Zombies In China — Black-and-white CCTV footage of a figure sitting upright on a hospital gurney in a dim ward, timestamped January 24 2022.

Zombies In China

2021hoaxdead

Published October 29, 2026

Zombies In China is a 2022 hoax that convinced parts of TikTok a zombie outbreak was underway in China and being hidden by the government. The panic drew from a July 2021 opinion piece arguing a zombie apocalypse would likely start there, blended with a Russian comedy clip of a man rising from a morgue table that users reframed as leaked Chinese CCTV footage. By August 2022, TikToks about the fake outbreak drew millions of views before Newsweek debunked the trend.

hoax memes misinformation memes conspiracy memes tiktok memes 2022 memes

Overview

Posts riding the trend typically use a black-and-white still of a man sitting up from a covered morgue table, captioned to suggest it shows China's first zombie case or that the Chinese government is hiding an outbreak1. Creators often added breathless commentary about CCP censorship, while others filmed ironic reaction videos joking that anyone believed the rumor at all2.

The Zombies In China hoax borrows directly from a July 2021 We Are The Mighty opinion piece arguing a zombie virus would spread fastest under a government that lies to save face, citing the 1986 Chernobyl cover-up and quoting Max Brooks' World War Z3. That argument gave the hoax a pseudo-geopolitical hook, which is why many of the viral TikToks mix horror movie panic with jokes about Chinese secrecy2.

Origin & Background

Platform
We Are The Mighty (source article) / TikTok (viral spread)
Date
2021

On July 16, 2021, military culture site We Are The Mighty published an opinion piece by Ruddy Cano titled "This is how a zombie apocalypse is most likely to start in China." Cano argued the CCP would suppress an outbreak out of a face-saving instinct, the same way the Soviet Union hid Chernobyl, and would then profit from a zombie vaccine1.

The second ingredient appeared in January 2022, when the Russian IVI original series Hello Again! debuted its first episode featuring a man rising naked from a morgue table around the 9:20 mark4. On or around January 24, 2022, a now-suspended Reddit user reposted a static CCTV-style angle of the scene, and Headline News reuploaded it the same day on YouTube as "Dead Man Wake Up in Morgue, Russia CCTV"5. An American Post write-up on January 25 noted commenters were already doubting its authenticity6, and a January 29 /r/oddlyterrifying thread drew over 7,300 upvotes7.

How It Spread

TikToker @pessilencieuxx posted a screenshot of the Hello Again! morgue scene captioned "China reports its first zombie case" on May 14, 2022, drawing over 800,000 views in three months8. The hoax erupted that August, when TikToker @whyarehumansliketheyare reposted the still on August 2, 2022, with a caption claiming China was suppressing news about the clip and drew over 130,000 views in a week9.

By August 8, 2022, @ykgsm's TikTok claiming the zombie had been killed drew more than 1.3 million views in two days10. Twitter user @minasluvbot asked that same day why TikTokers were saying there were zombies in China11, while @jjujube_ called the trend a hoax tied to a racist article12. Newsweek covered the Zombies In China panic on August 9, 20222, and HITC followed on August 10 with a roundup of mocking reactions13. TikToker @sheluvscee.1zz's August 9 video referencing the hoax drew over 500,000 views in under a day14. Mainstream debunking slowed the trend soon after, and no significant resurgence appeared in the following year3.

Timeline

2021-07-16

We Are The Mighty publishes Ruddy Cano's opinion piece arguing a zombie apocalypse would most likely start in China.

2022-01

Russian IVI original series Hello Again! airs its first episode, featuring the morgue scene later misused as CCTV footage.

2022-01-24

Headline News reuploads a static CCTV-style angle of the Hello Again! morgue scene to YouTube as "Dead Man Wake Up in Morgue, Russia CCTV."

2022-01-25

American Post covers the clip, noting commenters doubt its authenticity.

2022-05-14

TikToker @pessilencieuxx posts the morgue still captioned "China reports its first zombie case," drawing over 800,000 views.

2022-08-02

TikToker @whyarehumansliketheyare reposts the still claiming China is suppressing the footage.

2022-08-08

TikToker @ykgsm's video claiming the zombie was killed draws over 1.3 million views in two days.

2022-08-09

Newsweek publishes an explainer debunking the TikTok panic.

2022-08-10

HITC publishes a roundup of mocking reactions to the hoax.

How to Use This Meme

A standard post lifts the morgue still or a short clip from the Hello Again! scene and attaches a caption claiming it shows a Chinese zombie or that the Chinese government is covering up an outbreak. Creators commonly layered on frantic voiceovers, text overlays about CCP censorship, or stitched reaction videos ridiculing anyone who fell for the rumor.

Frequently Asked Questions