A Singapore based Malaysian Punjab man named Gurdip Singh has recently become the latest sensation on Chinese internet.
The reason? He posted a video of himself asking his viewers to “go take a break and drink tea at 3pm” using impeccable Cantonese. Thus, he is also known as “yum cha gor” (literally “tea-drinking bro”) to the Chinese netizens.
Versions of the video, recorded over a year ago in 2020, were posted onto the Chinese video platform Bilibili this year, and has since accumulated millions of views.
Chinese netizens not only praised Singh’s fluent Cantonese, but more importantly lauded his attitude towards work-life balance.
In other videos that catapulted him to stardom, Singh, a ship repair technician, told his viewers, again using Cantonese, to go have a pint after work as it is already 7pm.
It is obvious that Singh’s videos struck a cord with Chinese netizens, who are facing increasing pressure from the infamous “996 work culture” that’s prevalent in many companies.
The term “996” means working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.
Famous Chinese tech entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong came under fire previously for asking their employees to contribute more to the company by working harder.
Jack Ma once said in April 2019 that to be able to work on a “996” schedule should be considered a blessing for employees.
In the same year, Liu Qiangdong, the founder and CEO of JD.com, a close competitor of Jack Ma’s Alibaba, also said that a dawdled is not his “brother”.
These comments draw the ire of netizens, who feels that Alibaba, JD, and other Chinese tech companies would not have achieved their standings today without the hard work of employees, and yet they are taking it for granted now. In addition, stories of delivery drivers’ long work hour and meagre earnings have further revealed the plight of low level workers in platform service companies.
Observers point out that Singh’s unexpected fame on the Chinese internet reflects the general netizen’s displeasure and anger on the high pressure work environment and tough competition for various social resources.
“Involution”(nei juan/内卷) and “Lying flat” (tang ping/躺平) are the two hottest keywords on the Chinese internet sphere. In the Chinese lexicon, the first term means trapped in a situation where one faces increasingly difficult, yet meaningless competition with others. The second term is the equivalent of accepting defeat and not make any attempt to change one’s situation.
Singh’s videos have become popular memes and the source material for numerous derivative works. In turn, Singh has become the embodiment of Chinese netizen’s unhappiness towards involution, and also their unwillingness to lie fla
However, just as Chinese netizens celebrate Singh’s newly achieved fame and representation, media platforms that represented their own interests were quick to act too.
Singh’s video first went viral in May. By late May, representatives from popular Chinese media platforms such as Bilibili and Douyin (Chinese TikTok) have approached Singh and helped him set up his official channels. In the first week of June, Chinese social media giant Tencent has helped Singh set up his WeChat channel.
Insider information suggests that apart from helping Singh setting up his channels, these platforms are also trying to increase the hype surrounding Singh through means such as actively promoting his videos and channel.
All these suggest that Singh is becoming another trendy tool for Chinese media platforms to attract more users in the increasingly competitive arena. In other words, the involuted media platforms has ironically turned the icon of anti-involution into a tool for involution.
Needless to say, when the hype dies down and his usefulness in attracting users run out, Singh will no doubt be cast aside by the platforms, who are constantly searching for the next big hit.
Be it anti-involution or pro-involution, Singh seems to have no preference for either. In the numerous interviews that have surfaced after his newfound fame, Singh was never opposed to collaborating with media platforms to promote himself.
However, when it comes to his full time job as a ship repair technician, Singh revealed that he insisted on having a tea break in the afternoon despite his boss’s displeasure.
In one of his videos, Singh said “Time to take a break! Work so hard for what? Your boss also won’t cherish you.”
The same could be said of the media platforms now. When the hype is over, media platforms will go on the hunt for the next internet sensation. There is no cherish for the obsolete ones too.
The Sinographer 