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Chinese Kids Are Getting Their Parents, Their Parents’ Parents, And Their Parents’ Parents’ Parents Involved In A Meme

There’s a new meme in China, and it’s very wholesome. The challenge, called “four generations,” includes four generations of family members making an appearance, from youngest to oldest. A son would call his dad, who then calls his dad, who then calls his dad. And a daughter would call her mom, who calls her mom, who calls her mom. The results are super cute.

The videos are being shared on video app Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, under the challenge name, “Four generations under one roof.”

[source] [vid source]

This is legit the cutest and most wholesome meme omg

As a born and raised Chinese, I felt I’m obligated to share some background into this meme. The meme is based on a classic novel written by a famous Chinese author - lao she 老舍. The name of the novel is “Four generations under one roof四世同堂”. The story is set in Beijing during the WWII, when Japan invaded China. The story is mostly about how the normal civilians try to survive the war, taking the focus off the battle field and goes into how the war affected civilians’ day to day life. It’s about noble and selfishness decisions, about loyalty to one’s family and to the country, mostly it’s just, people trying not to die while trying not to lose too much dignity in the process. The idea of “four generations under one roof” is THE IDEAL for a traditional Chinese family. Understand that with the lack of modern medicine, and with the famine and wars and amoral government things going on, that is a pretty hard thing to achieve in the past.

So now they are doing this 四世同堂 meme, to celebrate the coming of Chinese New Year, to celebrate the happy and safe life that we are living now. No longer in the danger of wars and starvation and with easy access to medical assistances. This is a thing that we can achieve with relative ease now. We were once poor and weak but look what a long way we’ve come. This is a celebration of our cultural traditions and a celebration of our achievements. I love this meme so much.

Ahhhh the context makes it even better; thank you for that!