History Main / DiggingToChina

* In one strip, ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible'' Hägar does not have any tulips in his garden because he planted the bulbs with the tips facing down. Meanwhile, two Chinese farmers wonder why their rice field is full of tulips.

In the mornin' and plow\\

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', the dub version, Jessie of Team Rocket instructs the others to dig to China, though whether [[FictionalEarth China exists in the Pokemon world is vague]].

** In [[WesternAnimation/WarAndPieces1964 "War and Pieces,"]] Wile E. Coyote's rocket does a u-turn on a cliff face, smashes into the ground and burrows through the Earth to China, where he meets a Chinese Road Runner (identical to the American one, but wearing a [[OnceAcceptableTargets stereotypical]] [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats Chinese coolie hat]] and geta).

UK writers are more likely to end up in UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} and vice versa, Russian writers are more likely to end up in UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}} or random Pacific island, and Japanese writers more likely in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. Other destinations are possible, as long as the target is far enough way. The tunnel is usually dead straight and under the RuleOfCool goes anywhere the plot desires. Wherever they end up, it will usually be ''conspicuously'' foreign with as many stereotyped visual cues on display as possible. In China, they often say that if you dig hard enough you will end up in UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.

* ''VideoGame/MrDriller'' is all about digging your way through different parts of the world. Yes, that includes China.

->'''Argus:''' Where are the eggs?\\
'''Zoe:''' The holes came out on the other side of the Dragon Worlds! [The fairies] found some of the eggs, but they were too heavy to carry back!\\

'''Zoe:''' The holes come up on the other side of the Dragon Worlds! [The fairies] found some of the eggs, but they were too heavy to carry back!\\

->'''Arglas:''' Where are the eggs?\\

-> '''Gildas:''' Where are the eggs?\\
'''Zoe:''' The holes come up on the other side of the Dragon Worlds! [''The fairies''] found some of the eggs, but they were too heavy to carry back!\\

* Showed up as a gag in the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "For Your Ed Only". Jonny falls out of Ed's bubblegum balloon and hits the ground so hard he ends up going through the Earth and ending up in China. This is immediately {{lampshade|Hanging}}d: "Wow, China! Just like in [[YouWatchTooMuchX the cartoons]]!" [[StatusQuoIsGod He's back in America at the end of the episode]] because Plank was "afraid of getting turned into chopsticks".

** In another episode, Bart's digging a deep hole in the back yard for no apparent reason is actually being monitored by Chinese spy satellites. This turns out to be [[spoiler: a ShaggyDogStory being told by Homer about how "eventually, I became King of the Morlocks."]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In order to actually dig to China, one would have to start in Argentina or Chile.
* There is a well known Russian joke about a teacher who asks a student "Where will we get if we start digging a tunnel from here through the center of the Earth". The boy's answer? "Into a madhouse".
* Kids occasionally get covered in mud and wreck garden lawns in a spirited effort to get to the traditional destination. It's extra amusing when the kids live in Australia or New Zealand. Unless they are reasonably observant Chinese kids.

* At the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, part of the presentation "handing off" the Olympics to the next host city, Tokyo, was a video of the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, turning into [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] and traveling from Japan to Brazil by jumping into a Warp Pipe through the Earth. After the video, the real Abe emerged from a fake Warp Pipe in the Rio stadium! (Rio and Tokyo aren't really directly opposite each other, but Japan's antipodes are just off Brazil's Atlantic coast, so... close enough.)

[[folder:Film]]

* The islands of New Britain and New Ireland, near Borneo, were so named because they were (erroneously) thought to be the antipodes of the British Isles.

* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' has an EasterEgg on the achievement page involving Chinese zombies. It's deceptively simple to find.

[[caption-width-right:348:Um, Plank? [[Film/TheWizardOfOz I don't think we're in Peach Creek anymore]].[[note]]By the way, the image is upside down in the original cartoon. He went all the way through the core just to get there.[[/note]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies'' episode that crossed over with ''WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily'' saw Pugsley digging to China through his sandbox. When Morticia chides him for being ridiculous, Pugsley tells the Chinese boy just under the surface that he'll have to go back home.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "D & DD", Dexter's [[BlandNameProduct Monsters and Mazes]] character ("Hodo, the [[{{Hobbits}} Furry-Footed Burrower]]") digs a tunnel to escape a dragon, winds up in China... and is nearly eaten by an ''Asian-style'' dragon. [[note]]This might be a GeniusBonus joke for ''D&D'' nerds since, in the then-current edition, Asian dragons were much deadlier opponents than Western ones.[[/note]]

* In ''Comicbook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'', Mon-El, recently freed from [[FateWorseThanDeath the Phantom Zone]], goes through the earth to get from East Coast North America to Japan. Supergirl questions this and Mon-El explained that this was the first time in 1,000 years he had a physical form, and actually wanted to feel the rock he was plowing through.

UK writers are more likely to end up in UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} and vice versa, and Japanese writers more likely in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. Other destinations are possible, as long as the target is far enough way. The tunnel is usually dead straight and under the RuleOfCool goes anywhere the plot desires. Wherever they end up, it will usually be ''conspicuously'' foreign with as many stereotyped visual cues on display as possible. In China, they often say that if you dig hard enough you will end up in UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.

* The ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' episode, "Deep Trouble" features an ImagineSpot where Monty, having fallen down a mine shaft, continues to fall through the Earth until he in ends up in Australia.[[note]]''Thomas'' is a British television series, after all.[[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Gyro Gearloose did at one point blast a tunnel through the Earth with a big laser drill, singeing the tail feathers of a tribal duck on the other side as the meter-wide laser shot out of the ground behind him. Donald Duck was the test pilot of a pod that was dropped into the hole, and he ended up going back and forth through the Earth like a pendulum a couple of times (upside down on the other side of course).