The 18 Hells of China
Updated: Aug 15
The Chinese underworld is not usually pictured as one fiery pit. In many Chinese folk, Buddhist, and Daoist traditions, it is a vast court system where souls are judged, punished, purified, and eventually sent toward rebirth.
This realm is often called Diyu, sometimes translated as “Earth Prison” or “underworld prison.” It is ruled by judges, clerks, demon wardens, and the famous King Yama, known in Chinese as Yanluo Wang. One of the most vivid ideas connected to Diyu is the 18 hells of China, a series of punishment realms where wrongdoers face consequences for the harm they caused in life.
There is no single official list accepted by every tradition. Temples, morality books, opera, novels, and local folklore describe the 18 hells in different ways. Still, the concept is clear: each hell matches a wrongdoing, and the punishment reflects the crime.
What Diyu means in Chinese belief
Diyu is not the same as the Western idea of eternal hell. In many Chinese afterlife traditions, punishment is severe but often not permanent. The soul suffers for its actions, repays moral debts, and may later be reborn through the cycle of reincarnation.
This idea blends several traditions:
Buddhist influence
The idea of karmic punishment and rebirth shaped many descriptions of Diyu.
Daoist influence
Daoist cosmology added divine officials, registers, courts, and spiritual bureaucracy.
Chinese folk religion
Local customs, ancestor worship, ghost beliefs, and temple art gave Diyu its memorable details.
The result is an afterlife realm that feels like a supernatural justice system. Souls arrive, their lives are reviewed, and punishments are assigned according to their deeds.
The judges and courts of the underworld
Many Chinese depictions of the underworld include the Ten Kings of Hell. These kings preside over courts where the dead are questioned and judged. Yanluo Wang is the best known, though in some traditions he is only one of the ten judges rather than the ruler of all.
The process often goes like this:
A soul dies and enters the underworld.
Underworld officials inspect its moral record.
The soul passes through one or more courts.
Punishment is assigned based on specific sins.
After punishment, the soul may drink the soup of forgetfulness and be reborn.
Some stories also include the Mirror of Retribution, a supernatural mirror that reveals the truth of a person’s actions. Lies do not work in this court. The dead face what they did, who they harmed, and what they tried to hide.
Why there are 18 hells
The number 18 has strong cultural weight in Chinese tradition. It can suggest completeness, depth, and many layers of experience. In the case of Diyu, the 18 hells present a moral map of wrongdoing.
These hells were not only meant to frighten. They taught people how to behave. Temple murals and morality books showed punishments for greed, cruelty, betrayal, disrespect, false speech, violence, and abuse of power. The message was direct: actions have consequences, even if human courts fail.
The 18 hells and what they punish
Because lists vary, the following guide uses one of the most common folk arrangements. Names may differ in translation, but the moral themes stay much the same.
Number | Hell | What it punishes |
1 | Hell of Tongue Ripping | Lies, slander, gossip, and false accusations |
2 | Hell of Scissors | Destroying relationships and abusing trust |
3 | Hell of Iron Trees | Betrayal, lustful harm, and exploitation |
4 | Hell of the Mirror of Retribution | Hidden crimes and hypocrisy |
5 | Hell of Steamers | Deceit, cheating, and harming others through schemes |
6 | Hell of Copper Pillars | Sexual misconduct and corruption |
7 | Hell of the Mountain of Knives | Killing, violence, and cruelty |
8 | Hell of Ice | Cold-heartedness, neglect, and betrayal |
9 | Hell of Oil Cauldrons | Theft, greed, and abuse of the vulnerable |
10 | Hell of Oxen and Beasts | Cruelty to animals and predatory behavior |
11 | Hell of Stone Crushing | Oppression, coercion, and crushing others in life |
12 | Hell of Mortars and Pestles | Waste, cheating, and corrupt trade |
13 | Hell of the Blood Pool | Bloodshed, ritual impurity, and violent harm |
14 | Hell of Wrongful Death | Suicide, despair, and unresolved grievance in folk belief |
15 | Hell of Dismemberment | Severe violence and destruction of bodies |
16 | Hell of Fire | Arson, rage, and destructive anger |
17 | Hell of Grinding | Treachery, exploitation, and repeated wrongdoing |
18 | Hell of Sawing | The worst betrayals, grave crimes, and deep moral corruption |
The first six hells punish falsehood and betrayal
The Hell of Tongue Ripping
This first hell targets people who used speech to harm others. It punishes lying, slander, gossip, perjury, and false accusations. In folk morality, words are not harmless. A rumor can destroy a family, ruin a reputation, or cause real suffering.
The punishment is symbolic and direct. The tongue, the tool of harm, becomes the focus of judgment.
The Hell of Scissors
This hell is often linked with people who damaged marriages, broke families apart, or encouraged betrayal. The scissors represent severed bonds. In older moral tales, this could include people who stirred conflict between spouses or destroyed trust for selfish gain.
Its deeper lesson is about social harm. The offense is not only private desire, but the damage done to a household and community.
The Hell of Iron Trees
The Iron Tree hell is described as a place where souls are forced against trees with blades, hooks, or sharp branches. It is commonly tied to adultery, exploitation, seduction through deceit, or betrayal of family obligations.
In symbolic terms, the “tree” suggests something upright and rooted, while iron thorns suggest the pain caused by corrupting what should have been stable.
The Hell of the Mirror of Retribution
Some traditions treat the Mirror of Retribution as a court tool, while others fold it into the sequence of hells. The mirror reveals every hidden act. A person who seemed honorable in life may see secret cruelty, theft, or betrayal exposed.
This hell focuses on hypocrisy. The punishment begins with being unable to hide.
The Hell of Steamers
The Steamer hell is often imagined as a place where souls are placed in huge steaming vessels. It punishes fraud, schemes, and dishonest gain. Merchants who cheated, officials who took bribes, and people who trapped others through deception may appear in stories linked to this realm.
The heat reflects pressure, exposure, and the collapse of clever lies.
The Hell of Copper Pillars
This hell is commonly shown with heated copper columns. It is tied to sexual wrongdoing, abuse of desire, and corruption. In some depictions, souls are forced to embrace burning pillars.
The image is harsh, but its moral point is clear. Desire that becomes exploitation turns into suffering.
The middle hells punish cruelty, greed, and coldness
The Hell of the Mountain of Knives
This is one of the most famous hells. Souls climb or fall upon a mountain covered with blades. It punishes murder, assault, hunting for pleasure in some accounts, or acts of extreme cruelty.
A mountain suggests a long, difficult path. The knives make each step a consequence.
The Hell of Ice
Not every hell burns. The Ice hell punishes people who were emotionally cruel, neglectful, or cold to others in need. Some stories connect it with betrayal of family members, refusal to help the helpless, or harsh treatment of dependents.
The punishment reflects the heart of the sinner: frozen, distant, and without compassion.
The Hell of Oil Cauldrons
The Oil Cauldron hell is another well-known image. It punishes thieves, corrupt officials, greedy people, and those who profited from others’ suffering. In many morality tales, someone who stole from the poor or cheated the desperate might be sent here.
The boiling oil represents greed brought to its final form. What once seemed like gain becomes unbearable repayment.
The Hell of Oxen and Beasts
This hell centers on cruelty to animals, but it can also punish people who acted like predators toward others. Ox-headed and horse-faced underworld guards, common figures in Chinese afterlife lore, often appear in this wider setting.
The lesson is that power over a weaker being creates moral responsibility.
The Hell of Stone Crushing
In this hell, souls are crushed under stones or heavy slabs. It punishes people who crushed others in life through force, debt, intimidation, or abuse of authority.
The poetic justice is clear. Those who made life unbearable for others must feel the weight they created.
The Hell of Mortars and Pestles
This realm uses the image of grinding or pounding grain. It often punishes corrupt trade, cheating with weights and measures, wasting food, or profiting through dishonest work.
In an older agricultural society, food was sacred. To waste it or cheat people through it was a serious moral offense.
The final hells punish grave harm and deep corruption
The Hell of the Blood Pool
The Blood Pool hell has complex roots and appears differently across traditions. In some Buddhist-influenced folk beliefs, it was linked to bloodshed, killing, and ritual impurity. In certain older texts, it also reflected beliefs about childbirth and menstruation that modern readers may find unfair or sexist.
A careful reading matters here. The Blood Pool hell shows how religious ideas can preserve both moral warnings and the social biases of their time.
The Hell of Wrongful Death
This hell concerns souls trapped by unjust, violent, or self-inflicted death. In folk belief, a person who died with unresolved rage or despair might become a restless spirit. Some accounts place such souls in a realm where their death is replayed until karmic judgment moves forward.
Modern readers should approach this belief with care. It reflects traditional fears about unsettled spirits, not a compassionate modern view of mental health.
The Hell of Dismemberment
This hell punishes those who caused extreme bodily harm, murder, torture, or the destruction of families through violence. The punishment mirrors the offender’s disregard for the wholeness of another person.
It is one of the clearest examples of symbolic justice in Diyu: the body harmed others, so the body becomes the site of judgment.
The Hell of Fire
The Fire hell punishes arson, destructive rage, and acts that consume the lives of others. Fire can also represent uncontrolled anger, scandal, warlike violence, or the spreading of harm.
In temple art, fire is more than a threat. It shows how one person’s fury can spread beyond the first victim.
The Hell of Grinding
The Grinding hell is often linked with persistent wrongdoing. It may punish people who repeatedly betrayed others, abused trust, exploited labor, or harmed many people over time.
Grinding suggests slow moral consequence. Small acts of cruelty, repeated again and again, become a heavy karmic burden.
The Hell of Sawing
The final hell is usually reserved for especially grave crimes. These may include murder, betrayal of parents or teachers, deep corruption, and acts that destroy social order. The saw represents division, pain, and the final exposure of moral rot.
As the eighteenth hell, it carries the sense of reaching the deepest point of punishment.
What happens after punishment
In many versions of the belief, the soul does not remain in Diyu forever. After punishment, it may pass to the final stages before rebirth. One famous figure is Meng Po, the old woman who serves a soup that makes souls forget their past lives.
After drinking, the soul crosses into its next birth. Depending on karma, it may be reborn as a human, animal, hungry ghost, heavenly being, or into another state of existence.
This cycle shows an important difference between Diyu and some ideas of eternal damnation. Diyu is terrifying, but it often functions as a place of correction and repayment.
How the 18 hells shaped Chinese culture
The 18 hells appear in temple murals, religious festivals, ghost stories, opera, novels, and popular art. They gave people a visual language for justice when ordinary life felt unfair.
A corrupt official might escape earthly punishment. A cruel relative might keep a good public name. A thief might never confess. Diyu answered that anxiety by saying every act was recorded somewhere.
The stories also supported everyday ethics:
Tell the truth.
Respect parents and elders.
Do not exploit the poor.
Do not abuse animals.
Keep promises.
Show mercy when you have power.
Do not mistake secrecy for innocence.
These ideas made Diyu both frightening and practical. It turned morality into unforgettable images.
A respectful way to understand the 18 hells
The 18 hells are not just horror scenes. They are moral stories built from fear, justice, karma, and social order. They show how traditional Chinese culture imagined a universe where no action disappears.
Some details feel harsh to modern readers. Some reflect old social values that deserve questioning. Still, the larger idea remains powerful: life leaves a record, and harm done in secret still matters.
The 18 hells of China endure because they give shape to a deep human hope. People want justice to exist beyond wealth, status, and luck. Diyu imagines that justice as a dark court beneath the world, where every lie, cruelty, and betrayal must finally be faced.
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