Life

'Fang-tastic' cocktails at vampire bar

By Laura Morgan (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-27 07:41

The entrance to The V is impressively atmospheric. [Photo/China Daily]

The interior is filled with scarlet chairs and black drapes, everything a tired vampire needs.

From Bram Stoker's quintessential vampire, Dracula, to the sinister and horrifying creatures in Salem's Lot, to even Count von Count from Sesame Street, the vampire is well known as a mythical icon that has pervaded popular culture in the Western hemisphere.

A recent revival of vampirism has thrown the spotlight back on these blood-drinkers with a sudden increase in vampire films like Twilight and Thirst, and TV programs like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.

Beijing has also been sucked into the craze and is falling prey to the allure of vampire culture with the opening of The V - a vampire-themed bar tucked into Wudaoying Hutong.

Bar owner Ye Jia, being fascinated with vampire-themed bars and gothic castles in European countries, saw the chance to bring some of that culture to Beijing by opening The V.

Top: A Tru Blood cocktail. Above: Ye Jia is a massive fan of vampires.

"Themed bars and castles in foreign countries gave me inspiration," she said. "We've never had anything like this in China and I love vampires, so I decided to create this kind of location."

The bar certainly stands in contrast to the traditional Chinese buildings surrounding it, with imposing crypt like doors, a hunched, snarling gargoyle perched overhead and the name of the bar emblazoned in blood red letters. But what do the locals think?

"The local people are very accepting," Ye said. "The majority is very interested in it Beijing is very open-minded toward this kind of thing."

Inside, coffin-shaped wooden benches and gilded baroque armchairs fill the floor. Red and black drapes cover the walls and dusty chandeliers dangle from the ceiling.

To complete the gothic atmosphere, images from recent vampire films flicker away in the background.

While vampires are native to Western fables and may have only recently crept their way onto the Chinese mainland, Ye explained that Chinese folklore also has a vampire-like creature known as jiangshi.

Made popular by Hong Kong vampire kungfu films like Mr Vampire in the 1980s, jiangshi tend to be covered in rotting flesh and mould, hop rather than walk and kill victims by sucking out their qi or occasionally their blood.

When asked why her infatuation lies with modern vampires and not these creatures of Chinese myth, Ye said she sees them in a very different light.

"Jiangshi are completely different from vampires," she said. "Vampires are beautiful and mysterious but jiangshi really aren't!"

Ye said she is drawn to the more sensitive, romantically inclined vampires that have been proving so popular in the recent resurgence, rather than the malevolent bloodsuckers of lore.

"After seeing Interview with a Vampire, I started to recognize that vampires could be noble and mysterious, rather than scary, and they might also be a little helpless due to being eternally parted from the sunlight," she added.

Therefore, rather than resembling a vampiric house of horrors, the bar strives to be somewhere vampires might flock to. Blood group cocktails and vampire snack foods are on the menu, alongside the typical Singapore Slings, lattes and bottles of Tsingdao.

The specialty of the bar is Tru Blood cocktails, which come in four different "blood types": A, B, AB and O. Each one has a unique flavor - AB is sweet and sticky while B leaves a tangy aftertaste. Ye remained candid when asked what is the curious red liquid served to customers in cocktail glasses.

"It's our secret recipe," she said. "Each one is dripping with blood and you need to be courageous if you want to try."