The word diaosi is basically outdated today, but the attitude implied by it is definitely not. From many angles, it is not an especially new attitude either. You could even call it a variant of Ah Q. No one should be surprised to hear that Ah Q and the diaosi have a lot in common. Ah Q has his method of spiritual victory; he cannot stand the “tall-rich-handsome”; he covets the “fair-rich-beautiful.”
Of course, what matters more seems to be the difference between Ah Q and the diaosi. Ah Q is an overly “simple” diaosi: when he cannot stand the “tall-rich-handsome” (back from studying abroad), he confronts him directly. That is obviously an attitude most diaosi would avoid. Likewise, Ah Q’s method of spiritual victory is “my ancestors were richer than you,” which is also something most diaosi are unwilling to proclaim. In fact, many diaosi are happy to announce that they come from generations upon generations of diaosi. Whether it is “I don’t dare confront the tall-rich-handsome” or “my ancestors weren’t rich either,” both strengthen the diaosi identity.
Here I want to stress that the diaosi discussed in this essay is mainly the kind with a cynical attitude. To put it more plainly: a diaosi with a “sense of humor.” They like to mock all kinds of things and often believe—at least judging from the attitude conveyed by their words and actions—that they understand society very “thoroughly.” This is precisely one reason they call themselves diaosi: I know perfectly well that, socially speaking, I am “not doing so great” right now, and I also know perfectly well that I am powerless to change society, so I maintain an ironic distance from it.
Given that Li Yi Bar, the famous birthplace of diaosi culture, rests on precisely this kind of cynicism, I think this definition is acceptable. Do not forget that Li Yi Bar users love to emphasize “depth” and think they have an incredible sense of humor.
Diaosi culture likes to objectify all kinds of things: “tall-rich-handsome,” “fair-rich-beautiful,” “black fungus.” And do not forget its favorite pastime, “rating”: “This is my girlfriend. Ten is the highest score—what would you give her?” (Li Yi Bar users would usually give a very low score, or imply that if this woman refused to have sex with them, they would give her a very low score = “if she won’t let me fuck her, zero points.” This is obviously an important way for them to display their “depth.”)
Nor do they forget to “objectify” themselves. But they place themselves in a privileged position, which I will describe in detail below. This is a crucial theme that, in my view, absolutely cannot be ignored when discussing diaosi culture: being a diaosi itself represents a victory.
So how do they objectify themselves? With the genit*ls. The genit*ls represent their sexual anxiety, and also their attitude of “giving up on themselves,” because genit*ls are something society does not (directly) accept. On the other hand, the diaosi also knows perfectly well that this society is intimately bound up with genit*ls (sex). One of their basic fantasies is that although the tall-rich-handsome looks glamorous and respectable all day long, behind the scenes he is having sex with the fair-rich-beautiful all day long.
From this position, the diaosi turns himself into an object of observation—not literally into genit*ls. What really matters is a certain distance, a certain gaze: the distance from which I can look at myself objectively as “genit*ls.” Genit*ls are the truth of this society. From this vantage point, I can objectively observe all the other truths—and this is exactly what the tall-rich-handsome cannot do. Do not forget one of the diaosi’s favorite sayings: “The tall-rich-handsome will never understand the diaosi.” The ambiguity of this sentence is very interesting. At first it means that the tall-rich-handsome cannot experience the hardships of the diaosi; then this inability to have that experience is transformed into an inability of the tall-rich-handsome himself: he lacks an objective gaze. Of course, by now we can see very clearly that this so-called objective gaze is simply a cynical, ironic gaze.
This brings us to an absolutely crucial point in diaosi culture: the tall-rich-handsome cannot imagine the diaosi’s situation, but the diaosi can always imagine the tall-rich-handsome’s situation, because the diaosi has a powerful capacity for fantasy. We cannot help saying: too powerful—so powerful that what they fantasize about often cannot be found in reality at all.
It is precisely this objective gaze that gives the diaosi the illusion that “I can see through society,” and precisely this illusion that leads the diaosi toward another fundamental fantasy: the diaosi counterattack.
The diaosi counterattack is the truth of diaosi culture, its real secret. A person is willing to call himself a diaosi precisely because he always keeps “the possibility of counterattack” in mind. Here again, the diaosi places himself in a privileged position where he absolutely cannot lose:
- I am a diaosi, so it is normal that I have not counterattacked.
- If I do counterattack, I will experience a pleasure that the tall-rich-handsome can never experience.
This amounts to becoming tall-rich-handsome twice over.
So how should we understand the diaosi against the background of Ah Q? The diaosi is simply Ah Q turned around: instead of having been richer than you in the past, he will be richer than you in the future. The tall-rich-handsome can never counterattack, because he is already tall-rich-handsome. The word “counterattack” condenses the diaosi’s pleasure. Put the other way around, the diaosi has always already counterattacked: because he is a diaosi, no matter how badly he fails at anything, that failure is only natural; every failure has an excuse, while every success is a miracle (= counterattack).
The diaosi is a time-traveling version of Ah Q: Ah Q proves his superiority from the past, from what already exists; the diaosi displays his superiority from the future, from what does not (does not yet) exist.
And in some respects the diaosi is worse than Ah Q. Ah Q’s past leaves him dissatisfied with the present, constantly trying to change his situation. The diaosi’s imagined future not only leaves them satisfied with what lies ahead; in many cases, the prospect of that satisfaction enters directly into the present. This satisfaction is doubled. The result is that they stop trying to do anything in the present. In fact, Ah Q is not entirely someone who only thinks and never acts. The diaosi, however, gains so much pleasure from fantasy that they spend most of their lives fantasizing, which directly makes those fantasies harder to realize.
So we have to understand the sentence “a diaosi can never become tall-rich-handsome” literally. Because the diaosi gets too much pleasure from the very word diaosi (counterattack), even if he becomes tall-rich-handsome by his own standards, he will absolutely not let go of the word “counterattack.” He can keep counterattacking, because the possibility of counterattack is itself a kind of pleasure. The possibility of counterattack is doubled, until “being in a state where one can counterattack” itself becomes a counterattack.
Finally, let us look once more at the word diaosi itself. Do not forget that the diaosi, disgustingly, reduces all women to genit*ls. The question, then, is why the diaosi does not reduce the “tall-rich-handsome” to genit*ls. Why, according to their fantasy, is he not “tall-rich-long”? Because the real genit*ls are on the side of the diaosi. The diaosi knows the secret of organizing pleasure. The tall-rich-handsome, by contrast, is a “castrated” diaosi: a poor wretch with no opportunity to counterattack, always liable to be counterattacked.
I will end by briefly considering an extension of diaosi culture. A phenomenon I have mentioned before, “selling weakness,” follows the same logic as diaosi culture. This includes an unexpectedly cute version of diaosi culture: “You’re all big shots; I’m the only trash here.” This seemingly self-deprecating cute-speak may, unexpectedly, be connected to diaosi culture. Fewer people use the word diaosi now, and fewer people call themselves diaosi, but the way of thinking that says “I am weaker than you now, therefore I will be richer than you in the future” remains everywhere. It is a new kind of “air.”