A video of faith leaders praying over President Donald Trump inside the White House recently went viral and was largely mocked. The clip took on an entirely different life once it reached social media users in China, who turned it into a parody.
On March 6, the Trump administration released footage showing pastors surrounding the president during prayer as the Iran war developed to its present state. Several of the religious leaders placed their hands on Trump or each other's shoulders while delivering the blessing.
The scene gave Trump the appearance of a religious leader that the gathered people were praying over, which raised eyebrows.
The imagery spread to China, where people began recreating the image. Instead of pastors and politicians, though, the participants were often small-business employees and departmental staff and their bosses.
Chinese social media turned the prayer circle into a workplace meme
Now, Chinese business owners are staging their own versions of the scene. In screenshots shared from Weibo and Doyuin, employees gathered in circles, rested their hands on coworkers’ shoulders or heads, and "prayed" for company success.
@Eivor_Koy shared images on X and claimed the parody had spread widely across Chinese social media platforms.
"Bosses at small businesses and factories are rounding up their employees to make fun of the stunt—forming a circle, placing hands on shoulders or heads, and praying in a humorous way for 'better sales, higher incomes for every worker and the whole company,'" the post read.
Eivor continued, "Videos of these ‘prayer circles’ are blowing up on Douyin and Weibo. Not sure how much divine favor the White House actually summoned, but these Chinese bosses? They straight-up turned the Oval Office prayer stunt into free global marketing gold🤣"
Meanwhile, other people online circulated similar examples. One clip shared by @XH_Lee23 showed a manager leading workers through a mock prayer, captioned, "A Chinese boss leads his team to pray for huge sales."
People couldn't help but laugh at the growing trend
The trend didn’t stay limited to X, as Redditors also noticed the parody videos appearing online.
A post on the r/SipsTea subreddit carried the headline, "People in China are turning Trump’s Oval Office prayer pic into a meme."
Meanwhile, historian Tong Bingxue (@visuals_china) described the videos as a marketing stunt spreading through businesses in an Instagram post.
"Business owners are gathering their employees, forming circles, and jokingly praying for… better sales and higher bonuses 😂," Tong wrote. "The videos are blowing up on Douyin and Weibo — proof that sometimes the best marketing is free. Whether it brought divine intervention? Debatable. But global attention? Absolutely. 🙌"
However, not every reaction focused on marketing or humor. Some folks on social media framed the parody trend as open ridicule of the White House gathering.
"The Chinese are now openly mocking Trump's White House prayer sessions on social media," X user @P_Kallioniemi wrote.
Meanwhile, @tiberiusfiles compared the trend to Trump’s past claims about global respect for the United States. "Trump: America is respected like never before. Reality: America is hated, mocked, and disrespected like never before (justifiably)."
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