# Bing Chilling Bing Chilling is a meme based on a May 2021 video of wrestler and actor John Cena speaking Mandarin Chinese while eating ice cream to promote *Fast & Furious 9* on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The phrase "Bing Chilling" is a phonetic approximation of how Cena pronounces 冰淇淋 (bīng qí lín), the Mandarin word for "ice cream," and the video spawned countless remixes, subtitle parodies, and a late 2022 TikTok trend where creators attempted to replicate Cena's now-iconic delivery. ## Origin On May 10, 2021, John Cena posted a video to his Weibo account promoting the upcoming film *Fast & Furious 9*[3]. In the video, Cena speaks in Mandarin while sitting in his car eating ice cream. He sings into the cone, talks about how much he loves ice cream, then declares that *Fast & Furious 9* is even better than ice cream[2]. The post included Mandarin subtitles and a caption in Chinese. The video appeared roughly a week after Cena's widely discussed apology to China, in which he walked back comments about Taiwan's sovereignty during the F9 press tour[3]. This political context added an extra layer of irony and humor to the ice cream video. On June 2, 2021, YouTuber ProximateSineYT reuploaded the Weibo video to YouTube, giving English-speaking audiences their first easy access to it[3]. - **Platform:** Weibo (original video), YouTube (viral spread) - **Creator:** John Cena (video creator and subject) - **Date:** 2021 ## Overview The Bing Chilling meme centers on a short video of John Cena sitting in his car, speaking entirely in Mandarin, and holding an ice cream cone that he occasionally sings into like a microphone[3]. The video was a promotional post for *Fast & Furious 9*, but the promotional intent was quickly overshadowed by the sheer absurdity of watching a massive WWE star cheerfully mumble through Chinese while licking an ice cream cone. The way Cena pronounces "ice cream" (冰淇淋) became the focal point. English-speaking audiences transcribed his pronunciation as "Bing Chilling," which doesn't match standard Mandarin tones but became the definitive catchphrase of the meme[2]. The meme exists in several forms: the original unedited video shared for its inherent comedy, subtitle parodies that alter the translation to make Cena appear to be in danger or saying something absurd, audio remixes built around the "Bing Chilling" phrase, and a later wave of TikTok creators performing Cena's entire monologue from memory[3]. ## How It Spread The meme took off in stages. On June 6, 2021, YouTuber adrian attempted a full English translation of Cena's Mandarin but struggled with certain parts, and the imperfect translation itself became part of the joke[3]. Other YouTubers followed with their own translations, parodies, and edits. A popular format involved altering the English subtitles to make it seem like Cena was describing a terrifying or dire situation rather than promoting a movie. YouTuber Visionlessjo posted one such edit that pulled in over 2.4 million views[3]. On June 19, 2021, the meme channel Lessons In Meme Culture covered the trend, boosting its visibility further[3]. By late June, the phrase "Bing Chilling" had become the primary hook. On June 28, YouTuber ApicalShark uploaded the original video titled "John Cena eats Bing Chilling in 1080p," collecting over 835,000 views[3]. July 2021 brought the remix wave. YouTuber InternetThings posted a version adding the Vine Thud sound effect every time Cena said "Bing Chilling," racking up over 1.4 million views[3]. NexusChan posted a similar edit that crossed 1 million views[3]. The sound design turned a funny video into a shareable, repeatable audio meme. The meme got a second life in November 2022 when Cena's Mandarin script went viral on TikTok[3]. Creators began filming themselves delivering the entire monologue from memory, often mimicking Cena's distinctive pronunciation rather than using standard Mandarin tones. TikToker @alfallis posted a version on November 13 that hit 13 million plays and 2.7 million likes in about three days[3]. TikToker @giapaoohehe followed on November 14 with a video reaching over 4 million plays[3]. The TikTok trend grew rapidly. On November 17, 2022, TikToker @rat.ri0t posted a screen recording showing the trend flooding their For You page, and that clip alone gathered 2.6 million views and 600,000 likes in a single day[3]. That same day, TikToker @yispamm posted a video discussing how Cena's pronunciation had actually altered the way he speaks Mandarin as a native speaker, collecting over 1.6 million plays[3]. The trend raised genuine linguistic questions about how memes can influence pronunciation habits. ## How to Use The Bing Chilling meme typically appears in a few formats: **Catchphrase drop:** Insert "Bing Chilling" (often with ice cream emojis) into any conversation, comment section, or post for comedic effect. It works as a non-sequitur or as a response to anything related to John Cena, China, or ice cream. **Subtitle parody:** Take the original Cena video and replace the English subtitles with an entirely different narrative, usually something dramatic, threatening, or absurd. The contrast between Cena's cheerful ice cream eating and the fake dark subtitles is the joke. **Audio remix:** Build a remix or edit around the audio clip of Cena saying "Bing Chilling," often paired with sound effects like the Vine Thud or bass boosts. **Recitation challenge:** Film yourself delivering Cena's full Mandarin monologue from memory, typically mimicking his specific pronunciation rather than textbook Mandarin. This format was especially popular on TikTok in late 2022[3]. **John Xina / social credit jokes:** Pair the Bing Chilling catchphrase with the "John Xina" persona and fictional social credit score references, playing on Cena's association with Chinese marketing[2]. ## Cultural Impact Bing Chilling landed at a politically charged moment. Cena's Weibo video came just days after his public apology for calling Taiwan a country during F9 promotion, which drew both criticism from Western audiences and praise from Chinese state media[1]. The ice cream video, intended as lighthearted marketing, became impossible to separate from that context. Every remix carried an undercurrent of commentary about celebrity-China relations, even when the surface content was just a guy eating ice cream. The meme spawned the "John Xina" persona and "Zhong Xina" (a Mandarin-ified version of his name), along with running jokes about "social credit scores" that became a broader meme format beyond just the Bing Chilling video[2]. Cena's Mandarin skills, while imperfect, were genuine. He had studied the language for years to support WWE's expansion into the Chinese market[1]. The meme community turned this sincere effort into both affectionate mockery and political satire. The November 2022 TikTok revival showed an unusual meme behavior: native Mandarin speakers reported that Cena's non-standard pronunciation was actually affecting their own speech patterns[3]. This made Bing Chilling one of the rare memes to demonstrably influence real-world language use, even if temporarily. ## Fun Facts - Cena's Mandarin is actually decent. He started learning the language around 2016 to support WWE's push into the Chinese market and has done multiple interviews in Mandarin[1]. - The phrase "Bing Chilling" doesn't mean anything in English or standard Mandarin. It's a phonetic mishmash that only makes sense as a meme transcription of Cena's pronunciation of 冰淇淋[2]. - The original Weibo video features Cena literally singing into his ice cream cone like a microphone before launching into his promotional script[3]. - Native Mandarin speakers on TikTok reported that repeated exposure to Cena's pronunciation was unintentionally changing how they said 冰淇淋 in daily life[3]. - The meme had two distinct viral peaks separated by about 18 months: the YouTube remix era (mid-2021) and the TikTok recitation trend (November 2022)[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Bing Chilling? Bing Chilling is a phonetic English transcription of how John Cena pronounces 冰淇淋 (ice cream) in Mandarin in a May 2021 Weibo video promoting *Fast & Furious 9*[3]. ### Where did Bing Chilling come from? John Cena posted the original video to his Weibo account on May 10, 2021, and it spread to YouTube in June 2021 through reuploads and parodies[3]. ### What does Bing Chilling mean? It's a loose phonetic rendering of the Mandarin word for ice cream (冰淇淋, bīng qí lín). It doesn't have a standalone meaning in English or Chinese outside the meme context[2]. ### How do you use Bing Chilling? Common uses include dropping the phrase as a non-sequitur, creating subtitle parody edits of Cena's video, making audio remixes, or filming yourself reciting his full Mandarin monologue[3]. ### Is Bing Chilling still popular? The meme had major viral moments in mid-2021 and November 2022. While the active creation of new remixes has slowed, "Bing Chilling" is still widely recognized and referenced in meme culture[3]. ### What was John Cena actually saying in the video? Cena was speaking Mandarin, saying he has ice cream, that he loves ice cream, but that *Fast & Furious 9* is better than ice cream. It was a promotional message for the film's Chinese release[2]. ### Why did John Cena make the video in Chinese? Cena learned Mandarin to support WWE's expansion into China and has done promotional work for Chinese audiences for several years[1]. ### What is the connection to John Cena's apology to China? The ice cream video appeared on Weibo roughly a week after Cena publicly apologized for calling Taiwan a country during F9 press, adding political irony to an otherwise lighthearted clip[3]. ### Who is John Xina? John Xina (or Zhong Xina) is a meme persona combining Cena's image with Chinese political imagery and social credit score jokes, closely tied to the Bing Chilling meme[2]. ### Why did Bing Chilling go viral again in late 2022? TikTok creators started a trend of reciting Cena's full Mandarin script from memory, with some videos reaching millions of views within days[3]. ### Did Bing Chilling affect how people speak Mandarin? Several native Mandarin speakers on TikTok reported that Cena's distinctive pronunciation of 冰淇淋 was unintentionally influencing their own pronunciation of the word[3]. ## References 1. [John Cena]() 2. [Bing Chilling - Urban Dictionary]() 3. [Bing Chilling - Know Your Meme]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/bing-chilling Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library