ZHONG KUI 锺馗

Legend states that Zhong Kui lived in Zhongnan Mountain in the early Tang dynasty. An aspiring scholar, he travelled to the capital to take part in the Imperial Examination. Though he was labelled as a prodigy and scored top honours in the exanimations, he was later disqualified due to his ugly appearance. In anger, he committed suicide by banging his head against the palace walls and was then buried by a friend. As he had committed suicide, Zhong Kui was sentenced to Hell. There, he was given the title of King of Ghost due to his intelligence and looks.

There, he was given the title of King of Ghost due to his intelligence and looks. He was tasked to hunt, capture,maintain and order ghosts. To repay his kindness to his friend who had buried him, Zhong Kui returned to his hometown to give his younger sister in marriage to his friend.All bad spirits or ghosts are afraid of Zhong Kui and will run away when they see him. Thus people tend to display Zhong Kui, who has the ability to see ghosts, in their homes to keep the bad spirits and ghosts away.