A European Heatwave Turned a Chinese Air Conditioner Into a Household Deity
A translated European post about a man worshipping his Midea portable air conditioner went viral on RedNote, where Chinese commenters declared the birth of a mechanical religion.
A man in Germany reportedly spent years experiencing summer as a seasonal form of punishment. Temperatures above 20C made him miserable. Heatwaves kept him indoors. He discussed moving to Iceland.
Then the household bought a Midea PortaSplit air conditioner.
According to an account circulated widely on RedNote, the improvement was so dramatic that ordinary gratitude developed into ritual practice. The man called the machine “the Savior,” “the Slayer of Hellfire” and “the Bringer of a Second Spring.” He sat in front of it with his eyes closed, embraced it and whispered that he was safe again.
When a balcony door remained open, he apologised for wasting its effort. Each morning, he placed an ice cube on a small plate as an offering.
Chinese commenters recognised the birth of a new religion.
Comfort became revelation
The story was funny because the behavior was excessive. It was persuasive because many readers understood the underlying relief.
Commenters from Chongqing, Guangdong, Wuhan and other hot regions described air conditioning in similarly spiritual terms. Some said they became unable to think above certain temperatures. Others recalled entering a cooled room after extreme heat and feeling as though they had returned to human life.
One user wrote that people are essentially raw meat and will begin to cook if the temperature rises enough.
A changing European relationship with cooling
Air conditioning has historically been less common in many European homes than in warmer parts of Asia and the United States. Intensifying heatwaves have made that absence increasingly difficult for people who live in buildings designed to retain warmth.
The original account turned that adjustment into a conversion narrative. The skeptical spouse had believed a ground-floor apartment did not need cooling. After the machine arrived, she acknowledged that she had underestimated the burden heat placed on her husband.
The appliance did not merely lower the temperature. It validated a discomfort others had treated as exaggeration.
What Chinese commenters said
“This is what the origin of the machine cult must have looked like.”
“Midea could never write advertising this strange.”
“Midea needs to invite him to visit the factory.”
A reply called the factory “Europeans’ own Jerusalem.”
The most memorable detail remained the ice cube. Giving ice to an air conditioner is technically unnecessary, symbolically appropriate and exactly the sort of act that separates a satisfied customer from a believer.