Places

China

• CaseBeijing, China, 1476 to 1477

  Heisheng, Beijing's black creature of 1476, and the Western Depot

  In June 1477 four ministers told the Chenghua emperor that his new Western Depot alarmed Beijing as a night creature had the summer before.

  

• TaleChina, 1679 to 1985

  Before jiangshi hopped, they ran

  In the Qing stories behind the jiangshi, corpses run, grab and cling to trees. Only one of Yuan Mei's comes leaping, and the escorted dead of 1909 walked.

  

• TaleLeifeng Pagoda, Hangzhou, China, 975 to 2002

  Lady White Snake and the fall of Leifeng Pagoda

  When Hangzhou's Leifeng Pagoda fell in 1924, Lu Xun took the snake's side. In the oldest full version, from 1624, she is a python her husband helps seal away.

  

• TaleChina; the earliest texts are from Shanghai, 1933 to 2009

  The earliest Nian beast we could find dates from 1933

  The Nian, the beast driven off with red paper and firecrackers, is said to be thousands of years old. The oldest text naming it that we found is from 1933.