The 2025 Jiangsu City Football League (hereinafter referred to as "Su Chao") is currently being held, with one representative team from each of the 13 prefecture level cities in Jiangsu participating in the competition. Over the past month since the start of the competition, 'Su Chao' has become a phenomenon level cultural event that has swept across the country. This football tournament has received widespread attention, not only because the participants are ordinary people, bringing football back to purity, but also because the tournament brings various regional cultural memes, and even triggers meme competitions online. The seemingly humorous cultural memes of "Chu Han War", "Morning Tea Derby", and "Food Battle" have already surpassed the outcome of the competition and become regional cultural carnivals that are both humorous and profound. The persistence of Chinese people in regional culture may be seen from the emphasis on "native place". Everyone should mark their "hometown" as soon as they are born, and it becomes the identity information that accompanies them throughout their life. Hometown is not only a simple geographical coordinate, but also a carrier of family history and cultural genes. When strangers meet for the first time, asking 'where are you from?' is essentially an exploration of the emotional connections and identity recognition behind regional culture. In the context of football matches, teams become a living carrier of regional culture. Fans' support for their hometown teams naturally extends to the promotion and protection of their hometown regional culture, which is an emotional logic engraved in the cultural gene of Chinese people. In past football matches, regional cultural clashes were often presented with direct and even slightly sharp attacks, and fans from different regions would engage in heated debates due to cultural differences. But the cultural meme of "Su Chao" has turned this confrontation into a twist - the cultural characteristics and differences between different cities are woven into the arena and beyond in a fun and resonant way, turning "cultural confrontation" from tension to joyful interaction, opening up new paths for regional cultural exchange. Interesting decoding of regional culture: The following are cultural memes derived from "Su Chao", from which we can see the historical context, food culture, local products, and even economic development of some cities. 1. "Chu Han Battle" (Xuzhou vs Suqian): A modern interpretation of the historical background of the match between Xuzhou and Suqian teams, known as "Chu Han Battle 2.0". Xuzhou is the hometown of Liu Bang, the founder of Han Dynasty, and Suqian is the hometown of Xiang Yu, the ruler of Western Chu. The story of Xiang Yu and Liu Bang's "Chu Han rivalry" on the "Su Chao" field has become a unique cultural symbol of fan interaction. When two teams face each other on the green field, the competition is a deep tribute to their respective hero narratives and regional personalities. The cheers and shouts of the fans give new historical connotations, making historical allusions come alive in the rhythm of football and become a spiritual bridge connecting ancient and modern times. 2. "Morning Tea Derby" (Yangzhou vs. Zhenjiang): The joyful clash of food culture and the fun cultural meme of "Morning Tea Derby" have made the unique cuisine of Yangzhou and Zhenjiang shine on the stage of "Su Chao". Yangzhou morning tea, known for its elegance, is a taste that showcases the aesthetic taste of Jianghuai cuisine; The Zhenjiang cuisine that wins with fragrance is another expression of the wisdom of Yangtze River cuisine. On the "Su Chao" competition field, two distinctive foods infused with daily fireworks flavors were pieced together, becoming a concrete expression of the cultural competition and integration between the two regions. Amidst the teasing and cheers of the fans, the lightness of morning tea and the richness of the meat dishes complement each other, showcasing the diverse culinary cultures of the two regions in the competition. 3. "Food War" (Nanjing vs. Wuxi): Creative collision of product symbols. The fragrant and salty Nanjing salted duck and the sweet Wuxi peach are two local specialties that have no intersection, but they collide in the cultural meme of "Food War" in "Su Chao" and create wonderful sparks. This idea excavates the symbolic value behind the specialty, "losing peach with salt, winning salted duck with sugar", transforming taste traits into metaphors for victory or defeat in the competition. In the jokes and ridicule of fans, the differences in taste between the north and south of Jiangsu have become one of the local cultural characteristics, just like the defense and attack on the football field, which, under the stimulation of taste and vision, depict the diverse texture of Jiangsu's regional culture. 4. "Seafood Brotherhood" (Nantong vs. Lianyungang): The brotherhood narrative of ocean culture. The cultural meme of "Seafood Brotherhood" breaks through the traditional narrative mode of confrontation and constructs a "brotherhood connection" based on regional culture. The seafood from Nantong and Lianyungang share both similarities and unique characteristics in terms of category and flavor. The setting of "brotherhood" downplays the sharpness of regional cultural confrontation, and portrays the warmth of cultural commonalities from a gentle perspective of harmony and diversity. It achieves friendly interaction between commonalities and differences, and broadens the dimension of regional cultural dialogue. 5. "Sunan Derby" (Suzhou vs Wuxi): the reality of economic and people's livelihood reflects the "Sunan Derby" of Suzhou and Wuxi, focusing on the real issues such as the game between the two regions' GDP, the ownership of the Taihu Lake Lake, and integrating regional economy and people's livelihood into the event. As a twin star in the economic landscape of southern Jiangsu, Suzhou has led Jiangsu in GDP for a long time, while Wuxi is famous for its private economy and manufacturing industry. Netizens use "the Taihu Lake Lake vs Airport" to compare the implicit competition between the two cities in ecological resources and transportation hub status. This cultural meme breaks the boundary between sports events and regional economy, guiding people to think about the dialectical relationship between competition and cooperation in regional economic development with light hearted and humorous language, and endowing sports events with more economic and social exploration value. In the past, the carriers of regional cultural dissemination were mostly traditional cultural tourism advertisements, folk activities, etc., with limited audience coverage. Sports events have a huge audience base and diverse dissemination matrix, providing a natural "breakthrough" soil for the dissemination of cultural memes. Vivid and humorous cultural memes leverage the traffic potential of sports events to break down the "circle barriers" of regional cultural dissemination, open the door for regional culture to cross circles, and reach a wider audience. The dilemma of regional cultural inheritance is usually manifested as the disconnection between traditional symbols and modern contexts. This time, fans of 'Su Chao' combined historical allusions, dietary habits, and other elements with internet language and modern entertainment forms to give regional culture a new form of expression. The innovative narrative of this cultural meme has activated the expression of regional culture, transforming it from a "static symbol" in ancient literature to a "dynamic content" that young people are willing to create and share, achieving a two-way interaction between regional cultural inheritance and innovation, and providing new ideas for regional cultural dissemination. The essence of the "Su Chao" cultural meme is the emotional cohesion and release of regional culture. In the context of 'Su Chao', the creation, dissemination, and interaction of cultural memes have strengthened fans' identification with local culture. On the field, fans cheer for the history, cuisine, and products of their respective hometowns, which is actually a ceremony to express regional cultural identity, gather and release regional cultural emotions. This makes regional cultural identity no longer abstract, but a participatory collective experience, which will lay a more solid social and psychological foundation for the inheritance of regional culture. The innovative expression of the cultural meme "Su Chao" originates from the clever exploration of regional cultural symbols. The dissemination of these "cultural memes" inadvertently opened a window for the external display of Jiangsu's regional culture. When the "Morning Tea Derby" became popular, fans and even ordinary netizens across the country learned about the delicacy of Yangzhou morning tea and the uniqueness of Zhenjiang cuisine; When "the struggle between Chu and Han" became the topic, the story of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, and the historical origin of Xuzhou and Suqian also entered the national people's vision. At this time, the "Su Chao" sports event has surpassed the level of competition and become a showcase of Jiangsu's regional culture, showcasing the unique cultures of various regions in Jiangsu. This kind of display is not a slogan style promotion, but a natural expression with emotional warmth and quality of life, so it is more infectious and contagious. Many people may ask why the cultural meme "Su Chao" has successfully gained popularity? This is actually the result of the combination of folk wisdom and regional emotions. On the one hand, these "memes" use football as a fuse to activate the regional cultural memories deeply hidden in the hearts of urban residents; On the other hand, these "memes" cleverly transform potential regional competition awareness into a creative cultural display and emotional expression. Every shout and mockery on the field invisibly reinforces the identity coordinates of "who am I" and "where do I come from", and also deepens the understanding of the "opponent" through laughter. In today's era, technology constantly deconstructs and reshapes culture, and the widespread attention to the "Su Chao" cultural meme proves that cultural identity rooted in a certain soil and water has a resilient and tenacious vitality. This reminds us that while pursuing economic development, those unique cultural memories, life wisdom, and collective emotions are worth cherishing, because when the final whistle blows, winning or losing may be forgotten, but those cultural memories, life wisdom, and collective emotions are like an invisible thread, connecting our answers to "where did we come from and where are we going", so that everyone who runs around in the tide of the times can touch the temperature in their blood at some moment and understand that their life roots have never truly left the land that nourishes them. Author: Song Wei (Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Sport University)