In pole position: Cross-legged pole hugging challenge goes viral on Chinese social media

A challenge that involves sitting cross-legged while hugging lamp posts is going viral on Chinese social media, with the antic pole-larising netizens over safety concerns and entertainment.

In this challenge, people wrap their legs in a cross-legged fashion around a lamp post or any vertical pole, slide and sit down, before they try to get back up and uncross their legs.

There have been at least 100 videos of netizens attempting the challenge on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu since the start of April, under the hashtag “cross-legged hugging small pillar”. The trend appears to have started in April.

In some instances, netizens were unable to free themselves from the pole-carious position and had to ask their friends to help.

One man thought he was in pole position to complete the goal, but quickly found the challenge to be a formidable foe.

In a video uploaded to Xiaohongshu on April 3, a man with the username Butcher and Lamb is seen reacting to a video of another man who got stuck attempting the challenge.

“I don’t believe that he can’t get up from this position,” he says, before the video cuts to him and his fellow non-believer attempting the challenge.

The man, who is 40, according to his account information, goes first. He wraps his legs around the pole and slides down, but getting back up is trickier. He struggles for about one minute before he emerges victorious from his cross-legged prison.

His friend goes next, but is not as successful. He also struggles for about one minute, but his attempt ends with him begging the 40-year-old man to relieve him of his woe.

One netizen commented: “I’m going to go downstairs and try it myself.”

Those who free themselves from the position usually rotate their body around the pole such that they may free one of their legs first. Another method involves using their upper body strength to pull themselves off the ground so they may extend their feet and stand.

The challenge carries hidden safety risks, including injuring the knee joints or compressing blood vessels in the lower limbs, the South China Morning Post quoted a police officer as saying.

In a comment in one of the videos, a netizen said: “It feels like a bone could be broken at any moment.”

Across many of the videos, netizens criticised how unhygienic the poles could be, saying that dogs might have peed on them.

Checks by The Straits Times show that similar videos have existed since 2019. Back then, however, people found themselves dumbfounded and cross-legged at the foot of a pole as a result of a prank pulled by friends.

This stands in contrast to the self-inflicted nature of the challenge in 2026.