1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:23,240 Speaker 1: ideas and monsters. In time, I would like to share 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: with you a tale collected by sinologist G. Willoughby Meade 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: in his nine book Ghosts and Vampire Tales of China. 8 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: He takes us back to the year three eighty during 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: the Eastern Jin dynasty. A man by the name of 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: Yan Shin met a beautiful woman at dusk, and the 11 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: two were eventually married. Over time, they grew their family 12 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: with two boys. They became quite wealthy as well. But 13 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: then one day a death occurred in town, and a 14 00:00:55,600 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: neighbor observed Shin's wife creep out the burial site in 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: the night. They watched her transform into a tiger, dig 16 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: up the grave, and consume the body of the deceased. 17 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: Then she returned to her human form and crept home. 18 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: The neighbor brought word of this to Sin, but he 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,839 Speaker 1: did not believe her, and when another villager died, Shin 20 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: finally crept out to the cemetery to watch for himself. 21 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: Sure enough, his wife appeared, transformed into a tiger and 22 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: began to dig up the grave. He confronted her there 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: in the cemetery, and she did not reassume her human form. Instead, 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: she remained a tiger and fled into the wilderness, never 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:45,559 Speaker 1: to be seen again. This is just one of many 26 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: stories in which someone takes on the form of a 27 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: tiger and engages in bloody acts, and indeed we see 28 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: such where tigers anywhere in the world where humans and 29 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: tigers coexisted. As Charles E. Hammond describes in an Excursion 30 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: in Tiger Lore published in the Journal Asia Minor in 31 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: the tiger was perhaps the most fearsome and savage creature 32 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: one might possibly encounter in China, and therefore is a 33 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: familiar feature of Chinese myths, legends, folklore, fables, fiction, and 34 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: historical writings. He writes that this king of beasts inspired 35 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: such dread that its likeness served as a talisman to 36 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: protect both the living and the dead. Additionally, the tiger 37 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,519 Speaker 1: was sometimes associated with greed, and in Confucian thought, came 38 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: to symbolize oppressive government. In the leg or the Classic 39 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: of Rights, the attributed writer Confucius writes of a woman who, 40 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: in order to avoid oppressive government, chooses to live in 41 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: an area ravaged by man eating tigers. The critique here 42 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: is obvious and not unlike political humor you might hear 43 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: virtually anywhere in the world today. But according to Hammond, 44 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: the link between tigers and oppressive government came to take 45 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:11,119 Speaker 1: on more elaborate literary and magical forms in the centuries 46 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: to follow. Some Chinese writers would state that tiger behavior 47 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: was indicative of local government, and that the presence of 48 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: quote marauding tigers was a sign of oppressive local rule. 49 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: Other writers would go so far as to state that 50 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: the presence of tigers was directly influenced by the moral 51 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: character of the local ruler, with tigers moving into or 52 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: out of a region in accordance with shifts and power. 53 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: In turn, this perceived connection eventually transformed into the idea 54 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: that tigers were under the secular jurisdiction of local representatives 55 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: of the emperor, and that legal charges could be filed 56 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: against the beasts. This idea that animals can be held 57 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: accountable by human laws pops up in numerous cultures, yet 58 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: at the same time, tigers remained the spiritual domain of 59 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: the gods, and tales exist of tigers petitioning the gods, 60 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: praying for permission to hunt and consume human beings. As 61 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: far as accounts of where tigers go, these two converged 62 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: with politics. Haman shares a tale from the Great Book 63 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: of Marvels by Taifu. A particular government official is characterized 64 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: as efficient but lacking in human kindness, and at night 65 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: he begins to take on the form of a tiger. 66 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,280 Speaker 1: He sneaks into store houses and consumes raw meat. When 67 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: his nature is finally revealed, even his own mother casts 68 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,919 Speaker 1: him out, and the former government official is forced to 69 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 1: live among the real tigers of the world and must 70 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,479 Speaker 1: depend on them for food because he retains a single 71 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: booted human foot on his otherwise animal body. The tiger 72 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: took on other uses as well in Chinese history, but 73 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: the idea of tigers as an cater of poor government 74 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: or a harbinger of political upheaval traveled widely throughout China, 75 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: and like the werewolf and various other ware beasts found 76 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 1: in global folklore and legend, the hybrid of man and 77 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: tiger represents the sliding of our nature into the realm 78 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: of primal Savagery. Tune in to additional episodes of The 79 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: Monstro Fact or The Artifact each week. As always, you 80 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 81 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 82 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for My heart Radio, 83 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 84 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.