Are there zombies in China? Viral TikTok trend explained

A viral trend on TikTok claiming that there will be a zombie apocalypse in China has caused a lot of people to panic. Obviously, it’s not real, but here’s why the trend has taken off.

Countless trends on TikTok come and go, but this one is unlike most others. The ‘Zombies in China’ trend claims that the world will end soon due to a zombie apocalypse starting in China, and some people appear genuinely frightened.

Currently, the zombiesinchina hashtag has over 4.6 million views on the social media platform. People sharing videos using the hashtag are either scared, mocking the trend, or just confused about how it even started to begin with.

How the ‘Zombies in China’ trend started

The rumors of a zombie apocalypse all started with an opinion piece written in 2021, titled ‘This is how a zombie apocalypse is most likely to start in China.’

The article simply suggested the idea of a zombie apocalypse and its probable causes, saying that countries like China are most likely to become the home of an outbreak, claiming that they would keep it a secret.

The author of the article, Rudy Cano, writes: “Communist countries have time and again chosen to suppress information until it is no longer deniable,” and gave the 1986 Chernobyl disaster that took place in the Soviet Union as an example.

He also goes on to include a quote from the Zombie novel ‘World War Z,’ which reads: “By refusing to admit the truth of the zombie outbreak to the world, the Communist Chinese government aided its spread due to misinformation about what was actually happening.”

TikTokers freak out about zombie outbreak rumor

Many people misinterpreted the article as a prediction, and somehow, false rumors about an upcoming zombie apocalypse started spreading on TikTok in 2022.

A video from TikToker monique.sky went viral with over 600,000 views, as she questioned if the rumor was real.

Another recent video, posted by TikTok user ykgs, amassed over a million views, as it debunked the trend with a bizarre claim.

The text on the video reads: “There’s no ‘zombies’ there was one which was very weak and harmed no one. They killed it minutes after it was created there’s no more.” Users expressed their concerns in the comment section.

“This doesn’t make me feel better” one of the top comments read.

“What do you mean there was one?” an alarmed user wrote.

“The hell you mean ‘there are NO MORE.’ There shouldn’t have been any from the start” someone else added.

One user, however, tried to comfort the concerned viewers. “Guys it wasn’t a zombie, it was a man who was claimed dead for a week and woke up aggressive.” they shared.

It’s safe to say that zombies are nothing but mythical creatures, as thus far, there is not a crumb of evidence to prove that they exist.