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China Memes & Viral

Strange Encounter During IShowSpeed’s Chengdu Livestream

The cosplaying girl, who usd the n-word and told the American YouTuber how racist she was, seems to have been referencing a meme.

Manya Koetse

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After visiting Shanghai, Beijing, and the Shaolin Temple in Henan, popular American YouTuber IShowSpeed (Darren Watkins) livestreamed from Chengdu on March 31.

During his stream, he visited a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, tried acupuncture, had some extremely spicy hotpot, and continued doing the kinds of activities that have defined his China tour so far – from kung fu to the Forbidden City.

The trip has been a success not just for Watkins, who recently surpassed 37 million YouTube subscribers, but also for China’s image abroad. Some have even suggested it’s become more of a soft power or propaganda tour (read more in our latest newsletter).

But not everything has gone smoothly. Within the span of a week, Watkins has become significantly more famous in China. In addition to YouTube — which is not accessible in China — he also began streaming on Douyin. All of this made his March 31st livestream a bit more chaotic, and for the first time, he also experienced some connection issues.

In Chengdu, with as many as 4 million viewers watching the livestream on Douyin, one moment in particular sparked controversy online. Just before Watkins entered a car, a girl in cosplay attire approached him and said:

💬 “I am a racist. I am a ni**a killer. I am so sorry about that. But I love your girlfriend, because your girlfriend is my [white?] people.”

When Watkins asked if she spoke English, she replied:

💬 “Yes, I am a racist. I am racist.”

After the incident, Watkins commented:

💬 “I don’t think she understood what she was saying.”

Watch the video here.

The girl was cosplaying as one of the characters from the mobile role-playing game Blue Archive, most likely Saiba Momoi (才羽モモイ), known for her mouse-like appearance, complete with two ears on top of her head.

On Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo and Xiaohongshu, the moment soon became a point of discussion. Among the commenters, there are those fearing the incident will negatively impact the image of Chengdu, and some suggesting the local Tourism & Culture Board will make sure to blacklist the girl.

Others focused more on the background of the girl, suggesting she is from Japan or Hong Kong, and trying to sabotage Watkins’ positive China trip.

It appears, however, that the female cosplayer may have been referencing the “racist Momoi” or “Saiba Momoi Says The N-Word” meme.

This meme originates from an edited clip of Saiba Momoi, in which she appears to say what sounds like the N-word. According to the Danbooru site, the clip was later modified to include other slurs.

The character has also been linked to the “Nàge song.” As explained in our newsletter yesterday, the song “Sunshine, Rainbow, White Pony” (阳光彩虹小白马) by Chinese singer Wowkie Zhang (大张伟), which repeatedly features the Chinese word nàge in its chorus (meaning “uh” or “that”) — popped up multiple times during Watkins’ trip. The catchy tune essentially became the theme song of his visit.

A few years back, a clip of Watkins first hearing the song and mistaking the chorus for the N-word already went viral on Chinese social media. The confusion between the Chinese filler word and the slur has been extensively joked about by Watkins himself throughout his streams.

The connection between the girl, the Saiba Momoi meme, and the Nàge song, however, is only known to a niche audience. It is possible that the girl tried to be funny, but she obviously failed in doing so.

By Manya Koetse

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Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

©2025 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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Manya is the founder and editor-in-chief of What's on Weibo, offering independent analysis of social trends, online media, and digital culture in China for over a decade. Subscribe to gain access to content, including the Weibo Watch newsletter, which provides deeper insights into the China trends that matter. More about Manya at manyakoetse.com or follow on X.

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China Digital

Chinese Netizens Turn to Tim Cook Over Battery Factory’s Illegal Overtime

Is turning to Western suppliers an effective way for workers to pressure domestic companies into complying with labor laws?

Manya Koetse

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🇨🇳 CHINA TRENDING WEEK 12: WHAT’S ON WEIBO SHORTS
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Recently, Chinese netizens have started reaching out to Apple and its CEO Tim Cook in order to put pressure on a state-owned battery factory accused of violating labor laws.

The controversy involves the Huizhou factory of Desay Battery (德赛电池), known for producing lithium batteries for the high-end smartphone market, including Apple and Samsung. The factory caught netizens’ attention after a worker exposed in a video that his superiors were deducting three days of wages because he worked an 8-hour shift instead of the company’s “mandatory 10-hour on-duty.” Compulsory overtime violates China’s labor laws.

In response, the worker and other netizens started to let Apple know about the situation through email and social media, trying to put pressure on the factory by highlighting its position in the Apple supply chain. In at least one instance, Apple confirmed receipt of the complaint. (Meanwhile, on Tim Cook’s official Weibo account, the comment section underneath his most recent post is clearly being censored.)

Screenshot of replies on X underneath a post by Tim Cook on International Women’s Day.

The factory, however, has denied the allegations, , claiming that the video creator was spreading untruths and that they had reported him to authorities. His content has since also been removed. A staff member at Desay Battery maintained that they adhere to the 8-hour workday and appropriately compensate workers for overtime.

At the same time, Desay Battery issued an official statement, admitting to “management oversights regarding employee rights protection” (“保障员工权益的管理上存在疏漏”) and promising to do better in safeguarding employee rights.

One NetEase account (大风文字) suggested that for Chinese workers to effectively expose labor violations, reporting them to Western suppliers or EU regulators is an effective way to force domestic companies to respect labor laws.

Another commentary channel (上峰视点) was less optimistic about the effectiveness, arguing that companies like Apple would be quick to drop suppliers over product quality issues but more willing to turn a blind eye to labor violations—since cheap labor remains a key competitive advantage in Chinese manufacturing.

By Manya Koetse

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Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

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China Media

Revisiting China’s Most Viral Resignation Letter: “The World Is So Big, I Want to Go and See It”

The woman behind the famous resignation note, ‘I want to see the world,’ ended up traveling in China before going back home.

Manya Koetse

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🇨🇳 CHINA TRENDING WEEK 12
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“The world is so big, I want to go out and see it” (Shìjiè nàme dà, wǒ xiǎng qù kànkan “世界那么大,我想去看看”).

This ten-character sentence became part of China’s collective social media memory after a teacher’s resignation note went viral in 2015. Now, a decade later, the phrase has gone viral once again.

In April 2015, the phrase caused a huge buzz on China’s social media when the female teacher Gu Shaoqiang (顾少强) at Zhengzhou’s Henan Experimental High School resigned from her job.

Working as a psychology teacher for 11 years, she gave a class in which she made students write a letter to their future self. The exercise made her realize that she, too, wanted more from life. Despite having little savings, she submitted a simple resignation note that read: “The world is so big, I want to go out and see it.”

The resignation letter was approved, and she posted it to social media.

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

The letter resonated with millions of Chinese who felt they also wanted to do something different with their life, like go and travel, see the world, and escape the pressures and routines of their daily life.

The phrase became so popular that it was adapted in all kinds of ways and manners, by meme creators, in books, by brands, and even by Xi Jinping, who said: “China’s market is so big, we welcome everyone to come and see it” (“中国市场这么大,欢迎大家都来看看”).

This week, Lěngshān Record (冷杉Record), the Wechat account under Chinese media outlet Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊), revisited the phrase and published a short documentary about Gu’s life after the resignation and the hype surrounding it.

An earlier news article about Gu’s life post-resignation already disclosed that Gu, despite receiving many sponsorship deals, never actually extensively traveled the world.

Gu and the viral resignation letter.

In the short documentary, Gu explains that she chose to “return home after seeing the world.” By this, she doesn’t mean traveling extensively abroad, but rather gaining life experience in a broader sense. While she did travel, it was within China, including in Tibet and Qinghai.

What truly changed was her life path. She left Zhengzhou and relocated to Chengdu to be near Yu Fu (于夫), a man she had met just weeks earlier by chance during a trip to Yunnan.

Six months after the resignation letter, she married him. Together, they ended up opening a hostel near Chengdu, married, and had a daughter.

Gu, now 45 years old, has been back in her hometown of Zhengzhou for the past years, caring for her aging mother and 9-year-old daughter. She is living separately from her husband, who manages their business in Chengdu. She also runs her own livestreaming and online parenting consultancy business.

Although the woman who wanted to “see the world” ended up back home, she has zero regrets about what she did, suggesting her courage to step out of the life she found limiting ultimately transformed her in a meaningful way.

On Chinese social media, the topic went trending on March 19. Most people cannot believe it’s already been ten years since the sentence went trending (“What? How could time fly like that?”).

Others, however, wonder about the hopes and dreams behind the original message—and how it all turned out.

“Seeing the world? She just escaped her old life, got married, and had a baby. How is that ‘seeing the world’?” one commenter wondered (@-NANA酱- ).

“The world is so big—what did she end up seeing?” others questioned. “She went from Zhengzhou to Chengdu.”

“Seeing the world takes money,” some pointed out.

But others came to her defense, saying that “seeing the world” also means stepping out of your comfort zone and exploring a different life. In the end, Gu certainly did just that.

“She was quite courageous,” another commenter wrote: “She gave up a stable job to go and see the world. Perhaps her life didn’t end up so rich, but the experiences she gained are priceless.”

The world is still big, though, and there’s plenty left for Gu Shaoqiang to see.

Read what we wrote about this in 2015: In The Digital Age, ‘Handwritten Weibo’ Have Become All The Rage

By Manya Koetse

(follow on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram)

 

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.

©2025 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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What’s on Weibo is run by Manya Koetse (@manyapan), offering independent analysis of social trends in China for over a decade. Subscribe to gain access to all content and get the Weibo Watch newsletter.

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