The Legend of Zhong Kui

Night in Beijing’s Forbidden City is always wrapped in a dense fog that never quite lifts. The glazed tiles of the Hall of Supreme Harmony gleam coldly beneath the waning moon, while in the shadows of the white marble balustrades, the lingering warmth of palace lanterns from six hundred years ago seems to remain. But ordinary visitors would never know that behind the Palace of Heavenly Purity, in an area marked “Closed to Visitors” in every guidebook, there hangs a cluster of halls invisible to mortal eyes.

The roof-ridge beasts are alive. Their dark blue-black scales tremble in the night breeze, shredding any sinister energy that dares approach. The copper rings on the vermilion palace doors are engraved with the characters for “Imperial Edict,” seals of a protective barrier bestowed by the Jade Emperor himself. When the doors are pushed open, they ring with the sound of a jade chime, audible only to deities and those with an intensely yang constitution. This is the bedchamber of Di Xin, the Human Emperor and ruler of Shang, known as King Zhou. Because he possessed the aura of a Human Emperor nine times over, he did not enter the cycle of reincarnation after death. The Jade Emperor made a special exception, establishing a “Human Emperor’s Retreat” in the Forbidden City, where he resides for the time being.