跑路
What Does 跑路 Mean?
When a company collapses or its founders flee with investors' money. Emerging around 2018, became common during the crypto and fintech boom when fraudulent schemes collapsed and operators disappeared.
Origin Story
跑路 is an ancient Chinese phrase (dating back centuries in martial arts novels and criminal slang), but its modern internet usage crystallized around 2015-2018 during the P2P lending crisis. Hundreds of peer-to-peer lending platforms collapsed during this period, with many operators fleeing overseas with billions of yuan in investor funds. Each new collapse became a trending topic, and 跑路 became the standard shorthand for these events. The crypto boom of 2017-2018 further cemented the term's association with financial fraud.
Cultural Context
跑路 (Run Away / Abscond) gained new life in the 2010s as China's tech and finance sectors experienced waves of boom and bust. The term originally referred to fleeing from danger or trouble in a general sense, but it became specifically associated with startup founders and P2P lending platform operators who disappeared with investors' money when their businesses collapsed. This became such a common occurrence that 跑路 developed its own genre of news coverage: the grainy surveillance photo of a founder walking through an airport, the WeChat group of angry investors comparing notes, the ritual of showing up at the company office to find it emptied overnight. The cultural resonance of 跑路 extends beyond finance — it's become a darkly humorous way to describe any situation where someone bails on their responsibilities, from a friend who ghosts a group dinner to a colleague who quits right before a deadline. The term's popularity reflects a broader anxiety about trust and accountability in China's fast-paced digital economy. The term originated and spread primarily on Weibo.
Similar Expressions in English
暴雷 (bào léi)割韭菜 (gē jiǔ cài)跑得了和尚跑不了庙 (pǎo dé liǎo hé shang pǎo bù liǎo miào)
How Is It Used?
Chinese Explanation (中文解释)
公司倒闭或老板逃离，常用于形容互联网公司经营失败和创始人卷款跑路的事件。