Ghosts building a wall

In Chinese folklore, ghosts building a wall (simplified Chinese: 鬼打墙; traditional Chinese: 鬼打牆; pinyin: Guǐ dǎ qiáng; lit. 'ghosts beating the wall') refers to ghosts trapping people in a certain area at night. There is a folktale about a traveler who walks in circles, as if ghosts continually built walls to block his intended path.^[1]^[2] In some descriptions, real walls or trees appear.^[3] The conventional solution is to stop, cover one's face with one's hands, then look again to see that the way is clear.^[3]

The contemporary Chinese artist Xu Bing referenced this folktale with his artwork Ghosts Pounding the Wall in 1988.^[4] With a crew of workers, he took ink impressions of the Great Wall of China and displayed them in the United States.^[4]

References

^ Gao, Minglu (2004). "The Great Wall in Chinese Contemporary Art". positions: east asia cultures critique. 12 (3): 786. ISSN 1527-8271.
^ Boden, Jeanne (6 May 2022). Contemporary Chinese Art: Post-socialist, Post-traditional, Post-colonial. PUNCT. ISBN 978-94-645903-2-6. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
^ ^a ^b Swallow, Robert William (1930). Sidelights on Peking Life. French Bookstore. p. 129.
^ ^a ^b Gao, Minglu (2004). "The Great Wall in Chinese Contemporary Art". positions: east asia cultures critique. 12 (3): 777. ISSN 1527-8271.

[:1-1] Gao, Minglu (2004). "The Great Wall in Chinese Contemporary Art". positions: east asia cultures critique. 12 (3): 786. ISSN 1527-8271.

[:2-2] Boden, Jeanne (6 May 2022). Contemporary Chinese Art: Post-socialist, Post-traditional, Post-colonial. PUNCT. ISBN 978-94-645903-2-6. Retrieved 31 October 2024.

[:0-3] Swallow, Robert William (1930). Sidelights on Peking Life. French Bookstore. p. 129.

[:3-4] Gao, Minglu (2004). "The Great Wall in Chinese Contemporary Art". positions: east asia cultures critique. 12 (3): 777. ISSN 1527-8271.

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See also

References