{"id":702407,"date":"2024-11-07T16:01:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T00:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=702407"},"modified":"2024-11-07T16:02:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T00:02:43","slug":"weibo-manosphere-chinese-nationalists-celebrate-trumps-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2024\/11\/weibo-manosphere-chinese-nationalists-celebrate-trumps-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Weibo “Manosphere,” Chinese Nationalists Celebrate Trump’s Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Tuesday, Donald Trump was elected the next president of the United States<\/a>. The election had been closely observed from China<\/a>, by both the government and the populace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese government\u2019s official response has so far been muted. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/a> said: \u201cWe respect the choice of the American people and congratulate Mr. Trump on being elected as president of the United States.\u201d Xi Jinping later called Donald Trump<\/a> to congratulate him on his victory and express hope for this new period in U.S.-China relations. Trump\u2019s election did not catch the Chinese government by surprise<\/strong><\/a>, reported Sylvie Zhuang of the South China Morning Post: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discussions on how to prepare for the possibility of a second Trump term began in the spring, according to an official overseeing research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[…A source familiar with the situation] added that he believed Chinese officials were also looking into the prominent role that the world\u2019s richest person \u2013 Elon Musk \u2013 had played, as well as his ties with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[…] According to a Chinese researcher from a top national social science research body in Beijing, over the past several months, all of the nation\u2019s top international relations think tanks have been asked to submit papers to the Communist Party\u2019s leadership with their best educated guesses on prospective cabinet members under both Trump and Harris, as well as their individual positions on China. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Online, Chinese state media denigrated the election<\/a> as yet another sign of American chaos. China News Service, the second largest state news agency, shared a widely derided video to Weibo that billed itself as \u201ca three-minute explainer of American election chaos.\u201d The video, which led with a quote from the longtime state-media favorite<\/a> series \u201cHouse of Cards,\u201d asserted that the victor, whether Trump or Harris, would simply be \u201cthe face of the ruling elite, leaving ordinary people as mere spectators.\u201d One Weibo user left the acerbic comment: \u201cSo no elections means no chaos?<\/a>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To many on Weibo, the election was little more than an opportunity to post memes<\/a> about the battle between the \u201cKnow-it-all King\u201d (\u61c2\u738b, d\u01d2ngw\u00e1ng<\/em>) and \u201cAuntie Haha\u201d (\u54c8\u54c8\u59d0, h\u0101h\u0101ji\u011b<\/em>)\u2014the former a riff on Trump\u2019s penchant for claiming he knows more about any given subject than anybody<\/a>, and the latter a derisive reference to Trump\u2019s attacks on Harris\u2019 laugh<\/a>. Many joked that Trump was one of the \u201cre-employed senior citizens\u201d that a top Communist Party official suggested might alleviate China\u2019s domestic economic woes<\/a> this past May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darker currents of thought surfaced, as well. China\u2019s online “manosphere”<\/a> celebrated Trump\u2019s victory as a strike against Chinese feminists<\/a>. One Chinese man wrote, \u201cIf Auntie Haha had won, China\u2019s feminazis<\/a> would\u2019ve gotten even crazier.\u201d Some even more extreme comments proved popular. A well-known Weibo user wrote, \u201cI can\u2019t wait for Trump to start the purge, the public won\u2019t submit without killings. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!\u201d (The final bloody injunction to \u201ckill, kill, kill\u201d is a reference to the online \u201cXianzhong\u201d phenomenon<\/a>, in which some social media users laud \u201crevenge against society\u201d attacks<\/a> by invoking the mass slaughter perpetrated by Zhang Xianzhong, leader of a peasant rebellion during the Ming-Qing transition.) Below the “kill, kill” comment, one approving reader responded, \u201cAll the feminist bloggers crashed out<\/a> this afternoon, how delightful.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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why are weibo ultranationalists celebrating Trump's win
– ideological alignment: seeing it as a win over feminists, lgbtq activism, racial minorities etc
– foreign policy: acknowledging that both parties are anti-China, and Trump's approach to Ukraine & Taiwan likely more China\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/9T6gE9Oqck<\/a><\/p>— Chenchen Zhang \ud83e\udd26\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@chenchenzh) November 6, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>