Talk about Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui is the god who exorcises ghosts and evil spirits in Chinese folklore. According to folklore, he was born in Nanshan in the early Tang Dynasty. He was born with a leopard head and ringed eyes, an iron face and curled temples, and was very ugly. However, he was a talented and knowledgeable man who was always upright and not afraid of evil spirits. In the year when Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ascended the throne, he went to Chang'an to take the examination. Zhong Kui wrote five chapters of "A Banquet in Yingzhou" and was hailed as a "wonder" by the examiner and ranked first among the tributes. However, during the palace examination, the treacherous prime minister Lu Qi judged people based on their appearance and made repeated slanders, causing him to fail to be the top candidate. In a rage, Zhong Kui hit his head on a palace pillar and died, shocking the government and the public. So Emperor Dezong of Emperor Zhao Dynasty named Zhong Kui the "Great God of Exorcism" and traveled all over the world to "kill demons and exorcise evil spirits"; he was also buried with the title of No. 1 Scholar. Legend has it that in his sleep, Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty saw a little ghost stealing the purple sachet of Concubine Yang Guifei and the jade flute of Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty, and running around the palace. The big ghost caught the little ghost and ate him. The big ghost looks extremely ugly, wearing a ragged gauze hat, blue robe, horn belt, and court boots. He claimed to be a failed Jinshi in Zhongnan Mountain. He failed in the imperial examination and died in front of the steps. He said to Emperor Tang Ming: "I swear to your Majesty to rid the world of all evildoers." Tang Ming fell ill after waking up. After recovering from the illness, he ordered the painter Wu Daozi to draw "Zhong Kui's Ghost Hunting Picture" based on his dream to criticize the world to dispel evil spirits. Wu Daozi finished it with a swipe of his pen. It turned out that Wu Daozi also had the same dream, so he "seemed to have a vision" and completed it in one stroke.

People used to hang pictures of Zhong Kui on New Year’s Eve, but now, they paint Zhong Kui on Dragon Boat Festival, either as gifts to others or hanging themselves. This change originated in the 22nd year of Qianlong's reign. In that year, many people died due to the plague. With no choice but to invite Zhong Kui out to show his power and catch ghosts, it has been adopted year by year since then.

As time goes by, Zhong Kui, the "master of exorcism", continues to this day and endures. Mr. Qi Gong's "Scene of Zhong Kui Riding a Donkey" is interesting and contemporary. Cartoonist Fang Cheng once drew a picture of Zhong Kui: Zhong Kui's boots and hat are neat, his hands are sleeves inside his robe, he is sleeping on the ground with a stone as a pillow, and he wrote a five-character poem: "I don't wake up to dawn when I sleep in spring, and my snoring scares the birds. There is too much ghost in the world." Zhong Kui is exhausted." The allegory is extremely profound. Zhou Xu, a young painter from Beijing, painted a Zhong Kui album and asked him to give me a copy. The portrait of Zhong Kui in the album is extremely vivid and has been praised by many founding fathers as "this man is indispensable". It seems that modern people need Zhong Kui more.