30-Second Overview: In 1995, a 486 computer in the men's dormitory of National Taiwan University set up PTT, unintentionally launching the prehistoric era of Taiwanese memes. Over thirty years, Taiwanese memes have evolved from subcultural slang on anonymous forums into social mechanisms for processing collective trauma (such as "Jie-ge, don't") and political anxiety. Through classic cases like "Upper Jaw," "Pangolin," and "No sex allowed," they have developed a unique "local originality" and "non-confrontational critique," serving as a sophisticated pressure relief valve for Taiwanese society when facing systemic stress.

Taiwan Memes: Thirty Years of Cultural Evolution from PTT Users to a Social Safety Valve

In 2013, the Ministry of Education released a sexual assault prevention video titled If I Had Known Men Could Also Be Sexually Assaulted. The line "Jie-ge, don't do this!" (杰哥不要啦), originally intended as a heavy, serious dialogue, unexpectedly triggered a massive wave across Taiwan's online communities. Under the creative reinterpretation of netizens, this phrase—originally carrying an educational mission—rapidly evolved into an enduring meme, even surpassing 27 million views on Bilibili in 2021 and being adapted into Steam games and musicals ¹. This is not a mockery of victims, but rather the core mechanism of Taiwan's meme culture: sublimating unspeakable social pain into laughter that can be shared collectively.

The Historical Origin: PTT and the Alchemy of Language

The roots of Taiwanese memes can be traced back to the mid-1990s with PTT (批踢踢實業坊) and the 2005 establishment of Komica (K-Island) ^{2 3}. Within these anonymous digital spaces, Taiwanese netizens developed a unique linguistic system that laid the foundation for meme culture:

1. Push-comment Culture: Using extremely concise text to create maximum comedic effect, forming early "textual memes."

2. Homophones and Transliterations: Such as "Ding-ding is a real man" (丁丁是個人才) or "What are you shouting about?" (你在大聲什麼啦) ⁴, which involve the decontextualized restructuring of film and television material.

3. Collective Wisdom via Anonymity: The format of K-Island mimics Japan's 5ch, emphasizing pure creation through "total anonymity," complementing the social-oriented "netizen culture" (鄉民文化) of PTT ^{5 6}.

📝 Curator's Note #1: The origin of Taiwanese memes is not visual imagery, but "language." We excel at capturing the rhythm and absurdity within dialogue, refining them into reusable linguistic tools. This also explains why many classic memes are closely tied to "sound" or "tone."

Core Characteristics: Why are Taiwanese Memes "Different"?

Unlike Western memes, which often stem from "Image Macro" adaptations of free stock photos, Taiwanese memes exhibit strong local originality and social critique ⁴. They are not merely collages of images, but deep responses to the Taiwanese social context. The following table outlines the characteristics and classic cases of Taiwanese memes across different developmental stages:

1. "Mocking without Targeting": A Gentle Radicalism

Taiwanese memes often employ a specific strategy: they point toward systemic issues but express them in a non-confrontational manner. For example, using phrases like "How pitiful" (可憐哪) or "Making a fortune" (發大財) regarding political figures may be satirical, but they primarily serve to dissolve political gravity into everyday conversation ⁶. This sense of humor allows criticism to spread within a relatively harmonious atmosphere.

2. The Pressure Relief Mechanism of the Social Safety Valve

This is a counter-intuitive perspective: Taiwanese memes are a primary mechanism of the social safety valve. When the public faces institutional dysfunction, media absurdity (such as Fan-zhou brother's nonsensical responses to street interviews ⁷), or economic anxiety, memes provide a space for "harmless pranks," allowing social pressure to be released without triggering physical conflict ⁶.

Analysis of Classic Cases: Localization and Social Resonance

The vitality of Taiwanese memes often stems from their precise capture of local events and contexts. The following classic cases demonstrate how memes are born from specific incidents and generate widespread social resonance:

"It hit my upper jaw" (打到我的上巴) ⁸

In 201s, when Original Vision News reported on a "land dispute in Tai'an," an interviewee excitedly stated, "He punched me right on this 'upper jaw' (上巴)." This statement, characterized by a local accent and anatomical error, went viral due to its absurdity, becoming a classic phrase to describe unexpected impacts or nonsensical events. It is not just a linguistic error; it reflects the authentic emotional outpouring and the locality of language in news reporting.

"A pangolin! Can I keep one as a pet?" (穿山甲欸！可以養嗎？) ⁹

In 2020, a netizen surnamed Lin encountered a pangolin while riding at night and excitedly shouted to a friend, "Holy X! A pangolin! Woohoo!" and "Can I keep this as a pet?". This video quickly became a meme due to its authentic, nonsensical reaction and the surprise and curiosity regarding Taiwan's specific protected species. It demonstrates both the closeness of Taiwanese people to wildlife and humorously touches upon the boundary between humans and nature through the question "Can I keep one?".

"No sex allowed" (不可以色色) ¹⁰

In 2021, an image of a Shiba Inu named PONSAN sitting in a shopping cart with a wronged expression, captioned "No sex allowed" (不可以色色), rapidly took over the internet in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This meme took the word sèsè (sex/lewdness)—which originally carried negative connotations—and "moe-ified" it through the cute Shiba Inu image, turning it into a humorous way to remind or self-restrain. It even spawned "Sese Card Battles" in the style of Yu-Gi-Oh, reflecting how online communities use lighthearted approaches to explore boundaries regarding sex-related issues.

"Something happened, Uncle!" (出事了阿北！) ¹¹

This meme originated from a video where a citizen, after witnessing a car accident, anxiously shouted to an older passerby, "Something happened, Uncle (阿北)!" The urgency of the tone and the local flavor of the term Ā-běi caused it to spread rapidly, becoming a classic phrase for describing sudden situations or alerting others. It captures the direct, kinship-oriented interaction pattern in Taiwanese society, which retains a sense of human warmth even in emergencies.

📝 Curator's Note #2: The "longevity" of Taiwanese memes is particularly striking. Many memes are continuously reshaped years after their debut. This is not merely "becoming popular again," but rather a deep-seated cultural need continuously finding a voice, using memes to constantly reinterpret social issues.

Cultural Function: Transformation from Trauma to Healing

The most unique aspect of Taiwanese memes lies in their ability to process collective trauma. The "Tong-shen's hotpot" phishing link that went viral in 2020—during a period of pandemic tension and increasing economic uncertainty—created a sense of collective synchronicity among netizens across Taiwan through a small prank of "tricking people into clicking links" ⁵. This resonance of "we were all tricked" invisibly dissolved the sense of isolation found in real life.

The Dark Side of Memes: The Fine Line Between Healing and Division

Despite their powerful healing and social functions, the development of Taiwanese memes carries potential risks. The entertainment value of memes may lead to issue drift, where public attention shifts from policy issues requiring civic discussion to fragmented information, obscuring the severity of problems ⁶. Furthermore, social media algorithms may reinforce echo chambers, exacerbating social polarization rather than promoting understanding. When memes become overly commercialized, they may also lose their original healing function, devolving into pure symbols of consumption ⁶.

Conclusion: Memes as a Mirror of Taiwanese Culture

Looking back over thirty years, Taiwan's meme culture reflects the complexity of this island. It is both an emergence of creativity and a sublimation of helplessness in the face of structural problems. From the pure text posts of PTT to the short videos on Threads today, the forms change, but the core remains constant: We use shared laughter to bear our shared vulnerabilities. In this sense, memes are not just internet jokes; they are the gentlest and most humorous form of resistance for Taiwanese people when facing hardship.

Further Reading

• PTT Bulletin Board System — The birthplace of most Taiwanese memes and netizen culture.

• Ma Ying-jeou Memes — A classic case study on the memetic nature of political figures.

• Elderly Graphics (Changbei Tu) — Another internet dissemination path with unique Taiwanese characteristics.

• Taiwanese VTubers — The contemporary fusion of virtual characters and meme culture.

References