Living up the I-life

The meme that launched more than 200,000 posts illustrates influence of the internet

In our upcoming issue, we write about some of the Internet "fonts" (體, tí), also known as verbal memes, that have gone viral in the last year or so in China. We thought we had them all - and then last month, a brand new one popped up that we could not resist.

To wit, it involves: a) Hong Kong actor Tony Leung (梁朝偉), b) extravagant, Gatsby-like spending and c) netizens' envy of the above.

To give you some background, Chinese Internet fonts basically function as a glorified form of Mad Libs - quotes that are either hilarious or asinine (or both) get passed around weibo (China's Twitter-like microblog service) as fill-in-the-blanks, with netizens plugging in their own increasingly absurd answers.

Tony Leung's, which would come to be known as the "life font" (生活體, shēnghuótí), started on Jan 31, when a blogger named Datou ppb (大頭ppb) published a microblog about an anecdote she had read in the Hong Kong media. She writes:

"看報道說，梁朝偉有時閑著悶了，會臨時中午去機場，隨便趕上哪班就搭上哪班機，比如飛到倫敦，獨自蹲在廣場上喂一下午鴿子，不發一語，當晚再飛回香港，當沒事發生過，突然覺得這才叫生活。"

(I saw a news report that said sometimes when Tony Leung has nothing to do and is feeling bored, he will go to the airport around noon and just get on whatever plane he is able to catch. For example, he will fly to London, and spend an afternoon alone squatting in a park, silently feeding the pigeons. Then that night, he will fly back to Hong Kong, as if nothing happened. And I am suddenly thinking - that is called living!)

Datou's post spread like wildfire across the Internet, with some netizens expressing envy and others questioning the feasibility of flying to and from London in a single afternoon.

And then there was another, more cheeky contingent, that started Mad Libbing the post like crazy. Within a few days, the meme had exploded across the Internet, with more than 230,000 mentions and 30,000 forwards.

The template goes as follows:

________有時閑著悶了，會臨時中午去_____，隨便趕_______，比如______，獨自____________，不發一語，當晚再______，當沒事發生過，突然覺得這才叫生活。

(Sometimes, when [subject] has nothing to do and is feeling bored, around noon [pronoun] will go to [place], and catch whatever [method of transportation / destination]. For example, [absurd place], and spend an afternoon alone, silently [verb]ing. Then that night, [pronoun] will go back to [original place], as if nothing happened. And I suddenly think - that is called living.)

Here are some examples to get you started:

The traffic jam version (堵車版)

"我有時閑著悶了，會臨時中午開車上北京的環路，隨便趕上幾環就上幾環，比如上了三環，獨自堵在那里一動不動看一下午前車車牌，不發一語，當晚再開回家里，當沒事發生過，突然覺得這 才叫生活。"

(Sometimes when I have nothing to do and am feeling bored, around noon I will go drive on Beijing's ring roads, and whatever ring roads I get on I will just drive around. For example, I will get on Third Ring Road, and spend an afternoon alone stuck in traffic there, inching along and silently staring at the license plate of the car in front of me. Then that night I will return home as if nothing happened. And I will suddenly think - that is called living.)

The time traveling version (穿越版)

"我有時閑著悶了，會臨時中午翻開朝代列表，隨便指到哪個就穿越到哪兒，比如穿到唐朝，獨自在鑲著玉的溫泉池中泡泡，不發一語，當晚再穿越回來，當沒事發生過，突然覺得這才叫生活。"

(Sometimes when I have nothing to do and am feeling bored, around noon I will flip through the list of dynasties, and whichever one my finger lands on, I will time-travel to. For example, I will travel to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), and spend an afternoon alone, silently sitting among the bubbles of a jade-inlaid hot spring bath. Then that night I will time travel back as if nothing happened. And I will suddenly think - that is called living.)

Someone even posted a job ad that starts off using the font:

"悶了，會臨時去機場，隨便趕趟飛機，比如飛到橫店，獨自到明清宮看一下午明星拍戲，不發一語，當晚再飛回北京，當沒事發生過，突然覺得這才叫工作。"

(When I am bored, sometimes I will just go to the airport and get on whatever airplane I find. For instance, I will fly to Hengdian, and spend an afternoon alone at the Ming and Qing palaces, silently watching a movie star filming. Then that night I will fly back to Beijing as if nothing happened. And suddenly I will think - this is a real job.)

Though Leung has already kind-of denied the quote (in a December interview, he amended: "It is not to that extent, but sometimes I really do suddenly get the inspiration to fly someplace. For example, I will go to New York for a few days or a week just to rest and be someplace where people don't know me."), the story had already taken on a life of its own.

And while a number of netizens have enjoyed satirizing the actor's rather inexcusable extravagance, others have greeted it with a measured wryness that arguably captures more reality than the sillier spoofs.

"人生當如此愜意度過。"

(We should all try to spend our lives so pleasantly.)

"原來我從未'生活'過。"

(It turns out I never "lived".)

"唉，我們都是被日子給過了。"

(Alas, the days are passing us all by.)

"親們，有木有當場淚崩的感覺？人家這才叫生活吶。"

(Dears, when you read this did you suddenly feel like releasing a flood of tears? Man, that is called living.)

Courtesy of The World of Chinese, www.theworldofchinese.com