Wealth-flaunting meme goes viral in China

SHANGHAI: Chinese social media users have seized on a viral meme in which people are pictured literally rolling in their own wealth, spawning a range of cheeky counter-posts poking fun at the country’s nouveau riche.

Posts related to the aptly-named Wealth-Flaunting Challenge on China’s popular Weibo platform had been viewed more than 2.3 billion times, drawing more than a million comments.

In the meme, which originated in Russia, social media users post pictures of themselves falling face-down to the pavement as they exit their cars, the ground strewn with their cash, credit cards, jewellery, designer bags and shoes, and other luxury items and electronics.

Decades of skyrocketing economic growth have given China the most dollar billionaires of any country in the world with 620, according to Shanghai-based magazine publisher Hurun Report, and many of China’s newly wealthy are not shy about showing off their luxury cars and accoutrements.

But the meme has inspired a wealth of parodies in China, with people seeing it as a golden opportunity to mock the rich.

In one, a man labelled as a “hardworking” staff member is shown on the ground in front of what appears to be an office building surrounded by an array of cleaning supplies, brooms and mops.

Even government agencies have joined the party, providing a propaganda bonanza.

Shanghai’s fire department showed personnel splayed on the ground next to fire trucks and surrounded by firefighting equipment, while the Hubei province police department depicted a gun-toting officer standing next to his vehicle over four men on the ground in civilian clothes, representing “evil forces”.

And companies have seized on the frenzy to advertise their goods.

A woman who works for a subsidiary of China National Gold Group posed belly down with her feet up on an luxurious armchair and bullions strewn around her.

Other tongue-in-cheek posts include a woman surrounded by an array of lipsticks with her feet resting on a white sofa, or a man on the ground with six cats.

“Everyone has something he or she thinks is the most valuable or what he or she cares about the most. To me, it’s my cats,” said Li Dong, 33, the cat owner who joined the challenge on Weibo in midOctober.

“It’s an exaggerated way of expression. I think it’s fun so I showed my cats off,” Li said. – AFP

Wen Siyuan lies on the street as she poses for a picture with lipsticks and handbags strewn about in the city of Xian in this handout released to AFP yesterday.