Chinese Internet Meme 2018

On August 8th, 2018, a Russian Instagram post under the hashtag “falling stars” went viral.Later in October this year, China continued the trend under the new hashtag of “flaunt your wealth” challenge. This internet meme includes people intentionally falling out of either a car or a chair with expensive products such as luxurious purses scattered on the floor to flaunt their wealth. Soon enough, the trend is not only followed by wealthy people but also by others with different occupations ranging from firemen to doctors.

In contrast with Russia’s “falling stars” trend, many of China’s “flaunt your wealth” challenges demonstrate people falling down on the floor scattering books or objects of other disciplines that symbolize hard work rather than wealth. Recently, Chinese social media users would post pictures where they lie down next to sports equipment or clothes rather than expensive accessories. As seen in the different interpretation of the same meme, it is apparent that Chinese people value how hard a person works rather than how rich he is.

Hence, most Chinese people who take on this challenge are not doing it to show off their wealth. Instead, they wish to share their past and present experiences, or personal achievements with the public. In China, people are comparatively open about their income. However, those who flaunt their wealth are regarded with suspicion and hostility. As a result, many rich people hide their wealth as achieving financial success without “hard work” is looked down by many.

Using Flaunt Your Wealth Challenge to Promote Communism

Due to the popularity of this internet meme, the Chinese government made an attempt to hijack one of this year’s hottest social trends for its own propaganda purposes. Employees of local government organization use this internet challenge to strengthen their propaganda by posting photos of themselves lying on the ground, surrounded by their simple work tools or the honors they received for their hard work. One student at Hainan University grasped the government’s message as he promoted communism by lying next to books regarding Chinese leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. The government staff approved of this post and praised the kid for promoting communism and supporting the government’s political stance.

According to People’s Daily, a Chinese newspaper published on social media platforms, the government believes that “if everyone is hardworking at the work at hand, it will be the biggest wealth for the society”. In short, the Chinese society considers hard work as the highest form of wealth anyone can achieve. The government also employ this meme to spread “positive energy”, a propaganda catchphrase used by the Chinese Communist Party. From what we can see at this moment, the government is successfully influencing their people by handling the hot topic effectively and strengthening their online presence to portray a positive government image to the public.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/24/asia/china-government-flaunt-wealth-intl-trnd/index.html