Asian SF/F (not Japan)

[oyceter]

Hi! I am lazy and depending on the goodwill of the internet to help with research!

So: tell me about Asian SF/F!

It must be:

• Created in Asia by Asians


• NOT from Japan


• Any medium


• Bonus points if I can get my hands on it (I am in the US and read/understand Mandarin Chinese)


• Extra bonus points for SF/F from and/or about Southeast Asia or South Asia

I have a slightly better sense of SF/F created in Asia and popular in the US, though if you have notes for your specific country, that would also be good! Please note: NOT from Japan.

For self: rachelmanija's notes on Indian SF/F

ETA:
Korea:
- Pahanjip (Korean folklore + Tang China ghost hunters, manhwa)
- Bride of the Water God (Korean folklore (?) + alternate world + beast bridegroom, manhwa)

China:
- Swordsman II

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

If you have time, I would love to hear more about your vampires.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

What would you like to know?

I would have to add the caveat that the Philippines consist of over 8,000 islands and I come from only one of them (Negros from the Visayas region), so the mythos & beliefs I grew up with don't necessarily coincide with the supposedly well-known majority. That said, my family's hometown is a fishing village in a relatively rural area so our local folk belief is a living, evolving thing.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Your explanation about the hollow-tongue woman was pretty darn cool. Is there a way to kill or repel her? Is she dead? Is she evil or just hungry?

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Okay, so the catch-all monster term in the Philippines is aswang. This family of monsters consists of shapeshifters, black-magic witches & vampires. Because they all fall under that blanket term, the boundaries separating them tend to blur and certain characteristics will cross over depending on who you ask and where they're from.

That said, this is what I recall of this type of vampire.

This aswang's specific name is the tiyu-an. I'm not sure how she can be killed but I do know salt repels her. It burns her skin on contact. They're supposedly women who died in childbirth. Basically they return as vengeful creatures: kill men and cause women to miscarry (they like the blood of unborn children).

So really, I think the tiyu-an grew out of a need to explain miscarriages whereas the wakwak -- the vampire that segments and flies around -- is used to keep children inside at night. The wakwak love eating babies and children. It's a very pervasive belief. When I was little, my relatives did not want me sleeping next to the window at all. (At the time, windows had no glass in the provinces.)

[oyceter]

I now really want a story from the tiyu-an's POV touching on gender and reproductive issues! Hrm... must research...