chinese reporter liang xiangyi eye roll

RFI_TradCn/Twitter

Chinese reporter’s exasperated eye roll becomes a huge meme

She couldn't contain her contempt, and now she's a star.

 

Jay Hathaway

Internet Culture

Posted on Mar 14, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 9:45 pm CDT

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.

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.

Meanwhile, the eye-rolling scene is inspiring tons of fan art and videos:

chinese eye roll meme
licaishi.sina.com.cn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI6wXX26hcM

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

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*First Published: Mar 14, 2018, 6:43 pm CDT