In Chinese philosophy and folklore, a type of ghost or demon spirit, typically representing a restless or evil force.
From Mandarin Chinese guǐ (鬼), a term with roots in ancient Chinese spiritual belief systems. The word entered English through transliteration of Chinese philosophical and literary texts.
In Chinese cosmology, kuei (鬼) contrasts with shen (spirits of good ancestors)—so Chinese culture has categorized two types of supernatural beings for thousands of years, which influenced how they think about death and the afterlife completely differently than Western traditions.
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