Ghost hunter and influencer Jiang Xiaorou has died after a serious car crash, months after she smashed a religious statue in a viral video. The 24-year-old was a passenger in a rideshare vehicle involved in a crash on 15 July while heading to Guangzhou from Guangxi in southern China. Doctors fought to save her life for nearly a month before her death was verified on 10 August.
Viral anti-superstition video
Jiang, who built a following of 1.3 million online fans, was known for outlandish and provocative content on Duoyin, the original Chinese version of TikTok. In August 2025, she shared a video of herself swinging a hammer at a statue of Guanyin, the Chinese Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, a revered symbol of compassion. She taunted fans to see if a curse would strike.
During the act, she said: "Let's see how long I can live." The clip spread fast and drew angry comments at the time. Critics called it deeply disrespectful, while many followers cheered the fearless act.
Family urges against speculation
Following the crash, the video flooded social media again, with some online users linking the fatal crash to the smashed statue and calling it karma. However, there is no evidence the act had anything to do with her cause of death.
Jiang, from a rural village in Hunan province, suffered massive trauma, heavy blood loss, organ failure and severe brain damage. She was rushed to intensive care at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital on a ventilator and remained in a coma until her death was officially verified by community leaders from her hometown.
Investigation ongoing
Her family issued a short statement in August asking people to stop wildly guessing about her online content and to let her rest quietly. They asked her followers to "respect the facts, refrain from spreading unverified information, do not forward content involving privacy, and please stop making excessive speculations about her and her family," according to People. Instead, they asked that condolences be expressed as a "quiet blessing, so that she may remain dignified and respectable in everyone's memory." An investigation into the fatal road accident is ongoing.
