“Melon eating people” is a popular Chinese colloquial phrase that refers to groups in online communities. These groups are often described as “social media fans” who are often represented as “naive” and unable to see the whole truth. 

The internet has given space for “melon eating people” to be identified as such, yet these types of behaviours have existed regardless of the internet. Depicted through nostalgic visuals, the contemporary phenomenon of “melon eating people” becomes displaced. Melon Eating People subverts the tacky conventions associated with Asian immigrant culture, further enhancing a mood of being “out of place”.