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Quick question, what's the humor in satarizing a Chinese man as a yellow bear, specificially? Why not a Panda?
That came out of China.
When he was first in power, Xi painted himself as friendly and uncle like. His body shape and This attitude led to him being referred to as Winnie the Pooh in China to evade the auto censors on Chinese apps and services, which was then added to the censor list and it Streisland effected to where it is today.
You'd have to ask the Chinese internet users who started the meme. Or there is a detailed wikipedia article if you're interested in the backstory.
Wikipedia actually doesn't state that it was chinese users that started it, just that the Chinese internet started taking the comparisons down (same with all of the articles I found and the ones Wikipedia references as sources). Additionally, the original image of Xi and Obama together as Pooh and Tigger, and the subsequent picture of Xi and Shinzo Abe as Pooh and Eeyore, emerged as group pictures of world leaders, but only the comparison of Xi to Pooh stuck.
Further, that doesn't explain the immense popularity among westerners in portraying Xi as a yellow bear, nor why it seems to be especially popular among western right-wingers.
Curiously enough, MWoG is maintained by a gamergater. Curious indeed.
OK maybe not started (couldn't find a definitive origin), but they did use it quite a bit.
Maybe because the others didn't throw a tantrum about it. Or maybe because Chinese users have to use euphemisms and memes to avoid censorship.
If you say so. I for one had not seen this meme for quite some time and had completely forgotten about it until you brought it up.
I brought it up because MWoG uses it as the community icon.
Again, your sources don't seem to support what you're saying, there isn't widespread disapproval of the CPC. According to Harvard, support for the CPC is over 90%.
Yes, I am aware that .ml lives in a fantasy world where there are no dissidents in China. It also helps that speaking ill of the CCP has never been harshly repressed in China.
You can just read the article, they address your concerns:
Yeah, it also says that they have a low opinion of the local government, which they blame when the reforms promised in the state press fail to materialize.
Regardless of the country, I'm very suspicious about such unanimous acclaim. There's just no way 9 out of 10 people are happy with any given government. Have you ever been in a group of more than 10 people, trying to make a choice that's OK for everyone?
Look, I'm not saying that the west is perfect and China is horrible, but maybe try considering the opposite is not true either.
Believe me, I consider that the opposite is not true regularly. I live in a western country, I don't isolate myself from the news. However, from what I've seen, I don't have reason to distrust the Harvard Study. Even the US reached 90% following 9/11, China has managed to do it as well by focusing on things like the famous poverty eradication campaign that shaped the PRC's policies throughout the last decade.
Source on the gamergater claim?
Here's where they admit to it. They claim to have gotten better, but they were radicalized by it, and their behavior indicates that they haven't actually moved too far beyond it, such as when they complain about "encountering wokeness." In another instance, they blame far-right radicalization on "forcing equity," which is just anti-DEI nonsense.
Can't say I'm surprised. My guy was on the frontline defending that fascist instance when the reddit exodus happened after all.
Yep, not really surprising.
Idk that calling them a gamergater is fair with that context since that implies they're an active threat to women but it does explain why they only seem interested in hating communism.
Depends on the degree, complaining about "forcing equity" and "wokeness" to me honestly implies danger in my opinion. Plus, the whole anticommunism being their sole focus thing really doesn't help.
I might be naïve, but the color of Winnie's... cloth, never seemed to be a factor to me. It's the odd physical similarity between Xi and Pooh that's striking; what with their roundness, debonair allure, large nose and whatnot.
Sure, so why Pooh and not a Panda?
Why not indeed. Is there any cartoon panda (and another cartoon animal) that look somewhat like the lanky Obama and comparatively stubbier Xi that could have been used when the meme originated?
I don't fault the origins entirely (though it is suspicious nonetheless), I fault the staying power and the overwhelming usage by right-wing westerners. Why isn't Obama referenced as Tigger, or Shinzo Abe as Eeyore?
For having had the "pleasure" of discussing the topic with the kind of people you're talking about, the kind of assholes that wouldn't be shy about using racist slurs while looking you straight the in the eyes, the color was never brought up. It was all about the "censorship" on one hand (if he hates it, I'll just do it more), and just a way to demean Xi by comparing him to a, let's politely paraphrase, a simple-minded character on the other. It's anecdotal, but I think that it's nonetheless why this particular comparison broadly stuck in the end.
They generally don't admit to it, claiming it's just about censorship is a convenient excuse.
Your right-wingers might be less straight-forward than mine 😅
But I stress it: insulting Xi's intelligence (and I think you have an idea of what kind of terms they used) was a strong factor for them, whereas, ironically enough in a way, using the yellow color of Pooh didn't occur to them.