Just as Nicolas Cage and Chuck Norris have become the quintessential celebrity memes in Western culture, Chinese Gen Zs have also found their celebrity memes in these two literary giants.
Yu Hua has recently grown in popularity online, along with his former classmate and fellow author, Mo Yan. Famous for his 1993 novel To Live, Yu has been considered one of China's forerunners of avant-garde fiction.
On the other hand, his peer Mo, has been dubbed the Chinese counterpart of Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller, and has also been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. In particular, his 1986 novel Red Sorghum has received international critical acclaim, and was also adapted into a 1988 film of the same name, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
As to how these two Chinese authors became memes attest to their relevance in modern Chinese culture, in particular to China's youth. Although most of the memes feature the two in their most candid moments, what truly brought them so much internet attention was their empathy for young people. And so, the way their ideas and works resonate with the youth served as the fuel for the memes.
Further, a newspaper poll looking into the reasons for their rise in Chinese internet culture showed that 40% of people attribute this popularity to the writers' personal charisma while 27% believe it is because Chinese youth find solace in their works.
As a result of this, Mo has now accumulated more than 4 million followers on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. Meanwhile, Yu, though having no social media accounts, has seen a spike in search results of more than 50 times since 2021.
(Image credit: Weibo/Sixth Tone)