I have some questions about the “funny memes” about President Xi as Winnie the Pooh or Chairman Mao as a cat (I’m sure there are many more, for example I heard some people call President Xi an “accelerator in chief”, a very narrow minded and rude term in my opinion).
I basically only know the western narrative about those memes, I want to learn about how they are regarded in China, if they are actually illegal and/or “censored” and why, what their origins are, what they mean (I know from my scarce knowledge of Hanyu that Mao also means cat for example), and who made them.
I am trying to “de-propagandize” my mind, since I grew up only being taught the opposing side’s narrative. I don’t want to be disrespectful, and if I am please tell me, it is not my goal to be rude.
The original Winnie the Pooh thing if I remember right is some Chinese netizen making this comparison in a positive light. Online racists decided to say Xi looks like Winnie the Pooh “because he’s round and yellow” and also a Winnie the Pooh movie was not brought to China because they only bring so many foreign movies in any year, and that’s where the anti-China meme came from.
It has never occurred to me that this comparison is racist, i don’t think anyone makes the comparison because winni de pooh is yellow, i think it’s just because they have similar facial features.