On my trip to China last month, I was surprised to learn about China’s latest viral meme: the kill line (斩杀线). The term originates from video games and refers to a point at which a player’s health is so low that they’ll be defeated after a single hit. The Chinese internet has reconfigured this metaphor to create an exaggerated view of American economic precarity. According to the meme, Americans are always sitting at the cusp of a precarious “kill line.” Any minor shock such as a layoff or an accident can thrust even middle-class Americans into homelessness and destitute poverty.
Chinese state media (which never passes up an opportunity to criticize the United States) has spread the meme far and wide, including by misattributing an old video about homelessness in London to the US.
If the kill line was simply an exaggerated metaphor for American economic precarity and wealth inequality, there’d be little to object to. But its origins are deeply suspect. The Chinese influencer who coined the term and goes by the name “Squeaky King” claims to be an international student in Seattle who works part-time collecting corpses dumped in the sewer system for the county government. In his (entirely unsubstantiated) telling, these were the bodies of former middle-class corporate executives and professionals who were thrust into homelessness.
Of course, there is no evidence or photos to back up his implausible claim that a Chinese influencer on a student visa found a part-time government job hauling corpses around Seattle. The Chinese depiction of America’s kill line is more unsubstantiated conspiracy than reality.
As I learned about the kill line, I got to teach Chinese friends about “Chinamaxxing,” which befuddled them just as much as the kill line confused me. Chinamaxxing is the latest social media trend where influencers are embracing and idolizing Chinese culture. There are aspects to Chinamaxxing that are, although uncomfortably…
Auteur: Daniel Cheng
