American kids of the ’80s think they own the field of embarrassing childhood portraits, what with their blue lasers and oversized sweaters and lopsided, gap-toothed smiles. But they’ve got nothing on the Chinese. A new trend on the country’s biggest social media site proves that, when it comes to leaving a lifetime legacy of portrait shame for their children, the Chinese are the world’s only true superpower.
The trend is called “showing off some embarrassing photos of our childhood,” via a translation by Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft. It’s a tongue-in-cheek, cathartic purge in the biggest group therapy platform imaginable—more than 300 million Chinese use Sina Weibo. Here are some of the best. And please contemplate this post before signing your kid up for school portraits.
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H/T Kotaku | Photos via Sina Weibo