About CNMemes

What is CNMemes?

CNMemes is an English-language dictionary of Chinese internet memes — the slang, reaction images, phrases, and cultural shorthand that define how hundreds of millions of people communicate online. Every entry is written for people with no prior knowledge of Chinese, and includes where the meme came from, what social moment it captured, and how it's actually used.

Why does it exist?

Chinese internet culture is one of the most creative and fast-moving in the world, but almost none of it crosses the language barrier. When someone says 内卷, yyds, 显眼包, or 摆烂, there's a whole world of meaning packed into those characters. CNMemes exists to make that world accessible.

Whether you're learning Chinese, working with Chinese colleagues, following Chinese media, or just curious — this is where you start.

Two types of memes

Word memes (521 entries) — internet slang, viral phrases, and expressions. The words Chinese people use online that carry cultural weight no translation can capture: 内卷, 躺平, yyds, 显眼包. Each entry explains what the phrase means, the social context behind it, and how it's actually used in a sentence.

Image memes (48 entries) — reaction faces, viral photos, and meme formats: the visual language of Chinese social media. From Ge You Slump to the Capybara, from Yao Ming Face to the Subject 3 dance — each image meme entry includes origin story, cultural context, and how the image functions as a reaction or template.

How entries are written

Each entry includes: the Chinese original, pinyin, an English equivalent or gloss, a plain-English explanation assuming zero background, cultural context explaining the social forces behind the meme, and for the most significant ones, an origin story tracing exactly where it started. Image meme entries also explain how the visual is used as a reaction or format.

Updates

New entries are added regularly as new memes emerge. If you see something missing, send it in and we'll cover it. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to get new entries as they're published.

Editorial Standards

Every entry on CNMemes is researched and written by people who live in Chinese internet culture. Origin stories are traced to their earliest documented appearance on Chinese platforms. Cultural contexts are grounded in the actual communities that created each meme — not generic summaries. Examples are sourced from real usage on Weibo, Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and other platforms.

We don't machine-translate or auto-generate entries. Each one is individually crafted to explain not just what a meme means, but why it matters — the social tension, historical moment, or community dynamic that made it catch fire.

Who runs this

CNMemes is an independent project by a bilingual team immersed in both Chinese and English-language internet culture. We've spent years navigating Weibo threads, Bilibili danmu, Douyin trends, and WeChat groups — building the cross-cultural fluency needed to explain Chinese memes to English speakers without losing what makes them interesting.

Our editorial process draws on direct platform observation, primary source verification, and ongoing dialogue with native speakers across China's major internet communities. We believe that understanding how a billion people joke, argue, and connect online is not a niche interest — it's essential cultural literacy.

Contact

For meme suggestions, corrections, or collaboration: whycici@gmail.com