摸鱼

Literally 'touching fish' (or 'catching fish with bare hands'), this meme describes the art of goofing off during work hours — browsing social media, online shopping, or just staring into the void while technically on the clock. It's the Chinese office worker's sardonic badge of honor: not laziness, but quiet resistance against grinding 996 culture. If you're reading this at work, congratulations, you're already doing it.

摸鱼 surged in popularity around 2020 as China's brutal 996 work culture (9am–9pm, 6 days a week) sparked widespread burnout and online backlash. Rather than overt protest, many young workers adopted passive resistance — slacking subtly. The meme gave that behavior a name, a community, and a wink of solidarity among overworked millennials and Gen-Z employees.

上班摸鱼指在工作时间偷懒、做私事，借鱼难抓比喻偷闲的状态。