The challenge originated in Russia and has spread throughout Asia, especially in China, where thousands of people have participated on Weibo, a popular social network. Even rigid government departments have joined in.

The Consular Protection Center of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a photo that showed a worker falling into a pile of paper. A police school photographed a fallen officer surrounded by bullets.

The People’s Daily, the main news outlet of China’s ruling Communist Party, chose not to condemn the meme, as it has others. While it didn’t approve of flaunting wealth, those participating in more creative versions “have been busy with life, but there is no shortage of hard work; there is also an interesting soul behind the serious face,” the paper wrote in an editorial.

It called the meme an internet craze with “positive energy,” a favorite catchphrase of the Communist Party.

The challenge has spread beyond Russia and China, with tens of thousands of posts from various countries appearing on Instagram. (Russia is also responsible for the recent addition of the Skibidi Challenge to the internet’s consciousness, but we’ll leave that for another day.)