Lore / Deep Dive
The legend of Zhong Kui
in the Tang–Song tradition
A demon-queller legend set under the Tang emperor Xuanzong, with supernatural stories the museum record places in the Song, and portraits hung at Lunar New Year to expel evil spirits.Philadelphia Museum of Art
Quick answer
A Tang setting and a Song record
The Philadelphia Museum of Art catalogues Zhong Kui as “the fearless captor of ghosts and evil spirits,” known in China and Japan, and says supernatural stories about him appear in the Song dynasty (960–1279), including that “he subjugated two demons for Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty (618–906).” Portraits are hung at Lunar New Year to help expel evil spirits.Philadelphia Museum of Art
That is the tradition this page follows. The one-paragraph identity lives on who Zhong Kui is. Saying and spelling the name is a separate page, and the dated pictures are another.
About this deep dive
The long account stays here.
Use this page for the legend in the order the records give it: where the episode is set, when the cited stories appear, the examination strand the catalogue states, the sister’s marriage in one titled painting, and the New Year portraits. The short identity page stops once the figure is named. Pronunciation and spelling cover the name only. Zhong Kui in art keeps accessions and dates.
Every folklore claim below is a mythology reference. The game’s relationship to this legend is a later section, and it stays unconfirmed.
Story timeline
The story in the order the records give.
- 618–906Reference
Set under Emperor Xuanzong
The episode the catalogue cites is set in the Tang dynasty. Zhong Kui “subjugated two demons for Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty (618–906).”Philadelphia Museum of Art The Tang dates are the legend’s setting. The same entry does not present a Tang document.
- 960–1279Reference
Stories in the Song
Supernatural stories about Zhong Kui “appear early on in the Song dynasty (960–1279),” and the Xuanzong episode is one of them.Philadelphia Museum of Art The catalogue dates those stories to the Song. It does not claim they were written in the reign they describe.
- LegendReference
Top rank in the examination
On the museum’s painting, “as the legend relates,” Zhong Kui “once achieved top rank in the civil service examination.”Philadelphia Museum of Art The entry describes him there as a stout, boorish-looking warrior in the ceremonial attire of an official, holding a stack of books and carrying a stringed instrument, and says this is most likely meant to show cultural refinement. It does not describe an exam denial, a suicide, or a dream in which he cures the emperor.
- 1271–1368Reference
His sister’s marriage
A Yuan-dynasty handscroll by Yan Geng is titled The Demon Queller Zhong Kui Giving His Sister Away in Marriage, ink on silk, Metropolitan Museum of Art accession 1990.134.The Met The title is the story motif this archive can cite: he gives his sister away in marriage. The object’s date, medium, and place in the visual record are on the art page.
- New YearReference
Portraits at Lunar New Year
“Based on this legend, portraits of Zhong are hung during the Lunar New Year to help expel evil spirits.”Philadelphia Museum of Art The catalogue ties the custom to the legend. It does not date the custom to one year.
The catalogue states the top-rank examination version. An exam denial, a suicide, and an imperial fever dream are not in that entry.
Powers and attributes
Motifs in the stories.
Ghost-catching
The role these catalogues give him is to catch ghosts and evil spirits, including two demons subdued for Emperor Xuanzong.Philadelphia Museum of Art That is a folkloric function. The entries do not list techniques, weapons, ranks of servant demons, or any other ability a game could copy as a skill.
How one painting shows him
The Philadelphia painting shows ceremonial attire of an official, a stack of books, and a stringed instrument, on a figure the catalogue calls stout and boorish-looking. The museum reads those objects as cultural refinement, beside the top examination rank the legend relates.Philadelphia Museum of Art Those are attributes of this picture and of the legend as that entry states it. They are not a standard equipment list.
One scroll titled Red Zhong Kui
Katsushika Hokusai’s 1846 hanging scroll is titled Red Zhong Kui, the Demon Queller, ink and colour on silk, catalogued by the Met under culture “Japan,” accession 14.76.37.The Met The title names the colour of that work. The catalogue record used here does not define red as a power, a ritual rank, or a rule of the legend. Dated pictures stay on the art page.
Folklore motifs only. Nothing in this section is a skill tree or a description of Black Myth combat.
Ritual use
What the image was for.
The catalogue’s account of use is seasonal and protective: portraits are hung at Lunar New Year to help expel evil spirits, on the basis of the legend.Philadelphia Museum of Art The image does that work in the tradition the museum describes. The same sentence does not place the portrait in a doorway, and it does not call Zhong Kui a door god.
Iconography beyond those motifs — which object, which century, which culture — is the job of the art page. This page keeps the story and the function.
Mythology and the game
The legend and the game.
The playable character is still unnamed.
Game Science has not named the playable character or stated that he is the folkloric Zhong Kui.Game Science The protagonist page records what official material has shown about the character in the footage, and what remains unconfirmed. Reading this legend as the game’s plot, cast, or ending goes past both the museum entry and the official game page.Philadelphia Museum of ArtGame Science
A February 2026 Chinese New Year short is a separate item. Gematsu reports that the content featured is “non-canon and for entertainment purposes only.”Gematsu Kotaku reports the short described as “non-canon” and “unrelated to the main storyline.”Kotaku Reported
A New Year release date and a New Year folk custom can share a season. That shared season does not confirm the game’s story.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the Zhong Kui legend?
In the museum account it is a Tang-set episode recorded among Song-dynasty supernatural stories: he subjugated two demons for Emperor Xuanzong, and portraits are hung at Lunar New Year to help expel evil spirits.Philadelphia Museum of Art The short identity is on who Zhong Kui is.
When does the Zhong Kui story enter the written record?
The catalogue places supernatural stories in the Song dynasty (960–1279). The episode is set in the Tang dynasty (618–906), under Emperor Xuanzong.Philadelphia Museum of Art This page treats the Tang date as the setting of the legend.
What powers does Zhong Kui have in folklore?
The cited role is ghost-catching: “the fearless captor of ghosts and evil spirits,” including two demons subdued for the emperor.Philadelphia Museum of Art These catalogues do not publish techniques, weapons, or a skill list. Official dress, books, and a stringed instrument are how one painting shows him, not powers.
Did Zhong Kui pass the imperial examination?
The Philadelphia Museum of Art says that, as the legend relates, he once achieved top rank in the civil service examination.Philadelphia Museum of Art The telling in which he is denied that rank and dies by suicide is not in the catalogue entry this page uses.
Why are Zhong Kui portraits hung at Lunar New Year?
The catalogue says they are hung then “to help expel evil spirits,” based on the legend.Philadelphia Museum of Art The entry does not describe a doorway rite.
Does Black Myth: Zhong Kui follow this legend?
Game Science has not named the playable character or published this legend as the game’s plot.Game Science A February 2026 Chinese New Year short is reported as non-canon and unrelated to the main storyline.GematsuKotaku The protagonist page keeps the game question.
Sources
Where this page comes from.
- Zhong Kui the Demon Queller (after 1624) Reference
“he subjugated two demons for Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty (618–906)”
Object 41623, after 1624. Calls him the fearless captor of ghosts and evil spirits, known in China and Japan. Supernatural stories appear in the Song dynasty (960–1279), including the Xuanzong episode. Portraits are hung at Lunar New Year to help expel evil spirits. The same entry describes this painting as a stout, boorish-looking warrior in official ceremonial attire, with a stack of books and a stringed instrument, and says that as the legend relates he once achieved top rank in the civil service examination.
“Handscroll; ink on silk”
Accession 1990.134. Catalogue record retrieved from the museum’s open-access collection API.
- Red Zhong Kui, the Demon Queller Reference
“Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk”
Accession 14.76.37. Japanese treatment of the same figure, catalogued under culture “Japan”.
- 《黑神话：钟馗》 — official game page Official
“PC+主流主机平台，正式信息请以发售前通知为准。”
English translation “PC and mainstream console platforms; official information is subject to the pre-release announcement.”
Chinese-language page, rendered client-side. Its 常见问题 (FAQ) tab is the first-party record for the platform line — “PC and mainstream console platforms, official information subject to the pre-release announcement”. No specific console, storefront or date appears anywhere on it.
“non-canon and for entertainment purposes only”
Six minutes of in-engine footage made for the Year of the Horse. Not a story preview.
“This six-minute short film, created entirely in-engine, depicts the most extraordinary…cooking you’ve ever seen.”
Reports the studio labelling the short “non-canon” and “unrelated to the main storyline”.
Links open the original page. We quote and link rather than re-host, and record the date each source was last opened.