BEIJING, June 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Once having a hard time helping his child with homework yet later managing to write To Live, celebrated Chinese writer Yu Hua recently shared a short video on social media, drawing the attention of many, including Zhang Xue, a former poor repairman who is now leading his motorcycle brand onto the global stage. What resonated between these two rookies-turned big shots? The answer lies in the short video’s theme: “caotai banzi.”
Caotai banzi originally referred to a type of itinerant amateur performing troupe, traversing from one rickety venue to another. But over time, it has evolved into a slightly sarcastic internet slang describing things or people that lack resources, experience and preparation but still show up when needed. The term can be roughly translated as “a ragtag set-up.” A caotai banzi event is one that is poorly prepared, somewhat chaotic, yet carried out against all odds.
Meanwhile, someone with caotai banzi character can be called a “scrappy amateur” – they rush into things with no resources or plan, recklessly eager to get moving and damn the costs.
For a long time, caotai banzi was a negative term for many Chinese. But when the recent short video ended with a statement of “caotai is the best team,” viewers surprisingly did not fight back. Instead, many began to see it in a positive light. Zhang is one of them. He commented on the video: “Ragtag set-up or not – who cares? Just get the team together and turn that grassroots stage into a podium.”
What brought this negative-to-positive change is actually the life stories of Zhang himself and the protagonists featured in the video who have freed the term from its stereotypical definition. In other words, people have discovered the admirable courage behind those scrappy amateurs who rush into things without being fully prepared.
In the video, there is a 16-year-old girl chasing her documentary dream. No experience. No knowledge of film terms. She even forgot to charge her camera before shooting. But despite being such a rookie, she still yearns to try.
Though he doesn’t appear in the video, Zhang was a rookie too who was born in a poor, remote village. At a young age, he once rode his motorcycle over 100 kilometers to chase down a journalist just to get a few seconds on TV. That move was once his only hope to be noticed by a professional racing team.
These stories sound absurd, but beneath them lies something truly precious – the resilience to fight for a dream. To some people, they were just “fools” wasting their time, or not qualified enough to even try. But it is this “foolish” spirit that gives them the courage to learn as they go.
In other words, if it weren’t for their various limitations or shambling beginnings, these people may not have gained a deeper faith in their dreams. To some extent, the more amateur someone is – in other words the more they belong to an underestimated ragtag set-up – the more eager they are to act in the game of success.
Hence, instead of only seeing the awkwardness and messiness behind caotai banzi, it’s better to see that awkwardness as the very drive to strive forward. As the video puts it: “The timing will never be perfect, but you are always qualified [to try].”
In everyday life, haven’t we, at one time or another, been inspired by clumsy beginners like that – people who just won’t let go of their dreams, no matter how awkward they seem?
So far, the online interaction between Zhang Xue and Yu Hua has become a trending topic on Sina Weibo. On the surface, it’s netizens having fun with the two figures’ public exchange. However, deep down, it is hard to ignore that the fresh interpretation of caotai banzi has already resonated with people.
For generations, the Chinese people have felt a deep, natural resonance with the story of starting from scratch. From a grand scale, it can be seen from the transformation of the Great Northern Wilderness in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province into a granary of abundance. On a smaller scale, it can be captured in those rags-to-riches stories of countless Chinese families. The courage to face challenges head-on and the will to raise a “tower from flat ground” have always been engraved in the Chinese tradition of grit.
Although times change, this fighting spirit has never faded. Instead, it has gradually become a cultural norm, influencing younger generations. Just as the 16-year-old girl in video put it: “I can enter the scene clumsily and learn as I go,” she said. “If I mess up, I just get up and try again.”
The author is a reporter with the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn