A reporter at China’s 13th National People’s Congress attracted worldwide attention Tuesday for her dramatic eye roll while a colleague was asking a long, repetitive question.
The reporter in the blue seemingly not too impressed with this question at the #NPC #China #TwoSessions pic.twitter.com/lq7AzX9oTp
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) March 13, 2018
As the reporter in red droned on in circles about state-owned businesses and foreign investments, Liang Xiangyi (in blue) finally snapped. Her eyes rolled up and her eyebrows came down, forming a mask of pure disgust that quickly became iconic on the Chinese internet.
Liang, a business reporter for Shanghai-based channel Yicai, reportedly told her coworkers that “the person next to me was being an idiot.”
The other woman, American reporter Zhang Huijun of AMTV, is being called “the question-asking bitch” on Chinese social media as people take sides in the battle of “red vs. blue.” Due to the controversy, Liang has even had her name censored on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
蓝衣女名字“梁相宜”超过“修宪”和“宪法”成为微博第一屏蔽词。
As of now “Liang Xiangyi” (name of the eye-rolling Chinese reporter in blue suit) has overtaken “constitutional amendments” and “constitutions” to become the No.1 most censored Weibo word.https://t.co/YgTUSp5iEy pic.twitter.com/hTZAroS9iF— KurikoC (@kuriko_c) March 13, 2018
Meanwhile, the eye-rolling scene is inspiring tons of fan art and videos:
#變態辣椒漫畫 RFA自由亞洲專欄作品：翻白眼大搶人代會風頭——最近海內外熱議的多半是習近平可無限期連任的話題，但昨天一個記者發布會上翻白眼的小視頻卻風頭壓過全國人代會的一切官宣，被各種封口令壓抑得無處發洩的中國人找到了出口，一時間全民熱議加惡搞，當然官方很快急踩剎車再次封殺相關討論 pic.twitter.com/6FbhJ1XHMz
— 变态辣椒RebelPepper (@remonwangxt) March 13, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI6wXX26hcM
国人没有沉默
国人比我勇敢
国人比我智慧
——“翻白眼”原视频在微信朋友圈已被屏蔽，但模仿秀层出不穷。亢奋的鼓掌声已经调动不了民众的热情，一个白眼倒在一潭死水中掀起一阵波澜。 pic.twitter.com/2fRfD1PdKF— 分享人生 (@LrBlUA8AsssKdx4) March 14, 2018
真话行动号召大陆的同胞们：我们一起翻白眼吧！ pic.twitter.com/kudToe92Wa
— 華湧 (@HuaYong798) March 14, 2018
In the U.S., the meme doesn’t have the same political significance or censorship trouble, but Americans still love a good, shady eye roll. Liang’s meme has been covered by BuzzFeed, the Verge, the Washington Post, and more.
h/t The Verge
