Mondays are hard. With no more sleep-ins and five full days of work ahead, many Chinese netizens are starting to sympathize with a bitter and short-tempered character they used to hate in their childhood: Squidward from the beloved SpongeBob SquarePants franchise.
Known as ‘Brother Octopus’ (章鱼哥) in China, Squidward is a main character in the SpongeBob cartoons who hates his job as a cashier at the Krusty Krab restaurant — a stark contrast from his cheerful coworker SpongeBob. Naturally, the cartoon squid is constantly annoyed by his colleague’s childlike enthusiasm.
Many Chinese netizens who watched SpongeBob growing up are starting to relate to Squidward’s pessimistic outlook on work and life.
One trending post on Weibo, China’s top microblogging platform, reads, “I didn’t like Squidward when I was little, but now I’ve become Squidward.”
Yesterday morning alone, the hashtag ‘Squidward is me at work’ (#章鱼哥演我上班心情#) garnered more than 48 million views on Weibo, with netizens posting lines by Squidward like, “Let me reiterate: I hate everyone. I hate the whole world,” “I’m alive, but I’m not happy,” and “The most important thing in my life is to go home at 6 PM sharp.”
Screengrabs from SpongeBob episodes. Image via Weibo
Many Chinese netizens have also created memes with captions like, “I’ll have to go to work again when I open my eyes,” “If I just let it rot, nothing can bother me,” and “Tomorrow is the weekend, nobody can wake me up.”
A Squidward meme. Image via Weibo
SpongeBob SquarePants first aired in China in 2006. Shortly after appearing on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, it gained traction, especially among young children, for its colorful illustrations and witty lines. Today, many of the Millennials and Gen Zers who grew up bingeing Nickelodeon programs have entered the workforce.
Squidward’s newfound popularity can likely be attributed to China’s ‘lying flat’ and ‘let it rot’ phenomena. Tired of the toxic 996 work culture that pervades many Chinese industries and unable to quit their jobs, some Chinese youth aspire to do only the bare minimum in the office, are openly passive-aggressive towards work, and make light of it to cope with stress.
As such, they have found an unlikely icon in the anthropomorphic octopus, who is always sleeping or reading on the job, sassy towards others, and accepting of his temperament.
Screengrabs from SpongeBob episodes. Image via Weibo
SpongeBob SquarePants episodes are available on the Chinese streaming platforms iQiyi and Bilibili and have hundreds of millions of views on the latter.
In some circles, the cartoon is a popular ‘digital pickled vegetable,’ a Chinese internet slang term referring to mindless content to watch while eating a meal. For others in China, though, the SpongeBob series is so much more than just a cartoon for kids or mealtime entertainment — it is a relatable commentary on modern society.
“I started watching SpongeBob SquarePants back when I was still a baby. Now I’m in my junior year in college, but I still watch the series all the time. I found it very funny when I was little, but now I see it as an accurate reflection of society,” wrote one user on Zhihu, a Chinese social media platform similar to Quora.
It may have only opened at the beginning of this month, but Cheers Burger is arguably the most popular burger shop in Shanghai. Even before takeaway officially started, its vintage industrial storefront drew tastemakers and influencers to pause and pose for the ’Gram.
The burger joint offers cushions for takeaway customers to sit on the road
Run by three young female founders, the takeaway eatery only operates six hours a day during lunch and dinner, and it often runs out of supplies. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop people from lining up and devouring the burgers on the street.
Cheers Burger sells American-style beef burgers in nine varieties, with prices ranging from 48 to 115 RMB (about 7 to 16 USD). The most expensive one reportedly includes a whopping 80 grams of foie gras. Beyond Meat is also available for vegetarians.
Orders from Cheers Burger
The hype, however, is primarily due to its architectural style. With wooden boards and weathered cement bricks, Cheers Burger is designed in American vintage industrial style, or, as some in China call it, ‘Syrian style.’
The so-called ‘Syrian style’ first blew up on the internet in 2020 and features brick walls, shades of gray, faded paint, and cracked concrete — design elements that some in China associate with war-torn Syria. It has since been seen in many internet-famous cafes nationwide, as industrial style and minimalist fashion have become trendy in China.
Influencers pose in front of Cheers Burger
Some netizens have rightly criticized the term ‘Syrian style’ as it problematically capitalizes on the tragedy of war.
“Imagine foreigners labeling a building as ‘the burning of the Old Summer Palace style.’ War is cruelty; it should never become fashionable,” wrote a user on Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent of Instagram.
However, with the term going viral and gaining wider recognition, ‘Syrian style’ is still seen in ad campaigns and influencer marketing. And while it appears Cheers Burger is not active on social media, there is no shortage of influencers, bloggers, and media outlets promoting the new burger purveyor using the problematic ‘Syrian style’ label.
Gaming giant Xbox and Chinese gaming platform Gamecores have collaborated to launch a capsule collection, which exclusively dropped on China’s largest ecommerce platform, Taobao, on October 18.
The fashion items include outerwear, such as windbreakers and anorak jackets, and accessories, like bags and caps, in various shades of green, black, and white. The garments are emblazoned with patterns inspired by the iconic Xbox logo and icons and symbols found on the gaming consoles.
Some looks from Xbox and Gamecore’s collaborative collection. Images via Weibo
Some might wonder: Will consumers ever tire of unseemly brand collaborations? Or who would be willing to sport a huge Xbox logo on their jacket?
But the collection makes more sense once you understand its inspiration. Xbox and Gamecore are tapping into one of China’s hottest trends: Gorpcore is a fashion style that focuses on functional outdoor wear.
Outdoorsy aesthetics have seen a spike in popularity in recent years, thanks not only to celebrities like A$AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, and Bella Hadid, but also to high-profile brand collaborations between brands such as Gucci and The North Face.
A$AP Rocky and Bella Hadid sporting gorpcore garb. Images via Instagram
An acronym for ‘good old raisins and peanuts,’ ‘gorp’ is an informal North American term for trail mix, which makes for convenient snacking in the great outdoors — hence the term gorpcore, which is used to describe outdoorsy apparel.
But while hiking staples — think down jackets, Salomon sneakers, and literally everything made with Gore-Tex fabric — only belonged to remote mountain trails before, they can be seen in both street fashion and on runways today.
Gorpcore’s popularity has reached an all-time high due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as confined people worldwide crave fresh air in the great outdoors.
Chinese youths sporting gorpcore ensembles. Images via Xiaohongshu
Chinese youth, too, have developed a new appreciation of the outdoors, as can be seen through their love of glamping and road trips.
And the prevalence of social media has fueled the need for occasion-appropriate attire. The hashtags for ‘outdoor outfit’ (#户外穿搭#) and ‘camping outfit’ (#露营穿搭#) respectively have 37.9 and 24.5 million views on the Instagram-like platform Xiaohongshu.
Subway passengers in Xiamen, a coastal city in Southeast China, have discovered a new way to entertain themselves during their commutes: publicly complaining about their jobs and having to wake up early to travel to work.
And while you may be imagining a group of Chinese youth verbally venting their angst in a metro carriage, snap back to reality and remember that it’s 2022 — this shit happens on social media now. Here’s how it works: Thanks to a mobile program released by Xiamen Mobile TV in August 2021, commuters in the seaside metropolis can send anonymous messages to the broadcaster’s official account on the Chinese super-app WeChat.
Some of the messages sent to the program, dubbed Xiamen Tree Hole (厦门树洞), referencing the popular Chinese internet term ‘tree hole’ (meaning ‘a safe place to share secrets’), are streamed on TV screens in subway cars for the enjoyment and amusement of other commuters.
Videos and photos of some of these messages have gone viral on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo in the past few weeks, and a related hashtag had amassed more than 27 million views at the time of writing.
Among the highlights on the subway’s in-carriage TV monitors is a message from someone justifying their temperament (“If I have to work every day, it’s only rational that I’m a bit mental.”). Another comment wished for rude awakenings for people still sleeping (“I’m awake. I hope people who are still sleeping would fall off their bed.”).
“Why do I have to go to work again?” reads a message shared by a commuter on the Xiamen subway. Image via Weibo
As noted above, the program has been around for over a year, but it experienced a spike in popularity during the seven-day workweek that followed China’s seven-day National Day holiday earlier this month. (For the unaware: China regularly requires workers to work makeup days on weeks leading up to or following government holidays.)
Presumably, many people felt the need to vent about getting out of bed early seven days in a row, especially right after the holiday. Needless to say, they successfully found a way to be passive-aggressive sans judgment.
Another reason the work- and sleep-related messages have gone viral is the larger ‘lying flat’ and ‘let it rot’ phenomena in China. The sarcastic and cynical tone that pervades most of the viral messages perfectly encapsulates the vibe of exhausted and listless youths who cannot change the status quo and aim to do just the bare minimum at work.
One of the messages even reads, “I’m letting it rot today, tomorrow, and the day after. If that’s not consistency, I don’t know what is.”
On Weibo, others have pointed out that part of the appeal of the subway car messages is that they are — allegedly — subjected to weaker censorship oversight than comments on other social media platforms.
Young China Plates is a monthly series in which we digest the latest food trends making young Chinese people’s mouths water. Drop us a line if you have a suggestion. This month, we learn more about Korean food in China and how young people in the country have come to love the cuisine.
Given the global rise of Korean pop culture, it isn’t surprising to see Korean food trending worldwide, including in China.
According to a recent studypublished in July, Korean cuisine is one of the most popular international cuisines in China, particularly in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. It is second only to Western fast food in the nation.
The same study revealed that budae jjigae (a spicy sausage stew), garlic fried chicken, and cheese fried rice are the top three Korean dishes among Beijing-based respondents.
Korean fried chicken is famously popular in China. The dish took off in conjunction with the hit K-drama My Love From the Star in 2013. The TV show also sparked a craze for chimek, a portmanteau for ‘chicken’ and ‘mekju’ (beer).
Korean fried chicken is usually seasoned and fried twice, resulting in an extra crispy and flavorful crust. Image courtesy of Angus Zeng
Shanghai allegedly boasts the most Korean eateries in China. The city also has a dedicated Koreatown, which is home to more than 30,000 residents of Korean descent.
And in case you didn’t know, China is also home to two Korean autonomous areas, Yanbian and Changbai, both located in Northeast China’s Jilin province.
RADII spoke to young Chinese urbanites — cooks and customers alike — to learn more about Korean food culture in China.
Korean Food in China: On Screen to On Plate
The rise of Korean TV series — Autumn in My Heart, Winter Sonata, and Dae Jang Geum are just a few — in the early 1990s fueled China’s first wave of Korean eateries in the country.
By 2017, China had the most Korean restaurants outside of Korea — 16,000 outlets, to be specific. Japan came in second with almost 10,000 establishments, while the U.S. only had slightly over 3,000.
Angus Zeng, a 22-year-old foreign trade clerk based in Guangdong, first tried Korean food in high school — a meal of Korean barbecue with a group of friends. She still remembers being served sizzling, juicy meat, a slew of banchan (or small Korean side dishes), lettuce, and raw sliced garlic. Korean dramas and reality TV shows further introduced her to more Korean dishes.
Angus Zeng’s introduction to Korean food was by way of Korean barbecue. Image courtesy of the interviewee
“Korean food has a special taste, usually sweet and spicy. I like seafood cheese tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). It’s not hard to make, and it makes me feel like I’m living in Korean dramas. Bibimbaprice bowls are also good, as they are colorful and nutritious,” she shares.
Zeng likes Korean food so much that her alias on the Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu is ‘Zeng who likes Korean food.’ In addition to trying different Korean restaurants in Guangdong and sharing her favorite ones on the platform, she also posts pictures of her attempts at making Korean dishes.
She particularly likes time-honored outlets owned by Korean chefs who specialize in street snacks or home cooking, but she is also willing to try contemporary creations if they seem innovative.
In Zeng’s opinion, Korean cuisine is trendy among Chinese youth, as they have access to more digital channels and are therefore able to better understand and appreciate Korean food and culture.
A homemade dish of budae jjigae by Angus Zeng. Image courtesy of the interviewee
Sarah Zhang, another Korean food enthusiast, was born in Daejeon, South Korea, and resided in China for eight years before returning home after completing an exchange program in Shanghai.
The 24-year-old is grateful for the prevalence of Korean eateries in China.
“Korean food is very popular in China. Every time I went to a famous Korean restaurant, I had to queue in a long line,” says the recent grad. “Korean restaurants there were very authentic with delicious recipes, diverse offerings, good service, and homey interior decorations. It felt like I was in South Korea.”
Fueled by Korean dramas, more contemporary Korean eateries have mushroomed in China. As Zhang points out, Chinese youth have adapted their eating habits accordingly, such as mimicking Korean drinking culture.
Internet Famous Experiences
China’s food influencers and KOLs are always on the hunt for new and rare creations. As a result, long lines are unavoidable at popular Korean restaurants. Some eateries even have months-long wait lists.
For example, Jeju Izakaya in Shanghai is notoriously hard to get into. Seating a maximum of 20 diners a night, it usually takes months to book a table.
Restaurateur and chef Tom Ryu, who is behind the internet-famous eatery, is more than fully aware of the contemporary Korean food trend in China, which he believes “holds more potential [than ever before].”
“People hold notions regarding stereotypical Korean food: Korean BBQ, bulgogi, bibimbap. The truth is, though, that there are so many other delicious Korean dishes,” says Ryu in an email correspondence with RADII.
“I believe that, at present, the main driving factor behind this change is the media, specifically the curiosity and nostalgia that’s generated from encountering fresh trends through the online microcosm.”
Born to a family of Korean gastronomists, Ryu aims to preserve the original flavors of Korean cuisine in his cooking while adding a new dimension to his brand by incorporating different flavors, forward-thinking cooking techniques, and refined plating.
As a culinary curator, that’s what he does for the luxury automobile brand Genesis at its restaurant in Shanghai. The Genesis Restaurant, located on the second floor of the car brand’s studio space, is where they share hospitality through modern Korean cuisine.
Chef Ryu’s Ingenuinity Set at the Genesis Restaurant is a six-course series including specialty dishes such as the Jeonbuk bibimbap, which is paired with abalone and clam soup rice. Image via Genesis Motor China
The restaurant provides two menu sets, one created by Ryu and the other from the Korean Culture Research Institute and Michelin-star restaurant Onjium, as well as an a la carte menu.
One of Ryu’s goals is to connect Genesis Restaurant with the automobile brand’s values.
“I hope the emotions our guests feel at the restaurant can serve as a preliminary experience of the Genesis brand — luxurious, energetic, […] memorable. I think the experience of these emotions is what distinguishes Genesis Restaurant from other Korean restaurants.”
Genesis Restaurant is located on the second floor of Genesis Studio Shanghai, which presents a distinctly Korean culinary experience. Image via Genesis Motor China
Jing F, a fan of Genesis Restaurant’s food and vibe, has been there twice. Originally from Wuhan and presently based in Shanghai, she is drawn to strong flavor profiles.
“I like the sweet, spicy flavors of Korean food,” enthuses F. For this reason, kimchi jjigae is one of her favorite and frequent orders.
But no matter which dish is trendy, one thing seems inevitable: As long as Korean culture and influencers continue to dominate corners of the internet, the culinary offerings of the East Asia peninsula will likely remain popular among globally-minded Chinese youth.
The FINA Diving World Cup 2022 in Berlin, Germany, wrapped up on October 23, where Chinese teen diving sensations Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan won gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s 10-meter platform competition.
The World Cup 2022 was held from October 20 to 23. With a roster of nine athletes, who are all world champions, Team China collected eight golds and four silver medals in the eight events they participated in.
Among others, viewers were particularly impressed by the strong performance of 15-year-old diver Quan, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
On the opening day of the World Cup, Quan led the pack from the first dive and finished the women’s 10-meter platform preliminary with 418.50 points, slightly ahead of Chen and more than 100 points ahead of third-ranked Malaysian diver Pandelela Pamg. Her powerful performance secured her a spot in the finals.
Of particular note: Quan did a near-perfect job of performing dive 207C, which features three and a half reverse somersaults in the tuck position, scoring 92.40 out of 99, with one judge even giving her a perfect 10.
This successful dive was particularly meaningful for Quan, as she failed to execute it at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, four months ago.
The score table of Quan Hongchan’s 207C dive. Screengrab via YouTube
As one of the three major international diving events, alongside the Summer Olympics and FINA World Championships, FINA Diving World Cup is a keenly anticipated event for fans of the sport. Quan has won gold in the former two tournaments, and her debut at the World Cup undoubtedly generated much attention from diving lovers.
Even though she failed to secure a golden finish, Chinese netizens celebrated Quan’s silver medal on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. Several hashtags highlighting her overall performance have garnered millions of views.
“Quan did such a brilliant job! She must have been through a tough time dealing with growth and body shape change, but she keeps moving forward. Her perfect 207C is the highlight today. No matter the final results, we will always love and support her,” a Weibo user commented following the women’s 10-meter platform preliminary round.
“I thought Quan might be sad and disappointed after not winning the championship, but instead, she happily cheered for Chen and impressed everyone in the stadium,” wrote another netizen following her finals appearance. “I am proud of her!”
Before securing gold at the World Cup 2022, decorated 17-year-old diver Chen most recently won gold and silver medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Cover image via VCG
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