A video that has been making its rounds on X and Bluesky on March 2/3 has fueled speculation about whether Chinese nationals might be serving in Russian military units.

Ukrainian commentator and former adviser to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, posted:

“A video appeared online that reportedly shows Chinese people wearing a Russian military uniform. One of them has a marking of a Russian Bars military unit. It is reported that the video was filmed in the Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region. The video has not been verified, it is unclear where and when it was filmed.”

The footage shows two soldiers inside an abandoned building, with one of them writing in Chinese on the wall: “Li Jingjing was here” (“李晶晶到此一游”). The two also exchange a few words in Chinese, saying things like, “Ah, I wrote it wrong again.” One of them wears an armlet belonging to BARS (Combat Army Reserve of Russia) military unit.

On one side of the wall, the words “-Wèi Precision Installation” (..卫精工安装) are written.

Other X accounts, including the influential Chinese account @whyyoutouzhele, pro-Ukrainian Oriannalyla (@Lyla_lilas) and UAVoyager (@NAFOvoyager) also posted the video on March 2nd, alleging that the footage came from Selydove, Donetsk region, and shows Chinese soldiers as part of Russian forces in the Pokrovsky direction. The source of the video posted by the second X user is the Telegram channel “Donbas Operative.”

Meanwhile, on Weibo, the same video is also being discussed by various commentators and netizens.

Digital & tech blogger ‘Ma Shang Tan” (@马上谈), who has over 480,000 followers on the platform, dismissed the rumors as fake, writing:

“Li Jingjing was here! Ukrainian media have published a condemning the presence of Chinese soldiers in the Russian camo… but that’s really too one-sided. Just because they write Chinese doesn’t mean they represent the Chinese people. First, Russia is offering high pay to recruit mercenaries, attracting people from all over the world who are willing to risk their lives for money. Second, as Russia continues to suffer losses, they’ve turned their focus to ethnic groups from the Far East, recruiting quite a few people in the army, many of whom will know Chinese characters.

Anyway, who even is this Li Jingjing? 😂😂😂😂”

Some commenters note that these soldiers “clearly aren’t Chinese,” some pointing to their appearance, others to how the characters were written—suggesting the characters are written “too wide.”

“This kindergarten level of characters is supposed to be written by a Chinese person?” another person wondered.

“I can immediately tell these are characters written by Koreans,” one Weibo user commented.

Since October 2024, South Korean intelligence has been reporting the presence of North Korean troops in Russia. However, their participation was never officially confirmed by Moscow or Pyongyang.

Another Weibo blogger, the military blogger “Earth Lens A” (@地球镜头A), with more than 950,000 followers, suggested that the “soldiers” could be Chinese, but that they are most likely people dressing up:

““Li Jingjing was here?” Ukrainian social media are framing it as if Chinese people are fighting in the war in the Russian forces. After fabricated claims of “North Koreans fighting in Kursk,” Ukrainian sources are now loudly claiming that Chinese troops have appeared near Pokrovsk, based on a random short video without any source.:

““…Precision Installation”? [“..精工安装”: referring to characters written on the wall in the abandoned building] These people wearing Russian military uniforms and speaking Chinese are either military enthusiasts from China doing cosplay or they’re some vloggers who went to Russia “pretending to be in combat.” Can’t say much else. Speaking of which, they should [do more to] control those Douyin and Kuaishou creators who claim to be fighting on the front lines.”

There is a thriving “cosplay culture” on Chinese short video platforms, and military cosplay is a part of that. Among Chinese younger people, cosplay (‘costume play’) has become increasingly popular over the past years. Cosplay allows people to become something they are not—a superhero, a villain, a sex symbol, a soldier—sometimes Chinese, American, Japanese, or Russian.

Some commenters allege that this particular video was made by creators on the video platform Bilibili, although there is currently no proof of that.

“It’s just some military fans playing in a dilapidated building,” another person wrote.

Meanwhile, there seems to be growing fascination over who Li Jingjing actually is.

“We should urge Li Jingjing to come home!” one blogger wrote: “It’s not worth dying on the Russian battlefield.”

They jokingly added: “Li Jingjing, your mom is calling you home for dinner!”

The phrase is a reference to a famous moment in Chinese internet history when a comment appeared on a World of Warcraft forum saying that a boy named Jia Junpeng was being called home for dinner by his mom (read here).

For some netizens, the fact that this video and its virality are being taken seriously on Western platforms seems to be a source of entertainment: “This video of Chinese cosplayers has started circulating on Twitter (X). It’s hard not to laugh watching their serious analysis.”

By Manya Koetse

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PART OF THIS TEXT COMES FROM THE WEIBO WATCH PREMIUM NEWSLETTER

Over the past few weeks, the Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2 has been trending on Weibo every single day. The movie, loosely based on Chinese mythology and the Chinese canonical novel Investiture of the Gods (封神演义), has triggered all kinds of memes and discussions on Chinese social media (read more here and here).

One of the most beloved characters is the leopard demon Shen Gongbao (申公豹). While Shen Gongbao was a more typical villain in the first film, the narrative of Ne Zha 2 adds more nuance and complexity to his character. By exploring his struggles, the film makes him more relatable and sympathetic.

In the movie, Shen is portrayed as a sometimes sinister and tragic villain with humorous and likeable traits. He has a stutter, and a deep desire to earn recognition. Unlike many celestial figures in the film, Shen Gongbao was not born into privilege and never became immortal. As a demon who ascended to the divine court, he remains at the lower rungs of the hierarchy in Chinese mythology. He is a hardworking overachiever who perhaps turned into a villain due to being treated unfairly.

Many viewers resonate with him because, despite his diligence, he will never be like the gods and immortals around him. Many Chinese netizens suggest that Shen Gongbao represents the experience of many “small-town swots” (xiǎozhèn zuòtíjiā 小镇做题家) in China.

“Small-town swot” is a buzzword that has appeared on Chinese social media over the past few years. According to Baike, it first popped up on a Douban forum dedicated to discussing the struggles of students from China’s top universities. Although the term has been part of social media language since 2020, it has recently come back into the spotlight due to Shen Gongbao.

“Small-town swot” refers to students from rural areas and small towns in China who put in immense effort to secure a place at a top university and move to bigger cities. While they may excel academically, even ranking as top scorers, they often find they lack the same social advantages, connections, and networking opportunities as their urban peers.

The idea that they remain at a disadvantage despite working so hard leads to frustration and anxiety—it seems they will never truly escape their background. In a way, it reflects a deeper aspect of China’s rural-urban divide.

Some people on Weibo, like Chinese documentary director and blogger Bianren Guowei (@汴人郭威), try to translate Shen Gongbao’s legendary narrative to a modern Chinese immigrant situation, and imagine that in today’s China, he’d be the guy who trusts in his hard work and intelligence to get into a prestigious school, pass the TOEFL, obtain a green card, and then work in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street. Meanwhile, as a filial son and good brother, he’d save up his “celestial pills” (US dollars) to send home to his family.

Another popular blogger (@痴史) wrote:

“I just finished watching Ne Zha and my wife asked me, why do so many people sympathize with Shen Gongbao? I said, I’ll give you an example to make you understand. Shen Gongbao spent years painstakingly accumulating just six immortal pills (xiāndān 仙丹), while the celestial beings could have 9,000 in their hand just like that.

It’s like saving up money from scatch for years just to buy a gold bracelet, only to realize that the trash bins of the rich people are made of gold, and even the wires in their homes are made of gold. It’s like working tirelessly for years to save up 60,000 yuan ($8230), while someone else can effortlessly pull out 90 million ($12.3 million).In the Heavenly Palace, a single meal costs more than an ordinary person’s lifetime earnings.

Shen Gongbao seems to be his father’s pride, he’s a role model to his little brother, and he’s the hope of his entire village. Yet, despite all his diligence and effort, in the celestial realm, he’s nothing more than a marginal figure. Shen Gongbao is not a villain, he is just the epitome of all of us ordinary people. It is because he represents the state of most of us normal people, that he receives so much empathy.”

In the end, in the eyes of many, Shen Gongbao is the ultimate small-town swot. As a result, he has temporarily become China’s most beloved villain.

By Manya Koetse, with contributions by Wendy Huang
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