A bizarre new social media trend has taken hold in China -- with hundreds of thousands taking to Twitter and Instagram to flaunt their wealth.
Believed to have started in Russia as the “falling stars” stunt, the trend has made its way to China where it has morphed into a “flaunt your wealth” challenge, generating more than a million posts on Chinese social platform Weibo.
Participants can be seen lying face down on the floor, sometimes “falling” out of expensive cars, as if they have tripped and spilled their luxury goods and wads of cash.
A video last week by a popular Chinese “influencer” is believed to have sparked the craze in the country as it was watched more than 50,000 times and attracted over a thousand comments.
But the woman took the stunt too far -- she was reportedly pictured at a pedestrian crossing and later fined for a traffic violation.
Some social media users have started to parody the practice, with workers scattering their equipment and documents around them at their workplace.
Kiki challenge is long gone! There is a new challenge in town. It’s called the #FallingStars challenge. You have to flaunt your wealth by lying face down (preferably on the road) surrounded by all your fancy expensive stuff.. Insane..���������� what do you think? pic.twitter.com/qtSy9Nb0Sw
— Krithiga Narayanan (@Krithiganarayan) October 20, 2018
Textbooks, papers, dumbbells, or skiing equipment… what will you be buried in when taking your #FallingStars challenge? The latest craze on Instagram has been sweeping the world and our young trendy #Pekingers are showing their best fake fall as well! Check it out! pic.twitter.com/tCNSRp7bqy
— Peking University (@PKU1898) October 20, 2018
Instead of fancy accessories, these “animal nannies” in Pu’er National Park of southwest China’s Yunnan Province “fell down” with an array of cleaning tools and food when doing an eco-friendly version of the #FallingStarsChallenge. pic.twitter.com/DmatrTFYM2
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) October 18, 2018
