The Myth of Zhong Kui: From Dream to Legend

We all know that the Black Myth series is about to release its Zhong Kui installment, so today let’s take a look at this ancient figure of Chinese mythology — Zhong Kui.

It all begins with a legendary dream once dreamt by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

During the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, after reviewing the imperial guards at Mount Li, Emperor Xuanzong fell ill upon his return to the palace. The illness lingered for over a month without improvement. One night during his sickness, the emperor had a strange yet vividly realistic dream.

In the dream, Xuanzong suddenly saw a little demon enter the palace hall. The creature wore bizarrely colored clothes, had a cow’s nose, was barefoot on one foot while wearing a shoe on the other, with the missing shoe hanging from its waist. A bamboo-ribbed paper fan was stuck into its collar. It reached out and stole Consort Yang’s embroidered sachet and the emperor’s jade flute.

Infuriated, Xuanzong shouted:
“Who are you?”

The little demon smirked and replied:
“I am called Xuhào Xuzhe. I steal from emptiness as if it were child’s play. I especially delight in spoiling the joys and celebrations of others.”

Enraged, the emperor was about to summon his guards to expel the demon when suddenly a giant demon burst into the hall. This one had disheveled hair and a bristling beard, a terrifying face, a horned headband, wore a blue robe with one arm exposed, and a pair of court boots. In one swift motion, it seized the little demon, gouged out its eyes, and swallowed them whole.

Terrified, Xuanzong asked:
“And who are you?”

The demon bowed and answered:
“I am Zhong Kui of Zhongnan. In the Wu De era of Emperor Gaozu, I traveled to Chang’an to sit for the imperial exam. I failed, felt disgraced, and dashed myself to death before the palace steps. Emperor Gaozu granted me a green robe for burial. Out of gratitude, I now vow to rid the Tang realm of all demons like this false spirit.”

As soon as the words were spoken, Xuanzong woke in fright, drenched in cold sweat — only to find his illness suddenly cured.

Immediately, he summoned the great painter Wu Daozi, recounted the dream, and commanded:
“Paint this Zhong Kui as I saw him in my dream.”

Wu Daozi obeyed and swiftly produced a painting. Xuanzong, astonished, exclaimed:
“It is exactly as in my dream.”

Soon after, the emperor issued an edict across the empire: at the end of every year, households must hang portraits of Zhong Kui to ward off evil spirits.

This strange tale was recorded in Song dynasty works such as Dream Pool Essays (Mengxi Bitan) and Origins of Things (Shiwu Jiyuan), tied to inscriptions once prefacing Wu Daozi’s lost painting Picture of Zhong Kui. Though the painting itself has long vanished, one thing is certain: during the Tang dynasty, Zhong Kui was officially promoted as the “Great Marshal of Demon Quelling” and gradually embraced by the common people.

But this raises a question: did Zhong Kui truly originate from Emperor Xuanzong’s dream?

Not exactly. In fact, at least two centuries earlier, the Dunhuang manuscript The Divine Incantations of the Cavern Abyss (Taishang Dongyuan Shen Zhou Jing), dating to the late Eastern Jin period, already mentioned him.

In its section Slaying Demons, Chapter Seven, it describes how when evil ghosts threatened mortals, the Supreme Lord Laozi dispatched armies of demon-slaying warriors: strongmen, red-armored soldiers, and countless troops. Confucius wielded a blade, King Wu of Zhou bound the demon, and Zhong Kui struck it down, delivering it to the god of exorcism.

This is the earliest known account of Zhong Kui. There, he appears as an assistant to Confucius and King Wu, a specialist in slaying demons with protective powers, though with little description of his appearance.

By the mid-to-late Tang period, another Dunhuang manuscript, Exorcism Text of Zhong Kui on New Year’s Eve (Chuxi Zhong Kui Qu Nuo Wen), gave us our first glimpse of his image.

It begins with festive blessings for the New Year, then depicts the ritual: dragons and phoenixes swirl in the skies, symbols of auspicious fortune. Five generals arrive with one hundred thousand fierce troops, joined by warriors with bronze heads and iron foreheads. Dressed in leopard skins, faces painted with red cinnabar, they roar:
“I am Zhong Kui, here to capture wandering ghosts. Begone at once from the sacred land of Dunhuang!”

These vivid words evoke the grandeur of ancient exorcism rituals more than a millennium ago. The performers’ costumes — red-painted faces, leopard skins — likely reflected how people then imagined Zhong Kui’s appearance.

Other Dunhuang texts likewise describe him, sometimes pairing him with the mythical beast Baize, famed for helping the Yellow Emperor purge demons and monsters. In one passage, Zhong Kui is shown blocking the palace gates, capturing demons, breaking their ribs, pulling out their sinews, cutting out their tongues, even slicing off their lips.

From such manuscripts we know: before Xuanzong’s dream, Zhong Kui already existed in exorcism rituals, depicted as grotesque, violent, and ruthless — a demon-slayer who killed on sight.

But was that his true origin?

Some scholars trace him further back, to the Zhou dynasty. Ancient ritual texts mention the weapon zhui (a pointed wooden tool), also called zhongkui in some sources. It was used in exorcisms, swung alongside axes in demon-chasing rites. Over time, the name and the ritual implement may have evolved into the mythic figure “Zhong Kui.”

Later, by the Northern Wei, records even mention a man named Yao Zhongkui, styled “Exorcist,” suggesting the name was already tied to demon-banishing.

By the Tang, Zhong Kui’s image solidified. In Zhou Yao’s late-Tang Rhapsody on Dreaming of Zhong Dao, he is described with short hair but long beard, broad chest, large round head, wearing a slanted blue robe and tall hat, waving bamboo slips — nearly identical to how we imagine him today.

It was this vision that inspired the later tales of Xuanzong’s dream, Wu Daozi’s painting, and the official promotion of his image as protector against demons.

From the Five Dynasties through the Song, his legend spread widely. New stories emerged — including one about his younger sister, who appeared in exorcism plays. Painters depicted Zhong Kui sending her off in marriage, such as the Southern Song painting Zhong Kui Marrying Off His Sister, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Over time, Zhong Kui’s tale intertwined with folklore, Daoist ritual, and popular imagination. He was no longer just a grotesque exorcist from Dunhuang texts, but a divine general in scholar’s robes, commander of ghosts, guardian against evil, and even a brother with family ties woven into legend.

Zhong Kui, then, is not merely a product of one emperor’s dream, but a figure born of ritual tools, exorcist practices, Daoist mythmaking, and centuries of evolving belief.

And that is why in Daoism, Zhong Kui became a sacred figure — mysterious, powerful, and effective.

This is also why at Baiyun Teahouse, every tea pet must first be blessed at a Daoist temple before being given to you.

Has your tea pet received its blessing yet?