2021 – Cultural Immortality
The Chinese internet was completely flooded by the addictive “Hajimi~ Hajimi~”. It started as a mondegreen meme and evolved into a nationwide synonym for cute pets, the top expression pack, the BGM overlord of short videos, and the hottest new star in the internet music scene. In just a few short years, “Hajimi” completed a full leap from a subcultural niche circle to a national cultural symbol. This article systematically reviews its origins, Web2 dissemination history, popularity data, semantic fission, cultural logic, and commercial monetization, restoring and analyzing the craziest internet symbol myth in history.
(Hajimi / HACHIMI / HAKIMI / HAJIMI are contextual translations used in different regions.)I. Origins: From Mondegreen Melody to Semantic Deconstruction on the Chinese Internet
“Hajimi” originated from the mondegreen phonetic translation of the protagonist humming “honey water” in the 2021 anime Pretty Derby. Through secondary creations on the Chinese internet, Douyin pet bindings, and full-platform diffusion, it became a global Web2 phenomenon-level internet meme.Almost all great internet memes eventually break away from their original source.
What really matters is: who completed the dissemination, who gave it new emotions, and who established new consensus.
The most special thing about Hajimi is that after entering the Chinese internet, it was continuously re-deconstructed into an entirely new cultural language.
Updated as of September 13, 2025.Cultural deconstruction has no endpoint; the internet continues to give “Hajimi” even more layers of meaning.
II. The Complete History of Hajimi’s Breakthrough, Deconstruction, and Viral Conquest in Web2 (2021–2026)
From “humming” → “cat/person” → “cute” → meaningless cultural symbol. Hajimi’s most core and typical feature is complete semantic deconstruction.
1. First Breakthrough: From humming lyrics to BGM, from closed circle to Web2 replicable virus — the beginning of the breakthrough and the budding period of semantic deconstruction.
Key event: Bilibili UP master “Jingqiao Shana” released the “Genesis Secondary Creation of the Hajimi Music Series” on November 19, 2022. She mixed the anime protagonist’s casual humming with the CLANNAD BGM Two Fools, creating an infinitely loopable brainwash track and openly allowing commercial secondary creation rights. This turned a simple hum into an audio virus that could be infinitely copied, perfectly suited for short-video loops, breaking out of the closed anime circle into full Web2 dissemination.2. Second Breakthrough: Initial deconstruction, binding with cats/cute things, semantic reconstruction, Douyin explosion (Dec 2022 – Apr 2023) — semantic rewriting and viral ignition.
Douyin users began pairing the BGM with their own cat / stray cat videos, and the usage “Hajimi = cat” emerged. Netizens completely forgot the original meaning — this was the first large-scale semantic deconstruction of a word in Chinese internet history. The whole internet reached consensus: Hajimi = cute cat.
At the same time, many Chinese parents started using Hajimi with videos of their babies, so Hajimi was also deconstructed into a synonym for babies and cute things.
Thus, the first major semantic deconstruction of Hajimi was completed.3. Third stage: Abstraction, irony, and meaninglessness
Mambo, round-head abstract expression packs, and ultimate chaotic secondary creations added a layer of absurdity and nonsense to Hajimi culture.
Hajimi music characteristics: extremely simple and repetitive melody, illogical lyrics, abstract and magical visuals — purely for fun, teasing, and meme socializing.
Deep deconstruction: Web2 users no longer needed literal meaning; they only needed emotion, atmosphere, and social currency, completing the value deconstruction of “Hajimi”.4. User occupation: Nationwide recognition, universal usage, cross-age penetration.
Age coverage: children → teenagers → college students → working adults → middle-aged and elderly short-video users. It became a national-level internet symbol across ages, occupations, and regions.
Social occupation: fully covered WeChat, QQ, comment sections, video app bullet screens, and the expression pack universe. It became the standard social language for Gen Z.[Image: Douyin single-platform Hajimi data as of May 12, 2026]
Shows 55 billion plays and 5 million participants (Douyin-only data, #
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The Hajimi music system originated from an anime mondegreen hum and was massively produced and spread by Chinese UP masters and netizens, spawning countless MADs and ghost edits. It has now become a complete, infinitely generative music ecosystem with over 10,000 secondary tracks and hundreds of billions of plays.
Brands across China used Hajimi music for store promotions, further accelerating its spread.[Image: Premier League using the Hajimi meme during the 2025 Premier League year-end carnival week.]QQ Music Official Activity:
“Hajimi Zone” officially launched, along with the Hajimi Music Competition (official secondary creation / AI creation contest).
Full Hajimi music library (4,000+ tracks) categorized as Healing / Ghost / Mambo / North-South Green Bean, etc.
Exclusive Hajimi skins, ringtones, and expression packs available for free.
Data: 50 million visits in 3 days, 8 million users collected the zone in 10 days (QQ Music DAU ≈ 75–85 million).Hajimi music has become the largest “abstract subcultural music phenomenon” on the internet and remains a classic meme music symbol with long-term value in Web2 subculture, short-video ecosystems, youth social contexts, and music platforms.Hajimi’s Brand Effect: From Internet Meme to Phenomenal Commercial IP
Hajimi has evolved from a simple music meme, short-video BGM, and cute expression pack into a phenomenon-level cultural IP and commercial symbol with strong traffic attraction, high user stickiness, strong monetization power, and cross-circle breaking capability.
Traffic Effect: Nationwide screen domination with built-in “no-copyright” attribute.
Commercial Monetization Effect: Directly turned into physical bestsellers and drove sales and stock prices.
After Joyoung soymilk’s “Hajimi North-South Green Bean Soymilk” sold out and caused its stock to hit the limit-up, the company launched new products in 2026 such as Hajimi slow-peel lemon honey water. Dozens of well-known Chinese companies across electronics, food, etc. released Hajimi series products, triggering market FOMO.
Offline, over 600 companies in China containing “Hajimi” in their names were established in three years, spanning food, pet hospitals, children’s toys/clothing, media, cultural exhibitions, etc.
Hajimi is the first Chinese internet “meme economy” case to achieve full-chain, cross-platform, and breakthrough into capital and physical economy — the largest and most complete one to date. AI Era Boost: Hajimi integrates even faster into global local internet cultures.
In early 2026, the “Cat vs Monster” series videos triggered massive AI secondary creations domestically and internationally. AI movies, original AI songs, etc. continue to emerge, lowering the barrier for creation to zero and breaking language and regional barriers.Official and Regional Support for Meme Culture
Hajimi, as a representative of China’s “meme economy” culture, has been repeatedly used and praised by official accounts. People’s Daily online called the “Hajimi Universe” a successful native Chinese cultural IP. Local cultural tourism bureaus, government anti-fraud departments, and even the national Communist Youth League have all actively borrowed Hajimi for positive-energy campaigns, youth day promotions, and non-heritage markets.
Conclusion:
After five years of development, Hajimi has grown from a niche mondegreen meme into a top-tier cultural symbol and phenomenon-level IP that spans the entire internet. Its popularity remains enduring, it has swept all circles nationwide, and commercial collaborations, cultural tourism empowerment, and brand leverage are in full bloom. From subcultural breakout to mainstream recognition, it has become the most vital, influential, and commercially valuable hot meme of the internet era.Cultural deconstruction has no endpoint; the internet continues to give “Hajimi” more meaning.
We don’t become the next whoever — we just become the first Hajimi.
“do it for love”
Keep Hajigood!
Hajimen Forever ♥
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