Chinese Meme Group Image Trend: When the Charm Fades

In just 24 hours, the sky over the Chinese meme community has shifted from bright to gloomy. According to GMGN data today, the prominent Chinese digital currencies of the past week all experienced deep corrections: “Wo Ta Ma Lai Le” down 30%, “Lao Zi” down 25%, “Ren Sheng K Xian” down over 20%, “Zhu Li Xiao Ni” lost up to 40%. The bustling streets from last week are now deserted. Notably, this Chinese meme group photo lasted less than two weeks, shorter than last October’s month-and-a-half wave. Every party has its end, but why did this one end so quickly this time?

Internal Polarization: “Shandong School” in the Crypto World

It all started with a January 1 post by He Yi on X platform with the message “2026, Wo Ta Ma Lai Le” to celebrate the New Year. A week later, the meme coin of the same name began to surge in value, eventually listing on Binance Alpha, igniting the Chinese meme community. However, what followed was not pure joy, but a heated debate about the so-called “Shandong School in the crypto world”—a meme startup model driven by developers and communities “auto-enlightening” around CZ and He Yi.

The Chinese meme group quickly realized that direct guidance was unnecessary; just a post from influencers was enough to trigger automatic activity. From developers to the community and even the Binance Alpha team, everyone understood their role in this game. The life or death of a meme coin was decided in a single comment or social media action.

In February 2025, CZ first interacted with a worthless test token called TST on BSC, forming this model. Through small loops involving memes related to CZ or narratives about Dubai, the community mastered the “social tricks” needed to take a meme from cold start to peak.

However, when the BSC meme group became too familiar with this model, a question began to circulate: “Is this really different this time?” Not just wordplay, this question reflects a deep psychological shadow—fatigue from repeating the same playstyle. X platform bloggers pointed out that many new tokens are just copies or absurd variants like “Mom,” “Dad,” “Lao Tzu,” making Chinese memes look dull. Blogger Mạch Tổng even bluntly said: “People really don’t want to live by influencers anymore.”

This polarization directly impacts the unity of the BSC meme group. When the community cannot quickly reach consensus on a common goal, Meme sentiment will rapidly decline.

Lack of External Liquidity Support

To sustain a meme’s bullish cycle, the number of buyers must exceed sellers. One of the biggest differences between the two Chinese meme booms is the presence or absence of international liquidity.

Last October, the Chinese meme group photo spread unprecedentedly. Major international meme KOLs began to join, with many foreign members suddenly appearing in “dog fighting” WeChat groups, and even other blockchains showed friendliness. Jesse from Base invited the Chinese community to build, while Toly from Solana and Lily Liu from the Solana Foundation actively promoted Chinese memes.

These positive influences translated into real on-chain buying power, extending last year’s Chinese meme wave lifespan. However, this international meme wave in January lacked this kind of spillover. The international meme group seemed indifferent, and even if you searched for discussions about Wo Ta Ma Lai Le or Lao Zi in English regions on X, you’d only find listing announcements from exchanges. No lively engagement from Solana meme communities or other chains.

Only Ren Sheng K Xian had some international reach thanks to coverage by China’s central TV, but it was quickly overshadowed when Wo Ta Ma Lai Le appeared on Binance Alpha. This lack clearly shows that liquidity this time mainly comes from the Chinese community on BSC, with no external support.

Chinese Memes Are No Longer Novel

A ping-pong ball falling from a height bounces lower each time. Chinese memes themselves are no longer an exciting narrative within the crypto community.

Since October last year, only two Chinese memes have truly survived: Binance Life and Hachimi. Others like Customer Service Xiao He, Cultivation, Nai Long have disappeared over time. What’s the key difference? Successful or long-lasting memes have a unique factor beyond “being tied to CZ He Yi”; they develop their own independent culture.

In contrast, the prominent Chinese memes in this wave are entirely “Shandong School” targets closely linked to these two figures’ fame. When novelty is no longer a factor and independent vitality doesn’t exist, they will inevitably resemble any previous token—they won’t escape the small meme cycle.

When Chinese memes first appeared, any new one would be driven up in price due to novelty. But now, the Chinese meme group photo has become a fixed category with nothing new. Chinese memes have fully integrated into the BSC meme cycle. As market “familiarity” increases, the entire cycle accelerates—cold start with “divine decree,” continuous engagement scams, rising on Binance Alpha, then ultimately collapsing. This wave of Chinese memes is just a miniature version of that endless recurring cycle.

In reality, a market shaped by meme group photos is always vulnerable to fleeting trends. The question for any investor now isn’t “how much will Chinese memes rise,” but “when will the community shift to liking something else.”