表情包

Think of 表情包 as China's answer to reaction GIFs and meme images, but turbocharged. These are curated collections of funny, expressive images — often featuring celebrities, cartoon characters, or absurdist screenshots with punchy captions — that Chinese netizens deploy in chat apps like WeChat to convey emotions faster than words ever could. Having a well-stocked 表情包 library is practically a social skill.

Around 2015, smartphone adoption exploded in China and WeChat became the dominant communication platform. As group chats grew, users needed quick, expressive ways to react — spawning a massive ecosystem of shareable image packs. Celebrities, anime characters, and political figures all became raw material, reflecting a generation communicating increasingly through visual humor rather than plain text.

表情包是指在网络聊天中用来表达情绪的搞笑图片或动图，常带有文字说明，广泛流传于微信、微博等平台。