种草

Imagine someone casually mentioning a skincare product, a restaurant, or a TV show — and suddenly you absolutely must have it. That's 种草 in action. Literally 'planting grass' (i.e., seeding desire in someone's mind), it describes the act of recommending something so convincingly that the listener is immediately infected with the urge to buy or try it. The person doing the recommending is the gardener; your wallet is the soil.

As China's social commerce boom exploded around 2019–2021, platforms like Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) and Douyin turned everyday users into micro-influencers. 种草 became the lingua franca of this ecosystem — a word that captured how peer recommendations, unboxing videos, and lifestyle aesthetics quietly colonized consumer desires, blurring the line between genuine enthusiasm and soft advertising.

指通过分享或推荐，让别人对某产品或事物产生强烈购买或尝试的欲望。