US ‘kill line’ shocks Chinese social media as economic woes shatter illusions
Rush of posts on ordinary Americans’ financial fragility upends long-held views of prosperous US, prompts comparisons with Chinese situation
Many of the posts from influencers described the vulnerabilities as a “kill line”, a term used by Chinese video gamers to describe the health threshold below which a character can be instantly defeated.
The term has now been repurposed to describe a financial and social tipping point that could ruin middle-class families.
The issue first came to wider public attention late last year, when a series of posts on Chinese social media highlighted the plight of ordinary Americans facing high medical costs. These accounts, upending long-held views of a prosperous America, have sparked widespread shock and heated discussion in China.
One blogger known as Sikuiqi Dawang, who claimed to be a Chinese student in Seattle, posted a series of anecdotes illustrating how a single crisis such as a sudden illness, job loss or accident could push people into irreversible poverty.
One story described a skilled engineer who, unable to afford medical treatment, spiralled into homelessness. Other posts described how homeless people were dying in the streets or how patients faced long waits for hospital treatment, sometimes even dying before receiving essential care.