The Great Fall of China: Millennials collapse to ground as luxury social media trend gets inclusive
Pictures of women sprawled all over the streets as they “fall” from their luxury cars have been making the rounds in China. But it now looks like the viral craze is reaching all sorts of people who show off what they're proud of.
A video posted to China’s social media platform Weibo over the weekend shows a woman lying over a pavement in Xi’an, in the capital of central ShaanxiProvince, pretending to have fallen out of her snazzy white luxury car.
She is surrounded by all sorts of high-end fashion items she owns, including make-up and some shiny silver shoes. In what may leave some people scratching their heads, the woman is in perfect condition, with her sunglasses still on and her hat sitting perfectly on her head.
And all the while there’s a professional photographer crouching around her to take snaps from every angle.
Well, don’t be baffled, it’s all part of a viral craze that’s taken over China.
It all started with wealthy women taking part in the #fallingstars trend, believed to have originated in Russia, and which sees people posting pictures (on the verge of ridiculous) of themselves face down with some of their most prized possessions around them – shoes, bags, jewelry. The purpose is for them to have a platform where to flaunt their wealth.
But it now looks like the trend has been taken over by the working class, as people from all professions have taken to the social media platform to mock the trend and show the world what their idea of wealth is.
People from different professions, including doctors and firefighters, are posting snaps of themselves face-down and surrounded by objects of their daily life.
Despite the memes standing as a bleak reminder of how class difference is still so prevalent in China, the government nonetheless praised the workers for their modesty and not falling in the same trap as the rich, who instead merely seek to flaunt their material goods.
China's Ministry of Emergency Management commented on the pictures of firefighters taking part in the challenge, saying they are the “real energy of the people.”
"It is too painful to see that the pursuit of money and power affects young people now.”
Some government employees, who have joined in, surrounded themselves with awards for their work, which is probably also not that modest.
The trend is so contagious that RT too just couldn't resist the temptation of posting its own 'fall'.
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