Weekend Gallery: Defend Your Homeland by Using Your Leg as a Gun [UPDATED]

Posted: 06/14/2014 2:17 pm

Weekend Gallery is your weekly compilation of photos from around the Chinese internet.

UPDATE 8pm July 16: As pointed out by Quartz, the entire “leg gun” meme can be traced to prolific attention-getter Ai Weiwei as seen on his Instagram account.

Ai had earlier shared a photo from the ballet Red Detachment of Women (seen at the very end of this post), and is the likely inspiration for this meme.

Ai hasn’t been clear as to what the “leg gun” meme originally signified, but it appears Ai’s creation has now come to occupy a similar spot as the “shootering” military meme in which users mimicked workers on the new Chinese Liaoning aircraft carrier signalling jets to take off: as a symbol of national pride and sovereignty.

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A bunch of internet users in China have been photographed pretending to use their legs as guns in the latest internet meme to hit the country.

READ: Understand Spoken Chinese Commands When
a Cop is Pointing a Gun at You

If you’re wondering who is on the other end of these leg guns, this registered Weibo user explained it this way:

Ever since society and work (internet) circles have invented the wonderful use of the “leg gun”, the result has been significant! Everyone is learning this in order to defend our country. It appears that through the use of this heavenly trick, chengguan are resisting forcible tear downs, while national defense is dealing with Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Come and practice, everyone! Vigilant dancing aunties of the public plazas of the capital with your red sleeves: you too must practice with us!

Our only disappointment is that with such a display of lethal feet and footwear, no stilettos are to be found.