Chinese Hopping Vampires

Chinese vampires hop. No one really knows why, but many people have theories. Some say the tradition of burying the corpse in a standing position means that it would hop. Others believe the Qing dynasty burial garments bind the legs together making it impossible to walk. It could be that rigor mortis has set in and the joints have lost all flexibility making a hopping motion the only possibility. And then there are those that say the hopping motion is symbolic of the vampire's attachment to the physical plane.

Chinese vampires can't see. They rely on the ability to sense the breath of their prey to track them. In the movies, the hero often has to hold his breath in order to evade the vampire.

Chinese vampires want your qi. Unlike Western vampires, the ones that want your blood, Chinese vampires want your qi (or chi), your life energy. Although some traditions say that Chinese vampires do this by sucking the breath out of their victims, in the movies they're just as likely to use incredibly sharp teeth to chomp their victims, suck their blood and eat their flesh.

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There are many ways to keep Chinese vampires at bay. Religion is important, as are Taoist and Buddhist magic. Death blessings can be stuck to the forehead of the vampire. (This can be tricky as it often means that when being chased by a vampire, you've not only got to whip up a quick blessing, but you also have to get within arm's reach of the creature to attach it to its forehead.) Taoist mirrors (feng-shui mirrors), glutinous rice (purity), straw, snake wine, and chicken blood are all part of the Chinese vampire hunter's arsenal.

A curse can do it. So can being buried in the wrong (inauspicious) spot, dying far from home and not being returned for burial. Murder victims, suicides, and disappeared people were all likely to become vampires because of the violent nature of their deaths or the inability to trace the body for proper burial in the case of disappearances. Yin shock—a shock to the system caused by the dark and mysterious nature of yin energy—can also cause the corpse to come back as a vampire.

Employ a priest to intercede. Return the body to its rightful burying place and ensure proper ancestral worship. Release the spirit. Use Buddhist or Taoist magic to bind the body to its coffin. Burn the body (although I suspect this is a last resort). Some say a Chinese vampire isn't really dead until it explodes.

Want to know more? You can check out my blog post, "What I know about Chinese vampires".

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