# Incredible Things Are Happening In China "Incredible Things Are Happening In China" is a catchphrase that spread on Twitter starting in late 2020, usually attached to banal or cute clips from Chinese state media. After a December 2021 post by @DerekPutin paired the line with an animal video and gathered over 20,000 likes, the format turned into a running Twitter joke, and by 2023 posters were extending it to other countries with "Incredible Things Are Happening in X." ## Origin The earliest known uses of "Incredible Things Are Happening In China" were two Twitter posts from December 2020, one by @housetrotter on December 3rd[1] and another by @muenzenberg_w on December 5th[2]. An iFunny upload used the catchphrase as a title on August 3rd, 2021[10], and on September 3rd, 2021, a tweet by @goingtoflorida1 became the first known use of the line to go past 1,000 likes[3]. The specific pairing with Chinese state media animal content showed up on December 7th, 2021, when @DerekPutin posted a video captioned with the phrase that went on to collect over 20,000 likes[4]. Know Your Meme documents this post as the earliest known example of the cute-animal variant that would define most later versions[5]. - **Platform:** Twitter / X - **Creator:** Unknown (earliest known posters: @housetrotter and @muenzenberg_w) - **Date:** 2020 ## Overview Posters typically attach "Incredible Things Are Happening In China" to a short clip or screenshot sourced from CGTN, People's Daily, Xinhua or a similar Chinese state-run account, where the actual content is almost always mundane rather than politically weighty. The humor sits in the gap between the awed caption and whatever trivial footage follows, like an orange cat lounging around a Chinese news anchor's desk[6] or a small animal doing something unremarkable[4]. The catchphrase is also used sincerely at times, usually when actual Chinese policy news breaks, which flattens the ironic register and makes it function as an all-purpose caption rather than a strict joke format[5]. By 2023, the line had become generic enough that posters were applying "Incredible Things Are Happening in X" to events in other countries entirely[9]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Incredible Things Are Happening In China? It is a Twitter catchphrase used to caption clips and screenshots from Chinese state media, most often cute animal videos or minor oddities[5]. ### Where did Incredible Things Are Happening In China come from? The earliest documented uses are two Twitter posts from December 2020 by @housetrotter[1] and @muenzenberg_w[2]. ### What does Incredible Things Are Happening In China mean? It is usually ironic, playing the awed tone of the caption against a trivial Chinese state-media clip, though it is also used sincerely to flag actual policy news[4]. ### How do you use Incredible Things Are Happening In China? Posters attach the phrase to a short video or image from accounts like CGTN or People's Daily, like @goofxist did with an orange cat clip that reached over 96,000 likes[6]. ### Is Incredible Things Are Happening In China still popular? The format was still active in late 2023, when the template extended to other countries as "Incredible Things Are Happening in X" and showed up on r/TheDeprogram[9]. ## References 1. [https://twitter.com/housetrotter/status/1334679202226900992]() 2. [https://twitter.com/muenzenberg_w/status/1335180717207269379]() 3. [https://twitter.com/goingtoflorida1/status/1433846010023976978]() 4. [https://twitter.com/DerekPutin/status/1468325140173934598]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/incredible-things-are-happening-in-china]() 6. [https://twitter.com/goofxist/status/1567333147418968064]() 7. [https://twitter.com/castawaymariner/status/1581396014829043712]() 8. [https://twitter.com/KyleTrainEmoji/status/1612577389867077633]() 9. [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDeprogram/comments/178azyp/incredible_things_are_happening_in_china/]() 10. [https://ifunny.co/picture/incredible-things-are-happening-in-china-and-true-to-their-AiadM2lo8]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/incredible-things-are-happening-in-china Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library