Versailles Literature 凡尔赛 was inspired by Japanese manga The Rose of Versailles, which depicts the sumptuous and aristocratic lifestyle of the Queen of France, and is now used on Chinese social media to refer to a new style of bragging, in which people comment on their “unsatisfying” life in order to subtly show off their wealth and status. The Versailles on the internet means showing something good in a low key way, with the purpose of ridicule.
Background
The origin of Versailles come from a geographical point of view, “Versailles”, is the the ‘Palace of Versailles,’ is one of the famous palaces in Paris, the administrative center of the French dynasty.
While, the meme “versailles,” is actually from the japanese comic《the Versailles roses》 it shows the luxurious and the prosperous of versailles palaces in 18 century.
Spread
Today, the Chinese netizens use “Versailles” by means of deliberately showing off high-grade, luxury life they have, in fact, it is also used for ridicule. The Versailles is to casually flaunt a sense of superiority by saying the opposite.
Examples
Sa Beining (a famous CCTV host) said: “I don’t want to be the person who was choosen to study in Peking University without the entrance exam.”
Jack Ma (the alibaba founder) said: “I am not interested in money, I have never touched money.”
Faye Wong (famous singer) said: “My biggest trouble is I am too famous.”
