female ghosts' angry desires.

# data[].attributes.headline
China's ghost culture suffered a significant blow to its existence in contemporary times as a part of feudal superstition

# data[].attributes.subject
China's ghost culture suffered a significant blow to its existence in contemporary times as a part of feudal superstition

# data[].attributes.body
In China, due to a series of political and cultural revolutions starting in the 1920s, ghost culture suffered a significant blow to its existence in contemporary times as a part of feudal superstition.

The ghost culture, which once had a relatively complete literal and cultural system due to an extensive worship base, can only be confined to the filthy folk, which to a considerable extent leads to the increasingly narrow space for ghost films.

In many ghost films from Greater China, ghosts representing the dead are mostly gone, replaced by supernatural phenomena.