Why Do Chinese Memes Lack Staying Power?

Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜Golem (@web3_golem)

"The two-day on-chain bull run is over." This is the prevailing sentiment in the Meme community today.

Following the trend in October last year, Chinese Meme coins once again sparked a frenzy on BSC in January this year, giving birth to many community-favored projects (Related reading: From "Life K-line" to "Laozi": A Look at the Top 5 Hottest BSC "Chinese Memes" Right Now). However, according to GMGN data today, popular Chinese Meme coins have generally experienced a pullback. Within 24 hours, "I'm F***ing Coming" dropped by 30%, "Laozi" fell by 25%, "Life K-line" declined over 20%, and "Manager Xiao Ni" plunged over 40%.

Every feast eventually ends, and for Memes, the cooling-off period is especially swift. The Chinese Meme frenzy in October last year started during the National Day holiday and lasted for an entire month before fading. But why did this recent wave end so abruptly?

Rejection of "Shandong-ology" Affects Community Cohesion

This round of Chinese Meme frenzy was cold-started from a tweet by He Yi. On January 1st, He Yi posted on X with the caption "2026, I'm F***ing Coming" to celebrate the New Year. Within a week, the eponymous Meme coin began to gain traction, eventually listing on Binance Alpha, which ignited the Chinese Meme community.

However, this also sparked widespread community discussion about "Crypto Shandong-ology: Which Way Does the Fish Head Point?", directly addressing the established Meme launch mechanism on BSC centered around CZ and He Yi. CZ and He Yi don't need to personally direct or even be aware of these projects; from developers to the community and even the Binance Alpha team, everyone automatically "gets enlightened." The fate of a Meme can be decided by a single tweet.

In February 2025, CZ first interacted with a worthless test token (TST) on BSC, marking the initial formation of this Meme launch model on the chain. After subsequent small-cycle iterations of BSC on-chain Memes, such as the "CZ's Dog" debate and the "Dubai Narrative," the community figured out the necessary "social etiquette" for a BSC Meme frenzy to progress from a cold start to its peak.

To make money in such an ecosystem culture, putting it nicely, one must learn from the top and the excellent; putting it bluntly, it means "you absolutely cannot stand upright."

"Is this time really different?" As this Chinese Meme wave reached its peak, countless bloggers questioned on social media. This wasn't just mere meme-ing; it genuinely reflected the psychological shadow cast on the community by this "Crypto Shandong-ology" since 2025.

When enough shadows accumulate, rejection forms. Some criticized the BSC ecosystem for going to any lengths to "suck up," blindly extracting content from CZ and He Yi's tweets, even giving birth to tokens like "Mom," "Dad," and "Laozi," making Chinese Memes increasingly tacky.

Previously, Odaily also analyzed the community debate sparked by the "I'm F***ing Coming" listing on Binance Alpha, calling it "a severe blow to genuine Chinese Meme culture." (Related reading: How to Evaluate the Listing of "I'm F***ing Coming" on Binance?).

When rejection of "Crypto Shandong-ology" becomes widespread, seeking community Meme coins without the CZ/He Yi angle itself becomes a community force. Crypto blogger Honest Mai Zong (X: @Michael_Liu93) stated bluntly, "People really don't want to suck up anymore." (This blogger holds 1% of the "Life K-line" token.)

Regardless, such division still damages the cohesion of the BSC Meme community, preventing funds from forming a unified force. When a community-consensus leader cannot quickly emerge, Meme sentiment accelerates its decline.

Lack of External Liquidity

To sustain a Meme mini-cycle, there must be price increases, and to sustain increases, there must be new buying pressure that exceeds selling pressure. One possible reason for the lack of staying power in this Chinese Meme wave is the absence of external liquidity injection. The market cap was primarily driven up by the Chinese community on BSC, failing to attract the overseas community or the Solana Meme community to take over.

The spread of the Chinese Meme frenzy in October last year was unprecedented. Many overseas Meme influencers sought help on X platform to join Chinese Meme communities; "Dog Beating WeChat groups" suddenly saw an influx of English-speaking newcomers. This wave also prompted other chains to court the Chinese Meme community. Base blockchain lead Jesse invited the Chinese community to build on Base, while Solana founder Toly and Solana Foundation President Lily Liu, among others, boosted the Solana Chinese Meme coin "Suolala."

This influence spilling over from the wealth effect of Chinese Memes translated into tangible on-chain purchasing power, extending the duration of the October Chinese Meme frenzy.

However, the January Chinese Meme frenzy lacked such external reach. It still revolved around CZ and He Yi's tweets. The only Chinese Meme with some external appeal, "Life K-line" (reported by CCTV on January 3rd), saw its spotlight quickly overshadowed after "I'm F***ing Coming" listed on Alpha.

One piece of evidence for the lack of external liquidity in this wave is using the language filter on X platform to search for posts and views related to recent hot Chinese Meme coins (like "I'm F***ing Coming," "Laozi," "Small Shareholder," etc.) in the English-speaking zone. Apart from exchange listing announcements garnering significant views, discussion of these Memes in the English zone is notably scarce.

Top English-language posts about "Laozi" on X platform are all exchange listing announcements.

Chinese Memes Are No Longer Novel

A ping pong ball dropped from a height bounces back lower each time.

Chinese Memes themselves are no longer a sufficiently compelling narrative.

At the end of October last year, Odaily asserted that while the October Chinese Meme frenzy had ended, Chinese Memes themselves would not die out but would become a fixed Meme category, with periodic peaks appearing in the future. (Related reading: After Binance Life, Chinese Memes Evolve from Hits to a Sector)

This also means that if a Meme coin merely has a Chinese ticker and some "ass-determines-head" logic for price increases, it is destined not to last.

Since October last year, the only Chinese Meme coins that have retained vitality are "Binance Life" and "Hakimi." Others like "Customer Service Xiao He," "Cultivation," and "Nai Long" have vanished into history. The representative Chinese Meme projects in this wave were all "Shandong-ology" projects strongly tied to CZ and He Yi. Without breaking free from the "Two Saints" halo to form an independent culture, they are destined, like any similar token before them, to lack the生命力 to survive beyond a Meme mini-cycle (Theoretically, "Life K-line" does not belong here, as its popularity was essentially driven by the CCTV article).

When the Chinese Meme narrative first emerged, a Chinese Meme coin could be pumped simply due to its novelty. Now, Chinese Memes have become an unremarkable, fixed category. As Chinese Memes become fully integrated into the BSC Meme cycle iteration pipeline, and as the market increasingly "gets the game," the ecosystem reverts to a "fast exit" mode. The entire Meme cycle accelerates: cold-start by "imperial decree," bait for continuous interaction, list on Binance Alpha, and finally, dump...

This round of Chinese Memes is just a microcosm of that.