Wow. I just looked out my window. After the last four days of rain the sky is suddenly clear and an incredibly beautiful, full moon is overhead. Maybe that is why all the dogs around here are howling and baying at the moon. Wait - doesn’t a full moon mean that werewolves come out? And it is Ghost Month! … ooohhh
Just did a quick search on the net and found out that China has a were-owl legend.
(see: www.werewolfpage.com/myths/owl.html)
The Were-Owl of China
In the mid 1700’s, babies were dying in what is now Beijing China. Wherever they struggled for life, an owl was always observed nearby. Hearing of the owl, an archer waited in the room where yet another baby was dying. Once spotted, he shot the owl which left a trail of blood while escaping. Following the trail the archer discovered a servant girl who was incapacitated by a wound to her loin. She admitted leaving her room at night to feed on the babies brains. She was burned alive and the epidemic came to a close.
quote:
Originally posted by wazai: Has anybody heard of any Chinese tales about anything remotely similar to a werewolf creature?
Your owl story was the first I’d heard of a were-animal in Chinese tradition.
You’ve probably already heard of fox spirits, which are not humans who become foxes but foxes that can assume human form. And what a form! They become sexy women – the better to make love to men repeatedly and slowly steal their, um, life force. (Think Dr. Strangelove.)
What a way to go.
There are lots of fox spirits stories. In some of them, the fox isn’t really bad.
I don’t know anything about the werewolf situation, although I’m told there is no shortage of “colour wolves”. 
What I do find interesting is that the Chinese version of a vampire is also easily thwarted by garlic! I mean, what are the chances? Not parsley, sage, rosemary or thyme, but garlic… Makes you wonder if there isn’t something to it after all.
Also, how is it that the Chinese phoenix is also a bird representing rebirth, rising out of the ashes? I’ve been told that the Chinese phoenix is not an adoption of the western myth, but that it grew independently out of Chinese tradition. Isn’t that a bizarre coincidence? Does anybody know anything more on the subject?
I believe that there are many tales of were-tigers among the Miao people in mainland China.
I just finished reading a book last night entitled “100 Myths of Ancient China”, or some such name. There was a story in there about a governor’s son en route to another city, when he met a large group of servants, donkeys, etc., all escorting a beautiful woman. This man fell in love with the woman and proposed to her on the spot. She accepted, and he took his new bride back to his parents’ home. (By the way, she was on her way back from her recently deceased husband’s funeral).
The son and his wife did not emerge from the room for a couple of days, but all the servants began leaving. The parents became worried and opened the door to the son’s room, where they saw a huge white wolf munching on what was left of the son’s body.