the world is so big

tiger leapaing gorge rays
light rays and waterfalls in the tiger leaping gorge

世界这么大,我想去看看。

The world is so big, I want to go see.

Handwritten on a sheet of school stationery, this was the reason given by a Chinese middle school teacher for her recent resignation in April. The image of the note and its spirit have since gone viral throughout China.

Variations on the theme have been spun, from a simple switch to make China the subject, to jokes about having a wallet that is 这么小 (so small). Youku (China’s YouTube) promoted a video in which a young man travels the world with a selfie stick, while hundreds of locations spin past his extended arm. In my WeChat feed, I saw an even more strongly worded urging: 世界这么小,你还没去看?The world is so small, you haven’t gone to see it yet?

The world—China—is amazing. Let’s go see.

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