Chinese news state agency Xinhua has released a new video titled Another Day in China to unironically chronicle the lives of expats in China.
Posted on Thursday with the tagline “Life in China will never get bored!” – the song, like its predecessors, adopts the trope of expats fawning over China.
The video boasts China’s embracing of the digital revolution, peppering mentions of various apps into the verses.
“With Wai Mai, Kuai Di, WeChat, I’d be super screwed without my phone,” belts the singer in the video.
The song even dedicates a stanza to Taobao and all the items you can find on it: “What is Upsoab? Is that like a dog leash, but for hamsters?”
The song also gets political: “I was thinking that after Donald Trump and Brexit and the chaos and the mayhem, I’ll sit here and sip oolong and I dancing with old people dancing in the park…” he raps.
But many – including journalists – on social media were unimpressed.
If you were in any doubt about the intended audience, according to this video, foreigners are:
– idiots who can’t speak Chinese or use chopsticks
– fleeing Brexit and Trump
– stunned by all things China https://t.co/PnVbybtnxx— 𝕛𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝕘𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕤 🇭🇰🏴 (@jgriffiths) December 8, 2017
“Excuse me, what software does Xinhua use to climb over the great firewall?” asked Chinese journalist and dissident Yang Zili on Twitter.
Cool. I’ve composed a rap song about using 6 different VPNs and Shadowsox. https://t.co/2YbHHQp9zt
— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) December 8, 2017
As of Friday evening, 388 people had viewed the YouTube version.
