Video Platform Active

B站

Bilibili

"Youth culture, anime, and the algorithm-powered meme factory"

Founded 2009

Peak Era 2015–present

Category Video Platform

About Bilibili

Bilibili started as an anime fansite and grew into China's premier youth culture platform, now with over 300 million monthly active users. Its 'barrage' (弹幕) comment system — where comments scroll across the video in real time — creates a collective viewing experience unlike anything in the West.

Why It Matters for Meme Culture

Bilibili's 弹幕 system is where Chinese internet humor gets its most creative workout. When something funny happens on screen, thousands of users react simultaneously and the screen fills with jokes, references, and in-jokes that create their own meta-layer of meaning. This spawned meme formats unique to Bilibili — 'ghost comments' that appear years later referencing events that hadn't happened when the video was uploaded. Bilibili is also where 'up主' (content creator) culture thrives, and where Gen-Z Chinese people go to learn, not just to be entertained.

Known For

Barrage comments (弹幕)

Anime & ACG culture

Long-form educational content

Year-end galas (拜年纪)

Memes from Bilibili

2025

Horse-face Skirt

The horse-face skirt is a classic Han Chinese garment with a distinctive flat front panel, and in 2025 it exploded from costume-nerd niche into full-blown mainstream fashion. Think of it as China's answer to cottagecore — young women wear it to Starbucks, on dates, and to exams, blending dynasty-era elegance with sneakers. It became a meme because the name sounds hilariously unglamorous for something so elegant, and because everyone's auntie suddenly started gifting them one.

2025 still popular fandom

★★★★★

2024

黑神话悟空

Black Myth: Wukong

Hēi Shénhuà Wùkōng

Black Myth: Wukong is China's first genuine AAA blockbuster game, released in August 2024 by Game Science. Featuring the legendary Monkey King Sun Wukong in stunning visuals, it shattered expectations for Chinese game development and sold millions of copies globally within days. Online it became shorthand for 'proof China can compete with the best' — sparking pride, hype, and endless memes about skipping work or school to play it.

2024 still popular fandom gaming

★★★★★

巴黎奥运梗

Paris Olympics Memes

Bālí Àoyùn gěng

A sprawling family of memes born during the 2024 Paris Olympics, covering everything from viral athlete moments and judging controversies to absurdist fan edits. Chinese netizens latched onto underdog wins, photogenic losses, and questionable referee calls with equal enthusiasm. Key hits included reactions to shooting champion Xie Yu's ice-cold demeanor, the breakdancing fiasco, and the eternal 'did the ref cheat us?' discourse. Think of it as China's Super Bowl meme cycle, but with more national pride and way more Photoshop.

2024 classic fandom

★★★★☆

2023

Harbin (affectionate nickname)

"Ěr bīn" is a cutesy, affectionate shorthand for Harbin (哈尔滨), the icy northeastern city that became China's surprise tourism darling in winter 2023. Chinese netizens, charmed by Harbin's over-the-top hospitality and dazzling ice sculptures, started calling it "尔滨" — a playful, almost teasing nickname, like calling a celebrity by a pet name. The city itself leaned into the hype, and the meme became a love letter from the internet to a city that finally got its moment in the spotlight.

2023 still popular consumerism fandom

★★★★★

Kowtowing for XX / Bowing Down to XX

wèi XX kē tóu

Picture yourself so overwhelmed by someone's talent, kindness, or sheer perfection that you drop to your knees and press your forehead to the floor — that's the vibe. Chinese netizens use this phrase to express over-the-top admiration or gratitude, borrowing the ancient kowtow gesture as hyperbolic internet slang. It can be sincere fan worship, playful self-deprecation, or sarcastic submission to life's misfortunes. The 'XX' slot is swappable for any idol, coworker, dish, or abstract concept.

2023 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Dig, Dig, Dig / The Kindergarten Teacher Song

From a children's song — 'in the tiny tiny garden, we dig and dig and dig' — performed by a kindergarten teacher in a short video. In spring 2023 the clip went inexplicably, massively viral. The gentle, repetitive melody and the teacher's sweet delivery hypnotized the entire Chinese internet for weeks. Everyone sang it, parodied it, analyzed why it was so catchy, and debated the sudden fame (and monetization) of the teachers who performed it.

2023 fading internet-culture humor

★★★★☆

Kicked the Bucket / Done For

Northeastern Chinese dialect for dying or being finished. 嘎 imitates an abrupt cut-off sound — like something stopping suddenly. 嘎了 is used lightly and comically: a game character dies (嘎了), a plant you forgot to water 嘎了, a plan falls apart (嘎了). The dialect flavor makes it casual and funny rather than morbid — it's death and failure delivered with a shrug and a regional accent.

2023 still popular humor gaming

★★★★☆

Honkai: Star Rail Activated / HSR Mode: On

Bēng Tiě Qǐdòng

A tongue-in-cheek declaration that one is about to — or has already — lost all productivity to the gacha RPG Honkai: Star Rail. Think of it as a personal emergency broadcast: 'Warning, this person is now offline from real life.' Players use it to humorously confess that the game has consumed their evening, weekend, or entire sense of responsibility. It doubles as both an excuse and a badge of honor among fans.

2023 classic fandom gaming

★★★☆☆

2022

Barbecued / It's All Over / We're Toast

A phonetic rendering of the English 'BBQ' (barbecue). When something is barbecued, it's been cooked over fire — finished, done, toast. 芭比Q了 means 'it's all over' or 'we're cooked,' usually said with comic dismay. The phrase exploded from a viral video where a game streamer dramatically announced '完了完了，芭比Q了' (it's over, it's over, we're barbecued) when his game character died. The absurd mismatch between the cheerful word 'barbecue' and the doom it describes is the entire joke.

2022 still popular humor internet-culture

★★★★★

Epic Fail / Crash and Burn

Literally 'the car flipped over,' 翻车 describes a spectacular, public failure — especially when someone was riding high and suddenly faceplants in front of an audience. It can apply to a celebrity whose PR stunt backfires, a livestreamer who drops their phone mid-flex, or a friend who confidently orders in English and gets it completely wrong. The beauty is in the hubris-to-humiliation arc. Part mockery, part schadenfreude, part affectionate ribbing — often used by the person themselves with a self-deprecating shrug.

2022 classic fandom

★★★★☆

刘畊宏女孩

Liu Genghong Girls

Liú Gēnghóng nǚhái

During Shanghai's COVID lockdown in spring 2022, fitness influencer Liu Genghong (Taiwanese pop star Will Liu) started live-streaming high-energy dance workouts on Douyin. Millions of mostly young women joined in daily, sweating along to 'Compendium of Materia Medica' remixes in their living rooms. A 'Liu Genghong Girl' is someone who went from couch potato to dedicated home-workout devotee almost overnight — equal parts fitness trend, parasocial fandom, and lockdown coping mechanism.

2022 classic fandom

★★★★☆

It's Over / Done For / RIP

Internet slang for 'it's over' or 'done for.' 寄 (to mail/send) became a homophone-adjacent substitute for 完了 (finished) — partly because 寄 sounds vaguely like the English 'GG' and partly through gaming culture. When you fail an exam, when a plan collapses, when your team is losing badly: 寄了. It carries a tone of resigned acceptance — not panic, just the flat acknowledgment that this particular thing has ended badly.

2022 still popular internet-culture gaming

★★★★☆

Sneaky Player / The Underhanded One

From gaming culture (particularly CS:GO, where a five-player team's unpredictable extra is the 'sixth man'). A 老六 is the player who doesn't play by the rules — camping in corners, ambushing from behind, winning through sneaky unconventional tactics rather than direct skill. Off the gaming context, calling someone 老六 means they're slyly underhanded, the person who does something unexpected and slightly devious. It can be an insult or grudging admiration.

2022 still popular gaming humor

★★★★☆

原神天花板

Genshin's ceiling / Genshin is the peak

Yuánshén tiānhuābǎn

Originally a fan boast that Genshin Impact represents the ceiling — the absolute best — of gacha mobile games, the phrase was gleefully weaponized into ironic self-deprecation. Chinese internet users started applying it to anything mediocre: 'If this is the ceiling, the floor must be underground.' It became a versatile tool for roasting games, workplaces, or life situations by pretending to praise them while actually implying nothing better exists — and that's a problem, not a flex.

2022 classic fandom gaming

★★★☆☆

Sheep A Sheep / Deceptively Hard Puzzle Game

yáng le gè yáng

A deceptively simple tile-matching mobile game that went explosively viral in 2022 for being nearly impossible to beat. The first level was child's play; the second level was sadistically hard — designed to be virtually unbeatable without watching ads or sharing the game. The rage-inducing difficulty combined with peer pressure to 'complete the daily challenge' created a mass social phenomenon.

2022 fading gaming

★★★☆☆

2021

Winning So Hard It's Gone Numb

Literally 'won so much it's gone numb,' this phrase captures the absurd joy of winning so overwhelmingly that you're beyond thrilled — you're desensitized. Think of it as the Chinese internet's way of humble-bragging with theatrical exaggeration. It's often used sarcastically when something surprisingly good happens, or ironically when things are actually going terribly. The meme thrives on that Gen-Z energy of deadpan overstatement.

2021 still popular gaming

★★★★★

Austin Li / 'The Lipstick King'

Li Jiaqi is China's most famous live-streaming salesman, nicknamed the 'Lipstick King' for his manic, high-energy cosmetics pitches. His catchphrase 'Oh my god, buy it!' became a cultural earworm. In 2021 he became a meme shorthand for irresistible consumer hype, impulse buying, and the surreal power of influencer culture — the guy who could sell out millions of products in minutes while screaming into a camera.

2021 classic consumerism fandom

★★★★★

The Ceiling of XX / The Ultimate XX

XX tiānhuābǎn

Literally 'the ceiling of [category],' this meme crowns someone or something as the absolute peak of a given field — the gold standard nobody can top. Think of it as the Chinese internet's way of saying 'this is as good as it gets.' Fans deploy it to hype their idols, foodies use it for legendary dishes, and office workers invoke it for that one impossibly competent colleague. It's hyperbolic praise with a tinge of awe, implying the subject has hit the physical upper limit of excellence.

2021 still popular fandom

★★★★★

Fam / My people

Picture a livestreamer leaning into the camera and addressing their audience as 'fam' — that's 家人们 in a nutshell. Originally a term for family members, it was hijacked by Chinese streamers and influencers to greet viewers with manufactured warmth, implying 'we're all one big family here.' It spread beyond livestreams into everyday speech, often used ironically when someone is about to share gossip, a hot take, or a humble brag dressed up as relatable struggle.

2021 still popular fandom

★★★★★

Absolutely amazeballs / So freaking [adjective]

A Gen-Z intensifier born from Chinese internet culture, '绝绝子' cranks up the already-punchy '绝了' (meaning 'unbelievable' or 'absolutely') with the cutesy suffix '-子'. It works both ways: peak amazement ('this is insanely good!') or peak despair ('this is an absolute disaster'). Context does all the heavy lifting. Think of it as the Chinese equivalent of 'literally dead' — hyperbolic, playful, and deliberately a little extra.

2021 still popular fandom

★★★★★

GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)

yǒng yuǎn de shén

Short for 永远的神 (yǒngyuǎn de shén), literally 'eternal god,' yyds is the Chinese internet's highest compliment — basically the equivalent of calling something the GOAT. Originating from esports commentary, it exploded into everyday speech in 2021 to praise anything from a celebrity performance to a really good lunch. If something is yyds, it transcends mere excellence; it has ascended to a divine plane. Think of it as a superlative that ran out of superlatives.

2021 still popular fandom

★★★★★

Hard Control / Total Domination

Borrowed from gaming, where 'hard control' means a status effect that completely immobilizes a character — think stun or freeze. Chinese Gen-Z repurposed it to describe being utterly captivated by someone or something: a celebrity, a song, a show, even a snack. It's not a crush; it's a full system shutdown. You can't move, can't think, can't escape. Peak parasocial vocabulary for the chronically online.

2021 classic fandom gaming

★★★★☆

Fan Remix / Secondary Creation

Short for 二次创作 (èr cì chuàng zuò, 'secondary creation'), this term describes fan-made remixes, edits, parodies, and mashups built on existing IP — think AMVs, meme compilations, or dubbed clips that take on a life of their own. In Chinese internet culture, 二创 is both a creative practice and a badge of honor, signaling that a piece of content is beloved enough to inspire a whole ecosystem of spin-offs. If your source material has strong 二创, you've made it.

2021 classic fandom gaming

★★★★☆

Pulling a Stunt / Going All Out for the Bit

整活 is what Chinese internet culture calls it when someone goes wildly out of their way to do something absurd, creative, or spectacularly unnecessary — purely for the laughs or the clout. Think: a guy who builds a Rube Goldberg machine just to open a beer, or a streamer who completes a video game using a steering wheel. It's chaos with effort, nonsense with craftsmanship. The vibe is equal parts 'why would you do this' and 'I respect the commitment.'

2021 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Buy it! Buy it!

mǎi tā mǎi tā

Picture a live-stream host screaming 'BUY IT BUY IT' at you until your wallet surrenders — that's this meme in a nutshell. Born from China's explosive live-commerce boom, the phrase captures both the manic energy of influencer sales tactics and the helpless joy of impulse buying. It's half mockery, half genuine enthusiasm, used online whenever someone spots something irresistible and just has to hype it up.

2021 classic consumerism fandom

★★★★☆

Viya (real name Huang Wei) was China's queen of livestream shopping — a celebrity host who could sell out millions of products in hours just by showing up on camera. In 2021 she became a meme of a different kind when tax authorities fined her a staggering 1.34 billion yuan for tax evasion. Her name became shorthand for both jaw-dropping wealth and equally jaw-dropping consequences, spawning jokes like 'even Viya got caught, so maybe behave yourself.'

2021 classic consumerism fandom

★★★★☆

Top-tier celebrity / Ultimate A-lister

Literally 'top flow,' this term crowns whoever sits at the absolute peak of China's attention economy. In an era obsessed with traffic metrics, a 顶流 isn't just famous — they're algorithmically dominant, commanding the most clicks, streams, endorsements, and fan army deployments. Think of it as the Chinese internet's way of saying someone has broken the charts, the trending lists, and possibly your For You page simultaneously.

2021 still popular fandom internet-culture

★★★★☆

Genshin, Launch!

Yuánshén qǐdòng

Picture a player dramatically throwing their arms wide and bellowing 'GENSHIN, LAUNCH!' before booting up the game. That theatrical energy is the whole joke. The phrase became a catch-all expression for kicking off anything with over-the-top ceremony — starting homework, entering a meeting, or just getting out of bed. It's equal parts self-mockery and genuine hype, beloved by Chinese Gen-Z for slapping epic gravitas onto the mundane.

2021 classic fandom gaming

★★★★☆

Will Liu (fitness influencer)

Liú Gēnghóng

Liu Genghong is a Taiwanese celebrity who accidentally became China's fitness guru when he started livestreaming aerobic dance workouts during COVID lockdowns. Millions of viewers — dubbed 'Liu Genghong Girls' — jumped along in their apartments to his high-energy routines set to catchy songs. He turned pandemic cabin fever into a nationwide sweat session, proving that a wholesome, enthusiastic man in a tank top can unite a nation better than most politicians.

2021 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Quan Hongchan (The Diving Prodigy)

quán hóng chán

A teenage diving prodigy who won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at age 14 with near-perfect scores, then repeated her dominance at Paris 2024. Her rural Guangdong background, combined with extraordinary talent, made her story both inspiring and emotionally resonant. Her hometown became a tourist destination, and her family's simple lifestyle was extensively documented by media.

2021 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Crouching / Waiting For / Calling Dibs On Updates

Literally 'to crouch.' Online, 蹲 means to wait expectantly for something — an update, a result, a resource, a recommendation. Posting '蹲一个' (crouching for one) under a question means 'I want the answer too — please update me.' '蹲个链接' means 'I'm waiting for someone to share the shopping link.' The crouching imagery suggests patient, ready waiting — you've settled into position and you're watching for what comes.

2021 still popular internet-culture fandom

★★★★☆

Ex-fan Backlash

tuō fěn huí cǎi

When a fan stops stanning someone and then immediately turns around to publicly drag them. Think of it as the fandom equivalent of a bitter breakup — you don't just leave quietly, you make sure everyone knows exactly why your ex (idol, celebrity, or influencer) is actually trash. The ex-fan often becomes the harshest critic, weaponizing insider fan knowledge to maximize damage. It's messy, it's personal, and it's deeply relatable.

2021 classic fandom

★★★☆☆

Fan Support / Idol Cheering

The organized fan support activities performed for idols — buying albums in bulk, creating light sticks with specific colors, organizing banner events, funding birthday advertisements on public screens. 应援 in Chinese fan culture is structured, hierarchical, and expensive. Top fans don't just like their idol — they budget, plan, and execute support campaigns like corporate projects.

2021 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

Chart Manipulation / Fan Voting

Fan-organized campaigns to boost idols' rankings on music charts, streaming platforms, and social media metrics. Fans buy the same album hundreds of times, stream songs on repeat from multiple accounts, and coordinate mass voting. 打榜 turned chart performance from a measure of popularity into a measure of fan organization and financial commitment.

2021 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

Data Girl-Workers / Fan Data Laborers

shù jù nǚ gōng

Fans who perform the exhausting data-labor of modern Chinese fan culture: streaming songs on repeat, mass-voting on charts, flooding comment sections with positive reviews, and suppressing negative content. The self-deprecating '女工' (female worker) framing acknowledges the actual labor involved — these fans work unpaid hours doing what amounts to market manipulation for their idols.

2021 fading consumerism fandom

★★★☆☆

Fan Site Sister / Dedicated Fan Photographer

Female fans who run dedicated fan sites (站) for their idols — providing high-quality photography, news aggregation, and content curation entirely for free. 站姐 invest in professional camera equipment, wait at airports and venues, and spend enormous time and money creating content that benefits the broader fan community without compensation. They are the backbone infrastructure of Chinese idol fan culture.

2021 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

Super Topic / Weibo Fan Hub

Weibo's fan community feature — dedicated topic hubs where fans of celebrities gather, share content, discuss, and compete in rankings. A celebrity's 超话 ranking reflects their fans' organizational power and dedication. Fans earn points by posting and interacting, which feeds into the ranking system. Major celebrities' 超话 have millions of followers.

2021 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

Loose Fans / Casual Supporters

Fans who support an idol independently without joining organized fan clubs or participating in group activities. 散粉 buy merch when they want, stream when they feel like it, and don't participate in the organized 打榜 campaigns. In Chinese fan culture's rigid hierarchy, 散粉 are sometimes looked down on for not contributing to the collective fan effort.

2021 fading fandom

★★☆☆☆

Passerby Fan / Casual Supporter

Someone who has positive feelings toward a celebrity without being a dedicated fan — a passerby who pauses to appreciate. 路人粉 don't join fan clubs, don't 打榜 (vote on charts), don't spend money on merch, but they follow the celebrity on social media, watch their content, and would defend them if attacked. The 路人缘 (passerby affinity) of a celebrity determines how broadly appealing they are beyond their core fanbase.

2021 fading fandom

★★☆☆☆

2020

Idol Collapse / Stan Implosion

When your favorite celebrity, idol, or public figure gets exposed for something scandalous — cheating, fraud, being secretly awful — and the whole carefully constructed fantasy comes crashing down like a condemned building. For fans, it's equal parts heartbreak and collective meltdown on social media. The term captures that gut-punch moment when the parasocial relationship you invested in turns to rubble overnight.

2020 still popular fandom romance

★★★★★

Vibe / Aesthetic Atmosphere

Think of 氛围感 as the Chinese Gen-Z way of saying something has 'the vibe' — that ineffable quality where the lighting, mood, setting, and aesthetic all click together perfectly. A café with soft jazz and misty windows has it. Your friend who always looks like they stepped out of an indie film has it. It's less about individual beauty and more about the whole atmosphere feeling curated, cinematic, and emotionally resonant. If 'aesthetic' and 'vibes' had a baby raised on Chinese social media, this would be it.

2020 still popular fandom romance

★★★★★

Planting the Bug / Getting Hooked

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.

2020 still popular consumerism fandom

★★★★★

Voice Proxy / Mouthpiece

A '嘴替' is someone — a celebrity, influencer, fictional character, or even a viral post — who perfectly articulates what you've been feeling but couldn't (or wouldn't dare) say out loud. Think of it as having a designated spokesperson for your unspoken frustrations, desires, or hot takes. When a character in a drama roasts their toxic boss and you think 'that's EXACTLY what I'd say,' that character is your 嘴替. It's cathartic ventriloquism for the socially constrained.

2020 still popular fandom

★★★★★

Can't hold it anymore / I'm dead (from laughter/cringe)

Bàngbù zhù le

A pun-based meme where 蚌埠 (Bàngbù), a real city in Anhui province, sounds like 绷不住 (bēng bù zhù), meaning 'can't hold it together.' Chinese internet users dropped it when something made them lose their composure — whether from laughing, cringing, or sheer disbelief. Think of it as the Chinese equivalent of 'I'm dead' or 'I can't even.' The city of Bàngbù became a meme celebrity entirely against its will.

2020 still popular burnout fandom

★★★★★

My Youth Is Back / Nostalgia Hit

A punchy exclamation meaning 'my youth has returned!' — dropped whenever someone encounters a beloved relic of their childhood, like a cartoon theme song, an old game, or a long-gone snack brand. The 'ye' (爷, literally 'grandfather') is internet slang for 'I/me' with a cocky flair, making the whole phrase a theatrical, self-aware cry of nostalgia. Think: 'IT'S GIVING CHILDHOOD' with extra drama.

2020 still popular fandom

★★★★★

My defenses are broken / I can't hold it together

Literally 'defenses breached,' this phrase describes the moment your emotional armor completely crumbles — whether from a tearjerker video, an unexpectedly relatable meme, or a friend's surprisingly kind gesture. Think of it as the internet's way of saying 'okay, I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying.' It covers everything from wholesome overwhelm to genuine heartbreak, and Chinese netizens deploy it with equal parts irony and sincerity.

2020 still popular burnout fandom

★★★★★

Slacking Off / Fishing for Idle Time

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.

2020 still popular gaming workplace

★★★★★

Breaking Out of the Bubble

Imagine your favorite niche K-pop group suddenly getting played at a shopping mall — that's 破圈. It describes the moment when a person, trend, or piece of content escapes its original community bubble and explodes into mainstream awareness. Whether it's a gamer becoming a household name or a local food stall going viral, 破圈 captures that thrilling (and sometimes overwhelming) leap from cult following to everyone's feed.

2020 still popular fandom

★★★★☆

Flopped / Faded into obscurity

Originally a fandom term for celebrities whose careers crashed and burned — think a once-buzzy idol whose Weibo engagement flatlined overnight. By 2020 it had escaped the stan bubble and gone mainstream, used by anyone to describe a total flop: a failed product launch, a bombed exam, or simply your own life trajectory on a bad Monday. It carries a theatrical, self-mocking flair — less bitter resignation, more 'well, that's showbiz, folks.'

2020 classic fandom workplace

★★★★☆

Comment Control / Astroturfing the Comments

Ever noticed how a celebrity's comment section looks suspiciously unanimous? That's 控评 in action. It refers to the organized, often coordinated flooding of comment sections to drown out criticism and amplify praise. Fanbases deploy it like a military operation to protect their idol's image; state media uses it for a very different kind of image management. Think of it as the Chinese internet's version of stuffing the ballot box — except the ballot is the replies section.

2020 classic fandom internet-culture

★★★★☆

Fan Circle / Idol Fandom Culture

Imagine stan Twitter, but turbocharged and militarized. 饭圈 (fàn quān) literally means 'fan circle' — the hyper-organized ecosystem of Chinese idol fandoms where stans don't just cheer, they mobilize. Fans coordinate mass voting, stream-bombing, anti-hate-speech campaigns, and brutal online pile-ons against rivals. In 2020, the term went mainstream as fandom wars spilled into political discourse, alarming authorities and regular netizens alike who watched fan armies behave less like admirers and more like paramilitary PR squads.

2020 still popular fandom internet-culture

★★★★☆

Iconic Moment / Hall-of-Fame Scene

míng chǎng miàn

Literally 'famous scene,' 名场面 refers to a moment so perfectly absurd, dramatic, or relatable that it deserves to be bronzed and put in a museum. Think of it as Chinese internet's way of screenshotting life's most unhinged or emotionally resonant highlights — whether from a drama, a reality show, or your boss's latest meltdown on a group chat. If it made you gasp, cringe, or ugly-cry, it's probably a 名场面.

2020 classic fandom

★★★★☆

White Lotus / Two-Faced Saint

bái lián huā

A 'white lotus' is someone who performs innocence and virtue so relentlessly you'd think they were auditioning for sainthood — while quietly stirring drama, playing the victim, and getting others to do their dirty work. Think doe eyes, soft voice, and a talent for making everyone around them look like the villain. It's the Chinese internet's go-to label for a certain kind of calculated sweetness that fools almost everyone except the sharp-eyed observers online.

2020 still popular fandom romance

★★★★☆

Tearing Up / Moved to Tears

Picture someone welling up with tears — not necessarily from sadness, but from being deeply moved, overwhelmed, or even hitting a painfully relatable truth. Chinese netizens use 泪目 to express that heart-clenching, lump-in-the-throat moment triggered by a touching video, a fandom moment, or the brutal irony of everyday life. It's equal parts sincere emotion and knowing self-mockery — a single word that captures the full spectrum from 'this is beautiful' to 'I'm crying because this is too real.'

2020 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Besties / Queens (Phonetic Corruption)

A phonetic corruption of 姐妹 (jiěmèi, sisters/besties) that went viral because of a streamer's distinctive accent. When the host addressed her audience as 姐妹, it came out sounding like 集美, which was then spelled out in the chat. The accidental mishearing became the term itself — a perfect example of how Chinese internet creates language from accidents.

2020 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

2019

Freeloading / Getting it for free

Literally combining 'white/free' (白) with a slang term for exploitation (嫖), '白嫖' describes the art of getting something valuable without paying a single yuan. Whether it's binge-watching a streaming service on a free trial, farming free skins in a game, or asking a designer friend for 'a quick favor,' 白嫖 captures the hustle of maximizing gains while minimizing cost. It's used both proudly (as a badge of frugal cleverness) and self-deprecatingly, and is a staple of Chinese gaming and internet culture.

2019 still popular consumerism gaming

★★★★★

Let's go! / You've got this!

Imagine a muscular guy in a rural Chinese village screaming motivational nonsense at the top of his lungs — that's the vibe. '奥利给' is a made-up energetic chant popularized by grassroots livestreamers meaning roughly 'let's go' or 'hell yeah.' It's equal parts hype-man anthem and absurdist humor, beloved precisely because it sounds ridiculous yet feels genuinely infectious. Think of it as China's answer to 'LET'S GOOOO' — but with more mud and more soul.

2019 still popular fandom workplace

★★★★★

A phonetic transliteration of the English word 'respect,' 瑞思拜 exploded on Chinese social media in 2019 as a playful, slightly ironic way to express genuine admiration. It sounds deliberately clunky — which is exactly the point. Using a goofy Chinese approximation of an English word signals in-group internet savviness while letting you praise someone without sounding too earnest or cringe. Think of it as the Chinese netizen's equivalent of 'I tip my hat to you, sir.'

2019 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Work It / Handle It / Let's Do This

Originally from the hobby of 盘玩 — slowly turning and polishing collectibles like walnuts or jade in your hand to develop their patina over time. The meditative, hands-on quality of 盘玩 transferred to mean: handle something, work it, mess around with it, give it a try. '盘它' can mean 'let's try this food,' 'I'll take care of this problem,' or 'watch me handle this situation.' The key quality is engaged, hands-on enjoyment.

2019 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Hyping to the max / I can't stop raving about it

Literally 'blow until it explodes,' 吹爆 is what Chinese netizens say when praise alone isn't enough — you have to hype something so hard it figuratively bursts. Think of it as the Chinese internet's version of 'I am OBSESSED' or 'can't recommend this enough.' It's enthusiastic, slightly hyperbolic, and totally sincere. Drop it after a movie, a dish, a person, or even a life decision you fully endorse.

2019 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Rainbow Fart / Over-the-Top Flattery

'Rainbow fart' is the art of praising someone so extravagantly, so poetically, so shamelessly over-the-top that the compliment loops back around into absurdity. Think fan girls describing their idol's smile as 'a sunrise that personally apologized to all previous sunrises.' It's equal parts genuine adoration and self-aware hyperbole — everyone knows it's ridiculous, and that's exactly the point. Blowing rainbow farts at someone is a love language unto itself.

2019 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Eating the Sugar / Consuming Romantic Content

The act of consuming sweet romantic content — shipping two celebrities (real or fictional), savoring their interactions, and getting a sugar rush from their chemistry. 糖 (sugar) is the sweet content: a glance between costars, a moment of physical proximity, a fan-compiled video of two people who should be together. 磕 means to knock/nibble at — you're cracking open the sugar and eating it. The whole practice is 磕糖.

2019 still popular fandom romance

★★★★☆

That Actually Hit / I Was [Verb]ed By That

yǒu bèi x dào

A sentence structure where 'x' is replaced by any verb describing how something affected you. '有被感动到' (I was genuinely moved), '有被帅到' (I was struck by how handsome), '有被吓到' (that actually scared me). The construction adds a layer of surprised acknowledgment — you didn't expect to be affected, but you were. Often used ironically for things that are only mildly impactful.

2019 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

2018

Center Position / The Spotlight Seat

C位 (C-spot or Center Position) refers to the most prominent, coveted spot in a group — literally the center of a stage photo or dance formation, and figuratively wherever the spotlight falls. Borrowed from idol-group culture where the center member gets the most camera time, it quickly escaped into everyday life to describe anyone hogging the limelight, leading a meeting, or simply demanding to be noticed. Think of it as calling dibs on being the main character.

2018 still popular fandom workplace

★★★★★

Literally 'vegetable chicken' — which sounds absurd in English but makes perfect sense once you know '菜' (vegetable/greens) also means 'lousy' or 'terrible' in Chinese slang. A 菜鸡 is someone who's hilariously bad at a game, skill, or task. Think of the worst player in your lobby who somehow keeps queuing up anyway. The term is mostly affectionate and self-deprecating rather than a serious insult — calling yourself a 菜鸡 is practically a badge of relatable humility.

2018 classic gaming

★★★★☆

Little Cutie / Lil Sweetie

Think of it as the Chinese internet's all-purpose term of endearment — part 'babe,' part 'you adorable little thing.' It exploded on Weibo and Bilibili as fans started calling their favorite idols or followers '小可爱,' but it quickly spilled into everyday speech. Friends use it to be affectionate, influencers use it to address their audiences, and anyone can deploy it to make a situation instantly warmer and more playful. It carries zero irony — just pure, uncut cuteness energy.

2018 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Little Miss / Hey Miss

A warm, affectionate way to address a young woman, somewhere between 'miss,' 'cutie,' and 'sis.' It exploded online around 2018 as a softer, more endearing alternative to formal address — used to compliment strangers, fawn over idol group members, or flirt gently without being creepy. Think of it as the internet collectively deciding that being adorable was the highest compliment. Gamers use it to sweet-talk female players; fans use it to gush over idols; service workers hear it constantly.

2018 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Cute Guy / Hot Bro

Originally meaning 'little older brother,' 小哥哥 evolved into a flirty, playful honorific that young women use to address attractive young men online and in real life. Think of it as the Chinese equivalent of calling someone 'cutie' or 'hot stuff' — affectionate without being overtly bold. It spread from bullet-comment sections on video platforms where female viewers showered male streamers and idols with the term, and quickly jumped into everyday speech.

2018 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Smoking Gun / Hard Proof

Literally 'solid hammer,' 实锤 means undeniable, slam-dunk proof that settles a debate once and for all. Think 'receipts' but with more gravitas. It exploded in 2018 when celebrity scandals and corporate controversies flooded Chinese social media, and netizens demanded cold, hard evidence before convicting anyone in the court of public opinion. Dropping a 实锤 means you've moved beyond rumors — you have the screenshots, documents, or footage to prove it.

2018 classic fandom politics

★★★★☆

OMG I'm dead / I can't even

AWSL stands for '啊我死了' (Ah, I'm dead!), China's answer to 'I'm deceased' or 'I can't even.' When a K-pop idol flashes a smile, when an anime character does something unbearably cute, or when your celebrity crush posts a selfie — you don't just like it, you dramatically perish. It's hyperbolic affection at its finest, the digital equivalent of clutching your chest and fainting from an overdose of cuteness.

2018 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Lucky Emperor / Fortune God

The 'Lucky Emperor' is someone blessed by the RNG gods — they pull the rarest gacha characters on the first try, land critical hits back-to-back, and stumble into jackpots while the rest of us suffer. The term borrows '欧' from '欧洲' (Europe), since European odds in Chinese gambling lore are considered suspiciously favorable. If life is a loot box, the 欧皇 always unboxes legendary. The opposite archetype is 非酋, the perpetually unlucky soul cursed to pull duplicates forever.

2018 classic fandom gaming

★★★★☆

Center-stage debut / Center position launch

C wèi chū dào

Imagine a K-pop group photo: the most popular member always stands dead center — that's the 'C position' (C位). To 'C位出道' means to debut or rise to success in the most prominent, spotlight-grabbing spot. Borrowed from idol survival shows, it exploded into everyday slang meaning anything from acing a job interview to strutting into a party like you own the place. It's humble-brag energy with glitter on top.

2018 classic fandom workplace

★★★★☆

Official Announcement (Especially Relationship)

Short for 官方宣布 (official announcement). In Chinese celebrity culture, a relationship 官宣 is a major event — the moment a celebrity couple officially confirms they're together. Fans prepare for months for potential 官宣, which then triggers massive media coverage. Extended beyond celebrity culture to any official confirmation of something previously unofficial.

2018 still popular fandom romance

★★★★☆

To Cheer For / Show Support

From Japanese concert culture where fans shout specific calls and responses during performances. In China it escaped fan culture to mean actively cheering for, supporting, or endorsing anything. You can 打call for a friend's project, a restaurant you like, a policy you support, or a sports team. The concert origin gives it a communal, enthusiastic quality — 打call implies visible, vocal support, not just passive agreement.

2018 still popular fandom lifestyle

★★★★☆

Gods Fighting / Elite Showdown

shén xiān dǎ jià

When gods fight, ordinary people can only watch in awe. Used when experts, masters, or exceptionally talented people compete or debate — the quality is so high that regular people can't participate, only witness. A chess tournament between grandmasters is 神仙打架. A comment section where two experts have an extremely high-level argument is 神仙打架. The gods metaphor implies the competition is on a plane above ordinary human capability.

2018 classic fandom internet-culture

★★★★☆

Going Head-On / Confronting Directly

硬 means hard/tough; 刚 means to confront head-on. 硬刚 means to take something on directly, without strategy, evasion, or retreat — pure frontal confrontation. You can 硬刚 a difficult exam, a powerful opponent, a boss, or an argument. The word carries a tone of admirable (or reckless) courage: instead of finding a clever workaround, you square up and meet the challenge force-against-force.

2018 still popular internet-culture gaming

★★★★☆

Asked for Proof, Got the Proof

qiú chuí dé chuí

锤 (hammer) is internet slang for solid proof — 实锤 means a 'real hammer,' an undeniable piece of evidence. 求锤得锤 means 'asked for a hammer, got a hammer' — you (or skeptics) demanded proof of some accusation, and then the proof actually materialized, often dramatically. It's most common in celebrity scandals: fans demand evidence their idol did something wrong, and then the evidence drops, confirming the worst.

2018 still popular internet-culture fandom

★★★★☆

So Lit / That's Fire

Originally a sound effect mimicking a car tire screeching — rapper Kris Wu (Wu Yifan) used it constantly on the Chinese hip-hop show 'The Rap of China' to mean something is dope, fire, or impressive. The internet promptly roasted him for it, turning 'skr' into both a genuine compliment and a sarcastic joke. It's the rare slang that lived a double life: cool kids used it earnestly, everyone else used it to mock those cool kids.

2018 fading fandom humor

★★★☆☆

Absolutely Terrible / Hopelessly Bad

cài de bù xíng

Literally 'bad to the point of not working,' this phrase is the Chinese internet's way of throwing your hands up and admitting total incompetence — or gleefully dunking on someone else's. Born in gaming culture where skill gaps are brutal and public, it spread into everyday life as a catch-all for being hopelessly, embarrassingly bad at something. Think 'I'm absolutely trash at this' delivered with a shrug and a laugh.

2018 classic gaming workplace

★★★☆☆

The Unlucky One / Non-Chief

If life were a loot box, the 非酋 would pull nothing but common items every single time. Derived from 'non-chief' (the opposite of a lucky 'chief' or 欧皇), this term is gleefully used by Chinese netizens to describe someone cursed with terrible luck — especially in gacha games, lucky draws, or any situation where fate could smile but stubbornly refuses to. Think: opening 100 pulls and getting zero SSRs. It's part complaint, part badge of honor.

2018 classic gaming

★★★☆☆

Xin Xiaodai (The Lucky Koi Person)

xìn xiǎo dāi

An ordinary Chinese woman who won Alipay's massive 2018 sweepstakes containing over a million prizes from hundreds of brands — everything from travel to luxury goods. Her incredible luck made her the embodiment of 锦鲤 (koi fish luck) culture. After her win, she shared an exhausted post listing all the prizes she'd won, which went viral for capturing the overwhelming nature of her luck.

2018 classic fandom

★★★☆☆

2017

Getting Hooked / Going to Your Head

Imagine that dizzy, intoxicated rush when something grabs you so completely you lose all self-control — that's 上头. Originally describing the heady kick of strong liquor, it evolved to cover any obsession that 'goes to your head': a new crush, a binge-worthy drama, a catchy song, or a gaming addiction. It carries a gleeful self-awareness, like proudly admitting you've lost the battle against your own fixation.

2017 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Zhàn Láng Èr

Wolf Warrior 2 was China's blockbuster action film that shattered box office records in 2017, turning its one-liner 'Anyone who offends China, no matter how remote, will be punished' into a rallying cry. Online, it became shorthand for over-the-top nationalistic bravado. The term spawned 'Wolf Warrior diplomacy,' mocking aggressive chest-thumping rhetoric — both from officials and everyday internet warriors who fancy themselves patriotic heroes.

2017 classic fandom politics

★★★★☆

中国有嘻哈

The Rap of China

Zhōngguó yǒu xīhā

Think of it as China's answer to 'American Idol' but for rap — except it accidentally made hip-hop cool in a country where it was previously considered niche. The show launched in 2017 on iQiyi and became a cultural earthquake, turning underground rappers into mainstream stars overnight. Phrases from the show ('你有freestyle吗？' — 'Do you have freestyle?') became instant memes, and the judges' outrageous fashion choices kept social media buzzing for months.

2017 classic fandom

★★★★☆

你有freestyle吗

Do you have any freestyle? / Can you freestyle?

nǐ yǒu freestyle ma

Born from the 2017 Chinese rap competition show 'The Rap of China,' where pop star Kris Wu repeatedly asked contestants 'Do you have any freestyle?' in hilariously deadpan fashion. The phrase exploded into everyday speech almost overnight, used to mock or challenge anyone who claims a skill they can't back up on the spot. It's the Chinese equivalent of calling someone's bluff — equal parts hype, humor, and gentle roasting.

2017 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Freestyle / Going Off-Script

freestyle (fú lǐ sī tài ěr)

In 2017, Chinese rapper and pop idol Kris Wu became the unlikely godfather of a meme when he repeatedly asked contestants on a hip-hop reality show 'Do you have freestyle?' — with such intense, almost philosophical gravity that the internet lost it. The phrase exploded beyond music to mean anything improvised, spontaneous, or done on the fly. If your plan falls apart and you wing it anyway, that's freestyle. It captured a generation's love of hip-hop cool mixed with a healthy dose of irony.

2017 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Stealing the scene / Adding drama

Literally 'adding scenes,' this term calls out someone who dramatically overperforms when nobody asked them to. Think of the coworker who turns a simple group email into a TED talk, or the friend who makes your birthday dinner somehow about themselves. Originally rooted in film slang where actors would improvise extra scenes for more screen time, it jumped to everyday life to skewer anyone with an inflated sense of their own importance in any given moment.

2017 classic fandom workplace

★★★★☆

你的良心不会痛吗

Doesn't Your Conscience Hurt?

nǐ de liángxīn bù huì téng ma

This phrase — literally 'Doesn't your conscience hurt?' — is the Chinese internet's all-purpose guilt trip, deployed with equal parts sarcasm and theatrical indignation. Originally used to call out genuinely shameless behavior, it quickly became a comedic tool: fans scolding celebrities for not updating, employees side-eyeing bossy bosses, or friends roasting each other for splitting the bill unequally. Think of it as the Mandarin cousin of 'How dare you,' but with more flair and far less sincerity.

2017 classic fandom workplace

★★★★☆

Full HP Revival / Fully Recharged

mǎn xuè fù huó

Gaming term for being revived with full health points. In everyday Chinese internet usage, it means fully recharged, completely recovered, back at 100%. After a good night's sleep: 满血复活. After a vacation: 满血复活. After eating a great meal when hungry: 满血复活. The gaming metaphor turns recovery into a status update — from depleted to maximum capacity.

2017 still popular gaming

★★★★☆

Diss / Call Out

Borrowed straight from hip-hop English, 'diss' exploded in Chinese internet slang around 2017 when rap competition shows like 'The Rap of China' went viral. It means to publicly mock, criticize, or throw shade at someone — usually with style and swagger. Unlike a plain insult, a proper diss has flair. Chinese netizens embraced it as a cooler, more direct way to call someone out, blending imported hip-hop attitude with the very online habit of very public callouts.

2017 classic fandom

★★★☆☆

2016

Bilibili (the Chinese YouTube for anime lovers)

Bilibili — affectionately called 'B站' — is China's premier video platform beloved by Gen-Z and millennials, built on anime, gaming, and fan culture. Think YouTube meets Twitch meets a high-school cafeteria where everyone quotes the same niche memes. Its signature 'danmu' bullet comments scroll across the screen in real time, turning every video into a communal roast. By 2016 it had exploded beyond niche otaku territory into mainstream youth culture.

2016 classic fandom technology

★★★★★

Glitch Art / Seizure Edit / MLG-style Remix

Imagine taking a clip of a politician, celebrity, or anime character and chopping it into a seizure-inducing loop of their most dramatic facial expressions, synchronized to a pounding electronic beat. That's 鬼畜 — China's answer to YouTube Poop and MLG meme edits. It's absurdist, hypnotic, and deliberately overwhelming. The weirder and more repetitive, the better. By 2016, Bilibili had become its spiritual home, with creators competing to make the most chaotically catchy remixes imaginable.

2016 classic fandom gaming

★★★★★

Awesome / Smooth operator / Goat-level skills

Picture a gamer mashing '6' in chat because their fingers can't type fast enough to keep up with their amazement — that's the origin of 666. In Chinese gaming slang, '6' sounds like 'liù,' a homophone for '溜' (liū), meaning slick or smooth. Triple it for emphasis and you've got the highest compliment the internet can offer: effortlessly impressive, almost supernaturally skilled. It jumped from gaming lobbies into everyday life, where it now means anything from 'nice move' to 'you absolute legend.'

2016 still popular gaming workplace

★★★★★

Bro / Homie / My Guy

Think of 老铁 as the Chinese internet's all-purpose term for a ride-or-die buddy. Literally meaning 'old iron' — as in a bond as solid as iron — it exploded out of northeastern Chinese dialect into mainstream slang thanks to livestreaming platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou. Streamers used it to greet fans, fans used it back, and suddenly everyone was calling everyone else 老铁. It's warm, casual, and carries a blue-collar authenticity that made it feel refreshingly unpolished.

2016 still popular fandom

★★★★★

Primordial Force / The Power of Chaos

hóng huāng zhī lì

When Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui told a reporter at the 2016 Rio Olympics that she had used her 'primordial force' to win bronze, she accidentally launched a meme for the ages. The phrase, borrowed from ancient mythology to describe the raw energy at the dawn of creation, became the go-to hyperbole for anyone who has ever given absolutely everything — at the gym, at work, or just getting out of bed on a Monday morning.

2016 classic fandom humor

★★★★★

厉害了我的哥

Wow, you're something else, bro

lì hài le wǒ de gē

A tongue-in-cheek exclamation used to 'praise' someone for doing something impressive — or impressively dumb. Think of it as the Chinese equivalent of 'well, aren't you just something special.' It can be sincere admiration or dripping sarcasm, and that delicious ambiguity is exactly the point. Went viral after being used to mock and celebrate audacious behavior in equal measure, and quickly became the internet's go-to reaction for jaw-dropping moments.

2016 classic fandom workplace

★★★★★

Trash / Garbage / Total Garbage

Literally meaning 'spicy chicken,' 辣鸡 is a playful homophone substitute for 垃圾 (lā jī), meaning 'garbage' or 'trash.' It took off as a way to trash-talk bad games, terrible products, or hopeless teammates without triggering censorship filters. Think of it as the Chinese internet's way of saying 'this is absolute rubbish' with a wink — salty, dismissive, but never too serious. Gaming communities weaponized it first, and it quickly spread everywhere.

2016 classic gaming

★★★★☆

Eye-wateringly Cringeworthy / Burns My Eyes

Imagine your eyes physically recoiling like you just bit into a ghost pepper — that's 辣眼睛. Chinese netizens use it to describe content so cringeworthy, ugly, or tasteless that it figuratively 'spices' your eyeballs. Whether it's a badly photoshopped selfie, a painfully awkward celebrity moment, or fan fiction gone horribly wrong, this phrase captures that involuntary full-body shudder you get from witnessing something truly unspeakable online.

2016 classic fandom

★★★★☆

Overjoyed and Running Wild

xǐ dà pǔ bēn

A tongue-in-cheek expression meaning everyone is so thrilled they're practically sprinting through the streets to spread the news. It's a mashup of four chengyu-style characters conveying mass jubilation — think confetti-cannon energy. Chinese netizens use it to react to big announcements, often with a layer of irony: the 'joy' can be genuine excitement or sarcastic commentary on something absurdly overhyped. Perfect for when your team finally wins, your favorite idol drops an album, or the office vending machine gets restocked.

2016 classic fandom workplace

★★★☆☆

2015

2D World / Anime Dimension

Literally '2D dimension,' this term refers to the fictional world of anime, manga, and games — and by extension, the passionate subculture built around it. Chinese fans use it to describe both the content itself and their own identity as devotees who sometimes prefer cute, idealized 2D characters over messy real-world relationships. It's half lifestyle label, half affectionate self-mockery, with a side of genuine pride.

2015 classic fandom identity

★★★★★

Think of 女神 as the Chinese internet's version of putting someone on a pedestal — literally 'goddess.' By 2015 it had exploded as the go-to term for an idealized, admired woman: beautiful, graceful, slightly out of reach. Men use it to worship their crushes, fan communities use it for their favorite celebrities, and women sometimes reclaim it with ironic self-praise. It sits somewhere between sincere admiration and playful flattery, and everyone knows which one you mean from the tone.

2015 classic fandom identity

★★★★☆

Male Idol / Dream Guy

Think of 男神 as the guy who makes every head turn when he walks into a room — impossibly handsome, charming, and seemingly flawless. Originally used by fans to describe celebrity crushes, the term went mainstream around 2015 and became the go-to label for any man considered a perfect ten. It's the male counterpart to 女神 (female goddess), and carries a dreamy, aspirational glow rather than anything creepy or objectifying.

2015 classic fandom identity

★★★★☆

Xiǎo Píngguǒ

Imagine if 'YMCA' and a cotton-candy pop song had a baby in China — that's 'Little Apple.' Performed by the duo Chopstick Brothers, this absurdly catchy 2014 tune exploded into a full-blown cultural phenomenon by 2015, soundtracking everything from grandma's morning square dances to viral parody videos. The phrase became shorthand for anything irresistibly cheesy yet impossible to hate, a kind of affectionate eye-roll at mainstream pop culture.

2015 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

主要看气质

It's All About the Vibe / Confidence Over Looks

zhǔyào kàn qìzhì

Born from a viral photo of a woman posing confidently in an oversized, unflattering outfit, this phrase — literally 'it's mainly about the vibe/aura' — became the go-to humble-brag and self-deprecating shield for anyone posting an awkward photo online. Can't nail the look? Own the energy instead. Chinese netizens weaponized it to celebrate personality over appearance, often with a wink — a warm, slightly absurdist way of saying 'judge the soul, not the outfit.'

2015 classic fandom identity

★★★★☆

Super Extra Flashy / Bling Overload

Born from a fan-edited remix of a Jackie Chan shampoo ad, 'duang' is a made-up word that somehow perfectly captures the feeling of something being ridiculously over-the-top, flashy, or digitally overdone — think lens flares cranked to 11. It spread virally as a joke about CGI overkill and gaudy special effects, then expanded into everyday slang for anything exaggeratedly spectacular. It's less a real word than a shared cultural wink.

2015 classic fandom humor

★★★★☆

Exploding Liver / Grinding to Exhaustion

Literally 'explode the liver' — gaming slang for grinding so hard that your liver metaphorically explodes from the effort. The liver reference comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine, where the liver is associated with staying up late and overexertion. 爆肝 describes any marathon session of intensive work: gaming all night for an event, cramming for exams until dawn, working overtime for a deadline. The physical organ reference makes exhaustion visceral and dramatic.

2015 still popular gaming workplace

★★★★☆

最炫民族风

The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style

Zuì xuàn mínzú fēng

Originally a 2012 pop song by folk-pop duo Fenghuang Chuanqi, 'The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style' became inescapable in China by 2015 — blasted on loop by middle-aged women doing square dancing (广场舞) in public plazas everywhere. Internet users then remixed it into absurd mash-up videos, memes, and parodies, turning grandma's workout anthem into a symbol of unstoppable, glorious cheesiness that transcends all resistance.

2015 classic fandom

★★★☆☆

TFBOYS (The Fighting Boys)

TFBOYS is a Chinese teen idol group formed in 2013, but they became a full-blown cultural phenomenon around 2015. Think of them as China's answer to One Direction — three fresh-faced boys (Wang Junkai, Wang Yuan, and Jackson Yee) who conquered the hearts of millions of young fans. Their name supposedly stands for 'The Fighting Boys.' If you've ever seen Chinese social media flooded with sparkly fan edits and passionate stanning, there's a good chance TFBOYS was the reason.

2015 classic fandom romance

★★★☆☆

Zhen Huan Style / Imperial Concubine Speak

Zhēn Huán tǐ

Zhen Huan Style is a writing and speaking fad inspired by the smash-hit period drama 'Empresses in the Palace.' Fans mimic the show's characters by sprinkling classical Chinese phrases, elaborate honorifics, and melodramatic court-speak into mundane modern situations. Saying you're 'fatigued to the bones' instead of 'tired,' or framing a coffee order like a royal decree — the humor comes from the absurd gap between imperial grandeur and ordinary life.

2015 classic fandom workplace

★★★☆☆

2014

Naive Sweetheart / Adorable Airhead

shǎ bái tián

Think of that heroine in every romcom who trips over her own feet, has no idea she's beautiful, and somehow charms everyone around her without trying. 傻白甜 (silly-fair-sweet) is the trifecta: a touch naive, pleasantly innocent in appearance, and relentlessly sweet-natured. Originally a fond archetype from web novels and dramas, it evolved into a slightly ironic label — sometimes an insult, sometimes aspirational — for women who seem blissfully unaware of life's harsher edges.

2010–2014 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

颜值即正义

Looks Are Justice / Beauty Is Its Own Virtue

yán zhí jí zhèngyì

A tongue-in-cheek declaration that being attractive is, in itself, a form of moral rightness. If someone gets away with something questionable purely because they're good-looking, or a celebrity is forgiven all sins by fans because of their face, '颜值即正义' is the knowing shrug that explains it all. Part satire, part sincere confession, it captures how beauty privilege operates in everyday Chinese internet culture with humor rather than bitterness.

2010–2014 classic fandom identity

★★★★☆

Fresh Meat / Young Hunk

xiǎo xiān ròu

Literally 'little fresh meat,' this term refers to young, attractive, boyishly handsome male celebrities — think flawless skin, lean frames, and an almost edible prettiness. Coined by Chinese fangirls around 2014–2015, it skyrocketed as idol culture exploded on social media. It's affectionate, a little objectifying, and entirely tongue-in-cheek — the male equivalent of eye candy, served fresh and best enjoyed before age 30.

2010–2014 classic fandom identity

★★★★☆

To Recommend Enthusiastically / To Push Something on Someone

From Amway (安利 in Chinese) — the direct sales company famous for enthusiastic, persistent product recommendations from friends. The brand became a verb: to 安利 someone means to passionately recommend something to them — a show, a song, a restaurant, a product. Unlike the Western connotation of MLM pressure, Chinese 安利 is usually positive: fan communities 安利 their idols to newcomers, friends 安利 good restaurants, content creators 安利 products they genuinely love.

2010–2014 still popular consumerism fandom

★★★★☆

High Energy Ahead / Intense Scene Warning

qián fāng gāo néng

Literally 'high energy ahead.' A warning that appears in danmu (弹幕 — scrolling on-screen comments) alerting viewers that something intense is coming — a scary scene, a shocking twist, an epic moment, or something so cringe-inducing you need to brace yourself. Often written as '前方高能预警' (high-energy warning ahead). It's the danmu community looking out for each other, like a friend grabbing your arm before the jump scare.

2010–2014 still popular internet-culture gaming

★★★★☆

Little Princess / Precious Little Royalty

xiǎo gōng jǔ

A playful phonetic twist on 小公主 (xiǎo gōngzhǔ, 'little princess'), swapping one character to create a slightly silly-sounding nickname. Used to teasingly describe someone — male or female — who acts spoiled, delicate, or high-maintenance in an endearing way. Think of calling a drama-prone friend your 'precious royal.' It can be affectionate praise or gentle ribbing, and became a staple in fan communities for doting on idols or cute celebrities.

2010–2014 fading fandom

★★★☆☆

Awl Face / V-Line Face

Awl Face describes the hyper-pointed, V-shaped chin that became the signature look of Chinese internet celebrities around 2015 — often achieved through jaw-shaving surgery or aggressive beauty filters. The term pokes fun at a cookie-cutter beauty standard where everyone's face narrows to an almost weaponized point. If you've ever seen a selfie where the chin could pick a lock, you've witnessed 锥子脸 in its natural habitat.

2010–2014 fading fandom identity

★★★☆☆

2013

Couple Pairing / Shipped Relationship

From 'coupling' — a pairing of two people (real celebrities, fictional characters, or even streamer-viewer combinations) that fans imagine as a romantic couple. CP culture in China is enormous: fans compile evidence of interactions, create fan fiction, purchase merchandise of their OTP, and invest emotionally in whether their CP will 'go official' (官宣). A well-matched CP generates constant content for their fan communities.

2010–2014 still popular fandom romance

★★★★★

Domineering CEO / Overbearing President

bàdào zǒngcái

Picture a chiseled billionaire CEO who grabs your wrist in the rain, growls 'You belong to me,' and somehow that passes for romance. The 'Domineering CEO' is a wildly popular trope from Chinese web novels and idol dramas — a controlling, filthy-rich alpha male who melts for one ordinary girl. The phrase got ironic mileage as Chinese netizens started using it to mock power-tripping bosses, absurd workplace demands, and anyone who confused arrogance with charisma.

2010–2014 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Borrowed straight from English fandom slang, 玛丽苏 describes an impossibly perfect female character — gorgeous, talented, and magnetically adored by every man within a ten-mile radius — whose only flaw is having no flaws. In Chinese internet culture it exploded as a label for wish-fulfillment romance novels and idol dramas, then evolved into a teasing, self-aware badge people pin on themselves or others whenever someone is living a suspiciously charmed, too-good-to-be-true life.

2010–2014 classic fandom romance

★★★★☆

Cute Girl / Adorable Girl

A 'méng mèi zi' is the archetypal cute, sweet, endearingly innocent young woman who makes your heart melt. The word 'méng' (萌) was borrowed from Japanese otaku culture meaning 'to bud' or spark affection, and 'mèi zi' simply means girl. By 2015 the phrase had jumped from anime forums into everyday slang, used as a compliment, a flirty label, or even a self-deprecating identity. Think less 'hot' and more 'puppies-and-bubble-tea adorable.'

2010–2014 classic fandom identity

★★★☆☆

Image Memes from Bilibili

春晚机器人扭秧歌

春晚机器人扭秧歌

Spring Gala Robots Dance Yangge

2025 still popular ★★★★★

黑神话悟空梗

黑神话悟空梗

Black Myth: Wukong Meme Format

2024 still popular ★★★★★

Luo Xiang — The Lawless Criminal's Professor

2021 still popular ★★★★★

小丑竟是我自己

小丑竟是我自己

The Clown Was Me All Along

2020 still popular ★★★★★

鸡你太美

2019 still popular ★★★★★