Chinese Panda Wearing Oxygen Mask

About

Chinese Panda Wearing Oxygen Mask, also known as Chinese Panda on Life Support, Chinese Panda In Hospital or Chinese Panda With Oxygen Tank, refers to a Biaoqing Panda reaction image used in Chinese memes that resembles Copium. In March 2023, the image surfaced on Twitter amid comparisons between Chinese Panda Reaction Images and Wojak Comics on the American / Western internet. The "Chinese Panda Wearing Oxygen Mask" image specifically gained traction in Western meme circles due to its absurd nature. In China, the meme is referred to as 吸氧熊猫 which translates in English to Oxygen-absorbing Panda. The biaoqing is based on Chinese TV host Sa Beining (撒贝宁) from a moment on CCTV in early 2019.

Origin

On February 17th, 2019, CCTV host Sa Beining was seen on TV with a hand-held oxygen mask, telling his show's viewers that he sometimes needs to lie on the sofa and absorb oxygen.^[1] He then took deep breaths from the oxygen tank, using the physical gag as a joke about how tiring his life and work are.^[1] The clip was uploaded as a video to the Chinese website Bilibili^[2] on December 24th, 2021. In the clip,^[2] a cartoon overlay is drawn over Beining that shows him hooked up to an oxygen tank with an oxygen mask (shown below).

Soon after, Sa Beining's oxygen-absorbing clip became a biaoqing that was referenced in Chinese media.^[1] On September 1st, 2021, a user on the website Wxcha^[3] compiled a "Oxygen-absorbing funny WeChat emoji pack" that included multiple biaoqing such as a GIF of Sa Beining (shown below, left) and a Panda Head biaoqing that was wearing an oxygen mask (shown below, right).

The image of Beining hooked up to the cartoon oxygen was uploaded to Instagram^[8] as early as August 11th, 2019. On November 22nd, 2019, the oxygen-absorbing panda biaoqing was shared on Twitter.^[9]

Additionally, the Panda Head baioqing that the oxygen mask was edited onto was posted a few months prior to Wxcha^[4] on March 20th, 2021, within a different pack (shown below).

Spread

Starting in March 2023, viral discourse surfaced about Chinese Panda Reaction Images on Western Twitter, mostly related to comparisons between them and Wojak Comics. On March 19th, 2023, Twitter^[5] @HumbuggHere tweeted the Oxygen-absorbing Panda biaoqing, captioning it, "Chinese reaction images are insane like what context do you even use this in," and earning roughly 115,400 likes in five days (shown below).

On March 20th, 2023, the image was tweeted by Twitter^[6] user @thedarkprowler, who captioned it, "当智障白人试图在 Eminem 这样的活动中说唱时，我的表情," translating into English reading, "My look when retarded white people try to rap at events like Eminem." In four days, the tweet gained roughly 3,200 likes (shown below, left). On March 22nd, 2023, iFunnyer^[7] @KaiserXeno posted a "When You Outside and Smell That Zaza": meme using the biaoqing, earning roughly 3,000 smiles in two days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

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External References