8) China - 1. Gohuicho

Gohuicho, also known as 'Yahaengyu-nyeo' (woman who wanders at night) or 'Cheonje-sonyeo' (girl attended by the heavenly god), is a bird mentioned in ancient Chinese texts like the Compendium of Materia Medica, said to appear frequently in Xingzhou. It is believed to transform into a human form when it sheds its feathered cloak. As it lacks males and cannot reproduce, it is said to abduct human children to raise as its own. If a child's clothes are left outside at night, Gohuicho supposedly leaves a blood mark to indicate it will take the child. There is a legend from the Western Jin dynasty about a man who made a Gohuicho his wife after she shed her feathered cloak and went bathing. This Gohuicho bore him three daughters, but later had her daughters find her hidden feathered cloak, after which she escaped. Eventually, she returned and took her daughters with her, making them wear feathered cloaks as well. Starting from the Tang dynasty, theories emerged that children wearing marked clothes would fall ill, or that women who died during childbirth transformed into yokai. Over time, additional tales were added, such as Gohuicho leaving the abducted children in distant villages instead of raising them, or them being found as corpses in the forest.