To show to the world that they have slim bodies, Chinese women started another Internet trend. After placing pens under their breasts in February, they are now posting photos of themselves with a white paper placed in front of their bellies.
The point of the viral posts is to show the world that they have small midriffs. They call the Internet trend-setter as the “A4 waist challenge,” referring to the business term used for the 8 ½ x 11-inch paper used in offices and schools.
By placing a white paper in front of their midriff, these woman are proving their waistlines are narrower than the piece of paper because the sheet is expected to cover the entire mid-section. The posting of the challenge photos, which began in February, is done through their Weibo accounts, reported Mashable.
There are millions of such photos on Weibo that uses the hashtag #A4waist. The trend has began to spread to other Asian countries. For instance, Cosmic Girls Cheng Xiao and Bona have joined the challenge, reported Onehallyu. Cosmic Girls is a girl band made up of Chinese and South Korean members.
Because of the challenge’s sending the message that being very thin is an indicator of health, their trend is controversial and the women are being mocked.
Saque, a Weibo user, posted a photo of her cat with a white paper on its back to mean the cat has better chances of having a trim waistline than most women would. A man in red shirt covered his face with a white paper and captioned the photo “I have A4 face.”
Since the paper was in vertical position when used by the women, but a Weibo user commented they should rotate it sideways to landscape format so it would be a more realistic way to measure the women’s mid-section.