My Date with a Vampire

My Date with a Vampire is a 1998 Hong Kong television series produced by Asia Television (ATV). The story is based on the future events of the plot of Vampire Expert, a similar two season television drama aired on ATV in 1995 and 1996. It blends aspects of the "hopping" corpses of jiangshi fiction with those of western vampires, along with elements of Chinese mythology and modern horror legends. The series is a tribute to Lam Ching ying, the lead actor of Vampire Expert and a prominent cast member of the Mr. Vampire franchise, who died of liver cancer in 1997. It was followed by My Date with a Vampire II (2000) and My Date with a Vampire III (2004).

Fong Kwok wah was a Chinese guerrilla fighter during the Second Sino Japanese War. In 1938, he was duelling with Yamamoto Kazuo, a major of the Imperial Japanese Army, when they were interrupted by Cheung San, the progenitor of all vampires. The two men and Fuk sang, a boy who was hiding nearby, were bitten by Cheung San and they became vampires. In the present day (1998), Fong has changed his name to Fong Tin yau and now lives in Hong Kong, where he works as a policeman. Fuk sang lives with him, pretends to be his son, and attends primary school. During this time, Fong meets Ma Siu ling, the heiress to a clan of sorcerers dedicated to ridding the world of evil supernatural beings. He gradually becomes embroiled in a love triangle with her and Wong Jan jan, her close friend and confidante. Meanwhile, Yamamoto has become the influential boss of a big company in Hong Kong and has a small group of vampire followers under his command. Planning to turn every human into a vampire, Yamamoto unleashes his minions to attack people and spread the "vampire gene". Chaos break out in Hong Kong as vampires multiply and roam the streets freely. Fong teams up with Ma and their allies to stop Yamamoto and manage to destroy him. However, a sorcerer called Rahu later resurrects Yamamoto and controls him to do his bidding, preparing to carry out a ritual during a blood moon to dominate the universe. Once again, Fong, Ma and their allies combine forces to confront Rahu and put an end to his evil plan.

The vampires depicted in the My Date with a Vampire trilogy incorporate elements from the Chinese jiangshi and the western vampire. They are beings that do not belong to the Trailokya or any of the Six Paths in Buddhist cosmology. They do not age and need to regularly feed on blood to sustain themselves. They may also possess powers such as superhuman speed or the ability to shapeshift, in addition to their immortal status. Their powers and invulnerability to sunlight, religious symbols and other things that typical vampires fear, however, become weaker as the generation gap between them and Cheung San (the progenitor of all vampires) increases. An example to illustrate this concept of "generation" is as follows: Person A, who became a vampire after being bitten by Cheung San himself, is known as a second generation vampire. Person B, who became a vampire after being bitten by Person A or another direct victim of Cheung San, is a third generation vampire, and so on. At the end of the second season, it is revealed that Pangu, the creator of the universe in Chinese mythology, is not a single entity, but a clan of divine beings who are all first generation vampires. Unlike others, these vampires do not need to feed on blood to survive. It is hinted that Cheung San is a member of the Pangu clan. In the third season, two important Chinese mythological figures, Fuxi and Yaochi Shengmu, are first generation vampires. Starting in the second season, a vampire's generation or type can be identified by his/her eye colour when he/she goes into "vampire mode".

The script for My Date with a Vampire was written by Leung Lap yan in 1997. Leung attempted to market the script to Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) but was rejected, so he went to Asia Television (ATV) instead. Chan Sap sam, who wrote the script for the two sequels, revealed that Lam Ching ying, a prominent cast member in the Mr. Vampire franchise, was their original choice for the lead actor, and that Joey Meng did not have a place in their initial cast list. However, after they finalised the script, they were unable to contact Lam, who was critically ill. Besides, ATV's top management was not pleased with the script because they felt that it did not fit people's impressions of how vampires should be like. ATV's top management wanted to cancel the project after Lam died of liver cancer in 1997. Faced with these problems, Chan decided to make bold changes to the script and create a new character – Ma Siu ling, a female ghostbuster wearing high heels and a miniskirt who is greedy for money. Sin Chi wai, the producer for the series, recommended Joey Meng to play Ma Siu ling. When Eric Wan was offered to play the male lead character in the series, he wanted to turn down the offer because he felt exhausted, but eventually agreed as he became more interested in the story.

According to Netease Report, Fox Networks Group will remake the series. Cora Yim, the head of Fox Networks Group Asia, claimed that one third of ATV's inventory had been acquired by Fox Networks Group, including 28 television series; My Date with a Vampire is one of the 28.