The Mysterious Gu Poison
A pottery jar or porcelain vessel is filled with over a hundred insects — venomous snakes, centipedes, frogs, scorpions, hornets, moths, silkworm pupae, ants, and the like. Because the larger insects devour the smaller, and stimulated and fed with women's menstrual blood, they merge into a single venom king embodying a hundred poisons. Dried and ground into powder, this venom king becomes a substance called...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
A pottery jar or porcelain vessel holds over a hundred insects such as venomous snakes, centipedes, frogs, scorpions, hornets, moths, silkworm pupae, and ants. Because the larger insects eat the smaller ones, and with the stimulation and feeding of women's menstrual blood, they coalesce into a king of poison embodying a hundred toxins. This poison king is dried and ground into powder, becoming a poison called "gu."
People who possess this gu poison place it in wells, in mountain forests on rocks, or beside roads; outsiders who pass by unknowingly and come into contact with this gu poison will be poisoned. Another method is to have gu poison on the fingertips and, when no one is paying attention, flick a finger into another family's food; those who eat such food will fall ill. In mild cases, worms grow in the belly, absorb the person's stomach and intestinal nutrients, and make the person become thin and bony; in severe cases, it causes unbearable pain and endangers life. Those who specialize in this trade are mostly older women, popularly called "gu po" (gu women).
In Xiangxi, wherever Miao villages were concentrated, this terrifying custom of placing gu generally existed in the past. According to historical records, gu poison actually emerged several thousand years ago, and its reach extended throughout the Central Plains; gu women who placed gu were by no means unique to Xiangxi. Gu medicine is poison, and those who spread poison naturally could not escape strict punishment. The laws of the Qin and Han periods even stipulated severe punishments such as public execution and extermination of the clan for those who placed gu. But in Xiangxi, because the sky was high and the emperor far away, the imperial court's laws could not control the common people in remote mountain areas, and moreover the act of placing gu was mostly done very secretly, mixed with many mysterious shamanic elements, so the old custom of placing gu continued to be passed down.
The custom of placing gu in Xiangxi still existed on the eve of the founding of New China. When the author was a child, he once heard an old woman in the village tell this story. A Miao man and woman in a certain village had been childhood sweethearts, loved each other, and married. The man worked as a veterinarian and traveled through the surrounding villages all year round. Because he was often away, it was hard for him to avoid philandering. Several years later, the man became involved with a young woman from another village and from then on often did not return home. When the wife discovered her husband had an affair, she first tried earnestly to persuade him to stop. The husband not only refused to listen but also asked for a divorce. The wife had no choice but to coax him, saying: "If you want a divorce, that's fine; I won't stop you. Today I offer you a cup of wine. If later you change your mind, I still hope you will return to me." With that, she poured a cup of wine laced with gu poison and gave it to her husband to drink. After drinking it, the husband unknowingly was poisoned by gu, and not long after going to the other village he fell ill. Later, when the man realized he had been poisoned by gu, he had no choice but to cut off relations with the woman from the other village and return to his wife's side. The wife forgave him and gave him an antidote, and only then did he recover. From then on, the man never dared mention divorce to his wife again, and the two reconciled as before and remained together until old age. The gu poison this woman gave her husband was relatively mild; it is said that for those severely poisoned, even life was hard to preserve.
Gu poison, as a sharp weapon for revenge or for coercion and control, if used properly might bring certain benefits; if used improperly, it might instead harm the gu placer herself. Therefore, gu women who made gu poison generally had rather poor reputations. Especially after someone in the village became seriously ill or died, they were often suspected and cursed. At such times, even if the gu woman had been wronged, she could not clear herself no matter how she tried; she could only endure it. If it was gu she had placed, for mild cases she still had an antidote to cure it, but for severe cases she too could not bring the dead back to life. If it was not she who had placed it, she also could not offer a convincing explanation.
The custom of placing gu in Xiangxi was banned as superstition after the founding of New China. Today, in those remote mountain villages, it is hard to say clearly whether this strange custom still survives. However, as a mysterious cultural phenomenon, Xiangxi's gu placing, like corpse driving, is very capable of attracting tourists' curious eyes. Therefore, the various rumors and practices concerning gu placing are indeed worth deeper verification and exploration.