History Main / ChineseVampire

* Star Wars-based videogame ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' featured Rakhgouls, a kind of low-level monster which were quite close to the real deal.

As the Chinese are always proud to claim, the concept of this monster developed independently of Slavic vampires - though there are similarities, such that 'Vampire' has often made it into the translated name. A typical Chinese Vampire drains life energy, like the Slavic vamps of old, though more and more ''jiangshi'' are draining blood while they're at it due to cross-cultural influence. Behaviour-wise, however, the Chinese Vampire is much more bestial in its monstrosity than its Slavic counterpart; it cannot speak, has pale skin, long claw-like fingernails, and a [[OverlyLongTongue long prehensile tongue]]. In what would probably be a particularly huge display of the UncannyValley, it moves by hopping and always has its arms outstretched in rigor mortis. Often a bit on the decayed side, they typically wear shabby robes of the kind worn by the nobility in times gone by - nowadays, Qing Dynasty-style robes are the thing. Interestingly, a literal translation of ''jiangshi'' is "Stiff Corpse"; being dead, of course, the body is stiff from rigor mortis and has to hop as the subtle motions of walking are beyond it.

* An optional boss in ''CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' is a jiangshi. Surprisingly, it's the only boss to ''not'' be permanently destroyed after you beat it; it is frozen by a talisman upon defeat, and if you attack it again, the talisman will break, causing it to revive and attack you, once more.

Subtrope of OurVampiresAreDifferent. Compare ClassicalMovieVampire, LooksLikeOrlok.

* ''Manhua/{Bloodline}}'': Is a much nicer form of this trope...in a sense. It's played straight with [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Chong Yin and Ye Ren]] in the prequels.

The monster called a 'Chinese Vampire' has also been translated as a ''hopping corpse'' or ''hopping vampire'', among other names. The Mandarin name is romanized as ''jiangshi'', [[WhyMaoChangedHisName usually]].

* ''TabletopGame/AllFleshMustBeEaten'' is mostly geared toward [[SurvivalHorror survival horror]] and monsters [[ZombieApocalypse in the Romero tradition]], but the ''Atlas of the Walking Dead'' supplement features information and stats for various monsters from around the world, including "gyonshi" [[WhyMaoChangedHisName (alternate romanization)]].

* Ling-Ling from ''RosarioToVampire'' is a Chinese Jiang Shi, who can freely [[LosingYourHead dismember and reassemble herself]]. She commands an army of [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Zombies]], though it's seen that her "friends" have some degree of independence. She's also capable of using the [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Jigen-Tou]].

* From ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', we have Nightwalker heartless in the Land of the Dragons, Disney/{{Mulan}}'s homeworld.

* Another {{NES}} game, ''Vice: Project Doom'' also had a Chinatown level with jiangshi in it.

* ''PhantomFighter'' puts you in the role of a traveling monk who goes around fighting ''jiangshi'' (or "Kyonshies" as the game calls them- the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for ''jiangshi''). It's also notable for the fact that, with a special item, an UndeadChild Jiangshi is playable. ''Phantom Fighter'' was originally a video game adaptation of ''[[MrVampire Mr. Vampire]]'', which was popular in Japan for a while.

** Thanks to ''Ten Desires'', we now have an ''actual'' jiangshi/kyonshi in Yoshika Miyako; she is, however, presented in a way more reminiscent of an American zombie.

As the Chinese are always proud to claim, the concept of this monster developed independently of Slavic vampires - though there are similarities, such that 'Vampire' has often made it into the translated name. A typical Chinese Vampire drains life energy, like the Slavic vamps of old, though more and more ''jiangshi'' are draining blood while they're at it due to cross-cultural influence. Behaviour-wise, however, the Chinese Vampire is much more bestial in its monstrosity than its Slavic counterpart; it cannot speak, has pale skin, long claw-like fingernails, and a [[OverlyLongTongue long prehensile tongue]]. In what would probably be a particularly huge example of the UncannyValley, it moves by hopping and always has its arms outstretched in rigor mortis. Often a bit on the decayed side, they typically wear shabby robes of the kind worn by the nobility in times gone by - nowadays, Qing Dynasty-style robes are the thing. Interestingly, a literal translation of ''jiangshi'' is "Stiff Corpse"; being dead, of course, the body is stiff from rigor mortis and has to hop as the subtle motions of walking are beyond it.

In some versions, it detects potential victims by the energy fluctuations caused by their breathing - one can hide, for a while, from one by holding one's breath. Some of these stories purport that if one manages to suck the creature's dying (and still held) breath out of it, it will fall inanimate and become an ordinary corpse. It may be controlled with a [[PaperTalisman parchment inscribed with runes]] placed on its head. Legend has it that the jiangshi were corpses enchanted by sorcerers to return to their ancestral burial grounds, where they might be buried among their family, because actually transporting the corpse through conventional means from far away places was usually far too expensive for the average peasant.

Typical weaknesses of a jiangshi include the blood of a black dog, a wooden sword made from a peach tree, a hen's egg, glutinous rice, and the urine of a virgin boy. In case you were wondering, the classic KillItWithFire is implied by the text of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zi_Bu_Yu Zi Bu Yu]]'' to work as well.

As the Chinese are always proud to claim, the concept of this monster developed independently of Slavic vampires - though there are similarities, such that 'Vampire' has often made it into the translated name. A typical Chinese Vampire drains life energy, like the Slavic vamps of old, though more and more ''jiangshi'' are draining blood while they're at it due to cross-cultural influence. Behaviour-wise, however, the Chinese Vampire is much more bestial in its monstrosity than its Slavic counterpart; it cannot speak, has pale skin, long claw-like fingernails, and a [[OverlyLongTongue long prehensile tongue]]. It moves by hopping and always has its arms outstretched in rigor mortis. Often a bit on the decayed side, they typically wear shabby robes of the kind worn by the nobility in times gone by - nowadays, Qing Dynasty-style robes are the thing. Interestingly, a literal translation of ''jiangshi'' is "Stiff Corpse"; being dead, of course, the body is stiff from rigor mortis and has to hop as the subtle motions of walking are beyond it.

In some versions, it detects potential victims by the energy fluctuations caused by their breathing - one can hide, for a while, from one by holding one's breath. Some of these stories purport that if one manages to suck the creature's dying (and still held) breath out of it, it will fall inanimate and become an ordinary corpse. It may be controlled with a [[PaperTalisman parchment inscribed with runes]] placed on its head. Legend has it that the jiangshi were corpses enchanted by sorcerers to return to their ancestral burial grounds, where they might be buried among their family.

Typical weaknesses of a jiangshi include the blood of a black dog, a wooden sword made from a peach tree, a hen's egg, glutinous rice, and the urine of a virgin boy.

->''Stop shooting! I'm not a zombie! I'm a jiang shi! I don't even eat people OR their brains!''
-->-- '''[[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Hsien-Ko's]]''' win quote to '''[[Franchise/ResidentEvil Chris Redfield]]''' in ''MarvelVsCapcom3''

* ''Manhua/{Bloodline'': Is a much nicer form of this trope...in a sense. It's played straight with [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Chong Yin and Ye Ren]] in the prequels.

* ''KindredOfTheEast'', an entire roleplaying supplement in the ''OldWorldOfDarkness''. Calling themselves the ''Kuei-Jin'', they are spirits of the dead who fought their way back from one of the 1001 hells and back into their bodies, which they reanimate and keep alive by feeding on the chi of other people. In the setting's present day, they're usually involved in turf wars with western vampires. Only people of Asian descent can become Kuei-Jin. Primarily another example of the setting's many conflicting religions which are [[FantasyKitchenSink all somehow true]] ''[[FantasyKitchenSink and]]'' [[FantasyKitchenSink mutually exclusive from one another]].
** And a book for the new line, ''[[VampireTheRequiem Vampire: the Requiem]]'', features the jiangshi, ghosts bound to their bodies and graves who seek out the life of the living. It's part of a whole book on things in the setting that are vampiric without being, well, vampires.

* The ''{{Deadlands}}'' faction known as the Maze Rats, which were a gang of mostly Chinese pirates, had one of these, with the instructions to "remove the paper from its forehead and stand back" in case of emergencies.
* ''AllFleshMustBeEaten'' is mostly geared toward [[SurvivalHorror survival horror]] and monsters [[ZombieApocalypse in the Romero tradition]], but the ''Atlas of the Walking Dead'' supplement features information and stats for various monsters from around the world, including "gyonshi" [[WhyMaoChangedHisName (alternate romanization)]].
* Hungry ghosts from ''{{Exalted}}''.

* A few of these appear in The Temple of Xi'an in ''[[FearEffect Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix]]''. They are invincible and can paralyze you if they hit you.

* The third ''SlyCooper'' has ''praying mantis'' jiangshi.

* From the MMORPG ''RagnarokOnline'', there are [[BlueBoyPinkGirl male (Bongun) and female (Munak)]] versions. They bounce to move. Later expansion adds a bishonen one, Yao Jun. Bongun, Munak, and he have a rather sad little love triangle plot. As usual with monsters in RagnarokOnline, you can tame them as pets (Bongun and Munak are tamed with love letters and diaries from each other) and get their [[NiceHat hats]].

* In tactics game ''ShiningForceIII'' for the Sega Saturn, one of the maps has you in a grave yard surrounded by zombified villagers who insist on hoping everywhere. You can kill them, but doing so would keep them from being cured and turn the town into a literal ghost town. Luckily, a friendly monk who was just passing by joins your party and has a special ability to cure them.

* The {{Xbox}} game ''VideoGame/KungFuChaos'' has a few of these as enemies.

* ''Mr Vampire'' from 1985 is the classic example of a Chinese vampire in films. It started off a small craze of supernatural-themed movies in Hong Kong at the time, and had four sequels.
* ''Spooky Encounters''.
* ''Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters''.
* ''TheLegendOfThe7GoldenVampires'' (1974) is a co-production with {{Hammer Horror}}, and features Western ''and'' Chinese vampires in the same film. It has been released cut with various titles such as ''Seven Brothers Meet Dracula''.

* Featured prominently in the film ''RoboVampire'', along with cyborgs, Taoist priests, drug cartels and a ghost married to a super-vampire who looks like a gorilla for some reason.

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* In ''ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'', a MonsterOfTheWeek transformed the departed souls lingering on Academia Island into Jiangshi in order to have a private army.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', [=XJ9=] a.k.a. Jenny goes to Japan and battles a horde of these. [[AllAsiansAreAlike Yes, Japan]].

* ''TheGodsMustBeCrazy in China''. A group of tribesmen come across the vampire, and use it to get fruit out of a tree, by having it hop into it repeatedly. Yeah.
** It's also known as ''Crazy Safari'', ''Vampires Must Be Crazy'', and ''The Gods Must Be Crazy 3''. It has a lot of titles.

* ''PhantomFighter'' puts you in the role of a traveling monk who goes around fighting ''jiangshi'' (or "Kyonshies" as the game calls them- the Japanese pronunciation of the characters for Jiangshi). It's also notable for the fact that, with a special item, an UndeadChild Jiangshi is playable. ''Phantom Fighter'' was originally a video game adaptation of ''[[MrVampire Mr. Vampire]]'', which was popular in Japan for a while.

* Hsien-ko (US)/Lei-Lei (Japan) in the video game ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' is a Jiang-shi; her sister's soul resides in the talisman on her forehead to protect Lei-Lei from losing control of her powers. A special move allows the two sisters to separate momentarily and let Lei Lei enter a kind of reckless state. This is lampshaded in ''MarvelVsCapcom3'', where Lei-Lei has to remind [[Frannchise/ResidentEvil Chris and Jill]] that she's completely different from [[OurZombiesAreDifferent the other type of undead]] they're used to dealing with.