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In The Digital Age, ‘Handwritten Weibo’ Have Become All The Rage

A new trend on Sina Weibo is showing the more artisanal side of Chinese netizens. In an age where everything is digital, ‘Handwritten Weibo’ have become all the rage.

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A new trend on Sina Weibo is showing the more artisanal side of Chinese netizens. In an age where everything is digital, ‘handwritten Weibo’ have become all the rage.

Handwritten Weibo have become a new trend on   Sina Weibo. Weibo (literally meaning ‘micro-blog’) now attracts a large number of netizens who post their status updates in written notes. With photos of little handwritten scribbles, under the hashtag of #手写微博# (“handwritten Weibo”), netizens post poems, wishes, stories or just simple signatures. In an age where everything is digitalized, handwritten characters come back to life in China’s online environment.

 

“The world is so big, I want to go out and see it.”

 

Last month, one handwritten note caused a huge buzz in China’s social media. Female teacher Gu Shaoqiang at Henan Experimental High School resigned from her job by writing a simple note that said: “The world is so big, I want to go out and see it”.

U10808P1T1D31717261F21DT20150414205411The resignation note that went viral, saying: “The world is so big, I want to go out and see it.”

A snapshot of the note went viral, and netizens praised the teacher for her courage, wanderlust and bravery, but most of all – for her nice handwriting.

Handwriting bestirs quite some emotions amongst Chinese. For many Chinese, mastering good handwriting is as important as one’s physical appearance. The long tradition of Chinese handwriting and its close ties to power and tradition is still shaping modern views of handwriting in China. People tend to comment on a bad hand, and being able to write beautifully is connected to their personhood and level of education. Practicing calligraphy or fountain-pen calligraphy is a very popular pastime, and bookshops all over China offer many kinds of practicing books with practice copy paper to improve handwriting.

There is no Chinese ‘alphabet’. Instead, every word is composed of one or multiple characters. Respected Chinese dictionaries list more than 85,000 characters. An estimated 7000 characters are needed for everyday use. But with the rise of new technology, Chinese penmanship is on the decline. With the help of software on computers, smartphones and tablets, Chinese users can type in the basic sound of words in Latin letters, whereafter the correct characters are picked from a list. Due to these new technologies, more and more people in China can recognize characters, but forget how to write them.

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Because of China’s ‘character amnesia’, China’s Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write; younger students should have classes every week specifically in writing Chinese characters. Older students are offered optional lessons and after-school activities.

Whether or not the emergence of handwritten notes on Weibo is due to aspirations of becoming as inspiring and trending as Gu Shaoqiang, to show off nice handwriting or to ‘circumvent the netnanny’ [getting around China’s online censorship] is not clear, but people seem to have fun with it. Most notes are a little melancholic or poetic, and there are many little love notes or poems in handwriting.

This girl posted a sentence of a poem by the Russian Konstantin Balmont: “I entered this world to see the sun” (为了看看阳光,我来到这个世上):

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Wishing everybody a goodnight, this user is posting her handwritten note saying: “As long as you are human, I wish you a life long without sorrow” (“除非黄土白骨我守你百岁无忧”):

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Under the hashtags ‘we live to die’ and ‘handwritten Weibo’, this user is posting her handwritten note saying: ‘Living with pain in this present moment is for the fairness of the future” (“现在活的那么痛苦,还不是为了以后的高漂亮”):
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As the Digital Age is blamed for the forgetfulness on how to write characters, the latest trends on written Weibo’s might offer hope to those fearing a decline in China’s literacy levels.

By Laura Vermeeren
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[box type=”bio”] About the author: Laura Vermeeren is a Dutch sinologist, currently doing her PhD in Calligraphy in Modern China at the University of Amsterdam.[/box]

©2014 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

About the author: Laura Vermeeren is a Dutch sinologist, currently doing her PhD in Calligraphy in Modern China at the University of Amsterdam.

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1 Comment

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  1. Avatar

    DorianTang

    May 21, 2015 at 1:09 pm

    “In The Digital Age, ‘Handwritten Weibo’ Have Become All The Rage” May 8, 2015, the last handwriting weibo should be “现在活的那么痛苦,还不是为了以后死得漂亮”, but not “现在活的那小痛苦,还不是为了以后的高漂亮” which doesn’t make any sense. 🙂

    Nice website!!! Goed bezig!! Veel succes!!

    Groetjes,
    Dorian

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China Memes & Viral

When a Scene from a 2010 Chinese TV Drama Goes Viral: The ‘Cao Cao Flips Rice Bowl’ Meme

Cao Cao flipping the rice bowl is another Cao Cao meme that’s widely used to convey internal struggles about facing reality.

Zilan Qian

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These days, a viral meme originating from the Chinese TV series Three Kingdoms (三国) has gained significant traction on Chinese social media.

In a memorable scene from the 2010 series, Cao Cao, a prominent warlord in Chinese history played by actor Chen Jianbin (陈建斌), angrily flips his rice bowl upon receiving news of a surprise attack, only to gather the spilled rice back into the bowl later.

This scene featuring an enraged Cao Cao has resurfaced and struck a chord with individuals reluctantly facing reality.

Turning into a popular meme, Cao Cao flipping the rice bowl has become widely employed to convey sentiments of self-inflicted humiliation or the hesitation to undertake certain actions.

The Context of the Scene

The specific scene comes from episode 12 of the Three Kingdoms. Warlord Cao Cao, who is governor of Yan Province, is enjoying his meal when his advisor comes in to inform him about a surprise attack by Chinese military general Lü Bu (吕布), capturing almost the entire province.

The meme of “曹操盖饭.” The term “盖” is often translated as “covering” or “capping.” When combined with 饭 (rice), it forms a noun that refers to a dish where various toppings, such as cooked meat or sauces, cover the rice, similar to a Donburi-style meal.

Upon receiving this alarming report, Cao Cao’s anger flared, and he promptly flipped his rice bowl upside down on the table, an act now commonly referred to as “Cao Cao flips the rice bowl” (曹操盖饭).

Cao Cao’s anger was intertwined with disbelief at Lü Bu’s audacity to execute such a daring attack. Cao Cao’s advisor swiftly clarified that the mastermind behind the attack was Lü Bu’s strategist, Chen Gong (陈宫), who was also renowned as a brilliant strategist during the Three Kingdoms era.

As he grasped the true situation, Cao Cao gradually regained his composure and meticulously gathered the spilled rice back into his bowl – an act now known as “Cao Cao retrieving his bowl of rice” (曹操撤回了一碗饭),- before resuming his meal.

The catchphrase that is used to describe Cao Cao retrieving his rice utilizes the word “chèhuí” (撤回), which means “to recall” or “to retract.” It can be understood as “Cao Cao recalled his bowl of rice,” drawing a parallel to the recall function in WeChat that allows users to retract or cancel a message after it has been sent.

How To Use the Meme

The contrast between the forceful act of flipping the rice bowl and the subsequent unwillingness and silence displayed while putting the scattered rice back into the bowl is a key factor contributing to the meme’s viral nature on the internet.

Netizens have creatively applied Cao Cao’s meme in various situations to express their own internal struggles or a sense of self-inflicted humiliation they experience (自己打自己脸).

For instance, the meme effectively captures the feelings of both white-collar workers and students who utilize the “Cao Cao flips the rice bowl” meme on Fridays. On this day, they express their frustration with the demanding work week and their eagerness to leave their tasks behind.

However, the arrival of Monday brings a sense of reality as they realize the necessity of returning to the office or school. The “Cao Cao retrieves his bowl of rice” meme is then employed to represent the unavoidable resumption of their daily routines.

In this regard, the meme is somewhat comparable to the English “F*ck This Job, *Goes to Work*” meme (link).

“Not Possible, Absolutely Not Possible”

It is not the first time for Three Kingdom‘s Cao Cao to achieve viral status through memes.

Prior to the emergence of the ‘Cao Cao flips/retrieves the rice’ meme, Cao Cao was already well-known for another meme phrase: “Not possible, absolutely not possible” (“不可能,绝对不可能”).

This meme originated from a scene where Cao Cao received news of Liu Bei’s rebellion, immediately after confidently asserting that Liu Bei, another major warlord, would never betray him.

“Not possible, absolutely not possible”

The meme captures the essence of self-deception and the unwillingness to accept the truth. Similar to the current popular meme, this meme is often used to depict situations where someone unintentionally exposes their own flaws or contradicts their previous statements, symbolizing a self-inflicted “slap in the face.”

Read more of our articles about memes in China here.

By Zilan Qian

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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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China Celebs

Fandom Meets Matrimony: Sea of Brides at Roy Wang’s Concert as Female Fans Show Up in Wedding Gowns

After showing up as brides at Roy Wang’s concert, some female fans attempted to return their gowns within the store’s 7-day ‘No Questions Asked Return Policy’.

Manya Koetse

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A recent concert by Chinese celebrity Roy Wang (Wang Yuan 王源) has become a hot topic on Chinese social media as female fans attending the show collectively decided to wear wedding dresses to express their love for the singer.

Born in 2000, Roy Wang is best known as a member of the hugely popular TFboys idol group that debuted in 2013, but his solo career has also been thriving for years. Wang is an award-winning musician, who is now among China’s most influential young celebrities. On Weibo, he has nearly 85 million followers.

The sight of so many fans coming to Wang’s Chongqing concert wearing wedding dresses was already remarkable, but it garnered even greater attention when it turned out that some of the women’s boyfriends were so upset over their girlfriends wearing a wedding dress for another man that they ended the relationship because of it.

On Douyin (China’s TikTok), the related discussion made it to the top 5 trending daily topics list.

Female fans partying in their wedding dress. Photo posted on Weibo.

The story gained further traction when reports emerged that some female fans who had recently purchased wedding dresses for the concert attempted to return them to the store the next day, taking advantage of the store’s policy that allows returns within seven days without requiring a specific reason (7天无理由退货).

“I already wondered why business was suddenly booming,” one Chongqing wedding gown seller wrote on social media, complaining how the return policy was being abused by some of Roy Wang’s fans.

Others saw the fact that they wore the wedding dress to the concert as a unique selling point, and tried to resell their gowns online for more than the original price, claiming that the dress still had “a hint of the concert’s aroma.”

Scene of the concert.

Commenters bombarded these women with negative comments, as the topic also drew wider discussions on how far some fans are willing to go to show their love for their idols.

Some social media users expressed that a wedding dress has a symbolical or even sacred function, and that tying the concept of fandom to matrimony is inappropriate. They condemned the women for showing up to the concert as brides.

Given that many of the commenters criticizing the women were male, there were also feminist voices that condemned these men for their pettiness and chauvinistic attitudes. One comment stood out: “There will always be men whose ego is bruised when women they don’t even know won’t wear a wedding dress and save their chastity for them. Thanks to Roy Wang’s concert, I once again realize the diversity of species.”

In an online poll asking people “Can women only wear a wedding dress once in their lives” (#女生一生只能穿一次婚纱吗#) the majority of people replied that they should just wear whatever they like.

“My first thought is that this is romantic,” one popular entertainment blogging account (@娱大蜀黍) wrote: “My second thought is that it’s actually quite moving. In the midst of their youth, they are writing a passionate chapter for themselves. They will treasure it as a beautiful memory later on in life. They do what they love and they’re not bothering anyone. It’s perfectly fine.”

By Manya Koetse & Miranda Barnes

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