About

Xa Wang Xie Na Wang is a song by YouTube user Azmi Pandemi in Indonesian Javanese that uses the catchphrase Sawang Sinawang, though this is often misheard as the Chinese phrase Xa Wang Xie Na Wang. In Javanese, "Sawang Sinawang" means perspective, or essentially to look for the best in people. The song gained popularity in Indonesian-speaker memes, similar to Chin Cheng Hanji and Xue Hua Piao Piao.

Origin

On July 19th, 2021, YouTube^[1] user Azmi Pandemi uploaded a thirty second song titled "Xa Wang Xie Na Wang". In the video, he and a guitarist sing a Chinese-sounding song, though the song is in Javanese, about people who compete to look wealthy to the point they are willing to go into debt to look rich. The video received more than 688,000 views in two months (shown below).

Spread

Roughly one month later, the song gained popularity on YouTube, as users there created various memes with the song. For example, on August 25th, 2021, YouTube^[2] user Ya Begitulah Lite Edition uploaded a video from Tom & Jerry set to the song. In the clip, Tom as a caricature of a Chinese person spins on a record player while another vinyl record rests on his head. The video received more than 259,000 views in one month (shown below, left). On September 1st, 2021, the same YouTube^[3] user but on a different channel uploaded a Genius "Verified" Parody of the song. The video received more than 231,000 views in one month (shown below, right).

Other users have made remixes of the song. For example, on July 31st, 2021, YouTube^[4] user LHNTRX uploaded a Slowed and Reverb version of the song. The video received more than 88,000 views in two months (shown below).

The song also gained popularity on TikTok. For example, on July 26th, 2021, TikTok^[6] user @omdoeng_tv uploaded a parody clip of the Chinese novel Journey to the West accompanied by the song. The video received more than 3.2 million views in two months (shown below, left). On the same day, TikTok^[7] user @javasandii uploaded a video with the caption "Ketika disuruh guru praktek nyanyi lagu Mandarin | Lagu yang terlintas di kepalaku" (Eng. When teacher asked me to sing Chinese songs | "Chinese" song that in my head). The video received more than 1.1 million views in two months (shown below, center). On September 28th, 2021, TikTok^[8] user @baraktaher uploaded a video about the comments section on @husein_hadar's Instagram, where the Instagram user @ansoralaminn commented by using lyrics of the song. The video received more than 502,000 views in five days (shown below, right).

On September 16th, Azmi Pandemi^[5] uploaded the full version of the song. The video received more than 382,000 views in two weeks (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References