Zhong Kui (鍾馗) is a Taoist deity in Chinese myth, traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and Yaoguai. He is depicted as a large man with a big black beard, bulging eyes, and a wrathful expression. Zhong Kui is often accompanied by the five bats of fortune, the Wufu (五福), or the five blessings: “health” (康寧), “wealth” (富), “long life” (壽), “love of virtue” (yu hao te 攸好德) and “peaceful death” (kǎo zhōng mìng 考終命). Alternatively the five blessings are “longevity” (shou 壽;), “wealth” (fu 富), “popularity” (kuei 貴), “health” (an le 安樂) and “fertility” (tzu-sun chung-tuo 子孫眾多). The number five is considered an auspicious number in Chinese traditions and closely associated with the Five Elements (Wu Xing: 五行, which are essential for a good life as well as a fundamental principle in Chinese cosmology.
The Chinese words for a bat (fú 蝠) is a homonym of good-luck (fú 福). The Chinese character for Fu ( 福 ) also has a tradition of being written upside down, which the Chinese also associate with the lives of bats, who roost upside down. These associations with the meaning “upside down” or “arrive” leads to the depiction of upside-down bats. The intended meaning of this inverted display is “may happiness descend to you from heaven.” The Chinese further play with this topsy-turvy homonymic relationship, sometimes saying, “Your fu character is upside down,” which is pronounced the same as, “Your luck has arrived.”
But before achieving his status as King of Ghosts, Zhong Kui first needed to endure a life of devoted martial training and an ignoble death. see below –
