The craze was spurred on by a challenge from Nigerian website KRAKS TV that posted this photo to its Twitter account.
Chinese TV personality Li Sisi posted a photo of her trying the challenge onto her Weibo page and challenged web users to make a knot with their fingers.
Li's followers immediately joined in and created more difficult hand tricks.
Why some can and some can't
Dr Jane Simmonds, a registered physiotherapist at the University College London, said those who could perform the difficult finger tricks are likely to have joint hypermobility, a common phenomenon present in 20 to 30 percent of the general population, according to the Daily Mail's report.
As Dr Simmonds said, joint hypermobility is more common in children and females, and also in Asian and Afro-Caribbean ethnic populations, which may be a reason for the popularity of finger tricks in China.
Daniel Brown, a consultant hand surgeon at The Bone & Joint Centre at Spire Liverpool Hospital, said only a small number of people can do the finger trick that Chinese actor Zhang Yishan has performed.
