Chinese internet, in English.
The latest slang, memes and buzzwords from Weibo, Douyin and WeChat — decoded with plain-English explanations, real examples, and the cultural context you won't find in a textbook. For learners, Chinese speakers, and the curious.
🆕 Newly added
See all →养砖头 (Raise a Brick)
Aug 10
The latest low-cost hobby: pick up a discarded brick, spray it with water daily, and wait for moss to grow. It's meditation, gardening, and absurdism rolled into one.
XX岁正是XX的年纪 (X Years Old Is the Age of X)
Aug 15
A sentence template that pairs an age with an unexpected behavior. It started when Olympic swimmer Pan Zhanle gave a hilariously blunt interview — and netizens called it '19 years old, the age of tattling.'
晒秋 / Share Chill
Aug 10
An ancient Chinese farming tradition got a Gen Z rebrand: '晒秋' (shài qiū) sounds like 'share chill' in English, and the bilingual pun became the summer's most unexpected viral moment.
牛来 (Here Comes the Cow)
Aug 21
A two-person hand-made animated film that sold only ¥7,169 in tickets over nine days, then went viral for being hilariously bad — and became August 2026's biggest nationwide inside joke.
梁圣 / 牢梁 (Saint Liang / Jailhouse Liang)
Aug 22
DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng went from 'Saint Liang' to 'Jailhouse Liang' in a matter of days — a live demonstration of how Chinese internet honorifics work as a dial, not a label.
家里快供不起我在外面上班了 (My Family Can Barely Afford Me Working Away From Home)
Aug 5
A painful realization: many young workers in China earn less than their living costs, and their families are subsidizing their 'independence.' The joke names something nobody had a word for — working poverty among the single-child generation.
Trending right now
See full ranking →🔥 Recently added
All 61 entries →家里快供不起我在外面上班了 (My Family Can Barely Afford Me Working Away From Home)
842026-08
A painful realization: many young workers in China earn less than their living costs, and their families are subsidizing their 'independence.' The joke names something nobody had a word for — working poverty among the single-child generation.
大祙子 (Big Mèi)
752026-08
A typo — typing '大祙子' (mèi) instead of '大妹子' (mèi) — became a meme. The character 祙 (a ghost-related character) looks almost identical to 袜 (sock), creating a hilarious confusion chain.
爸了个根的 (Dad's a Root)
772026-08
A catchphrase from a gender-swapped parody short drama that became a safe way to vent frustration — it sounds like swearing but isn't.
竹知了 (Bamboo Cicada)
862026-07
A cheap bamboo toy's 'waa' sound matched the audience gasp at a Huawei car launch so perfectly that netizens couldn't tell which was which — and a legal battle made it even funnier.
我最讨厌的就是事后道歉 (I Hate Post-Event Apologies)
832026-05
A university student disrupted class, the teacher apologized to calm things down — and the student snapped back 'I hate post-event apologies.' The irony became a 29.6 billion-view catchphrase.
夹角打工人 (Angled Worker)
782026-05
A worker stuck in the middle — can't fully grind (身体卷不动) and can't fully quit (躺不平). 'Angled' describes the uncomfortable position of being caught between two forces.
嘉豪 (Jiahao)
802026-05
A high schooler's birthday performance went viral, and his nickname 'Jiahao from the class next door' became a label for anyone who pretends to know what they're talking about.
割四赔五 (Charged for Four, Pay for Five)
822026-05
A phrase describing a situation where you're paid for the minimum but penalized at the maximum. When you do the work, they count small; when you make a mistake, they count big.
背手负鼠 (Hands-Behind-the-Back Possum)
912026-05
A photo of a possum standing with its paws behind its back became the defining burnout meme of summer 2026 — the perfect face for 'I'm holding it together but barely.'
By category
All categories →Internet Culture
Memes, viral formats and online habits that shape how Chinese netizens talk.
Work & Office
The language of Chinese offices: overtime, teammates, big companies and climbing the ladder.
Gen Z Slang
What young Chinese people actually text, post and joke about.
Food & Daily Life
Eating, buying, living — the small words that paint everyday Chinese life.
AI & Tech
Buzzwords from China's AI boom and technology scene.
Society & News
Big conversations: housing, jobs, expectations and social change.
From the blog
All articles →Aug 23, 2026
Surviving the Chinese Office: A Guide to Workplace Slang
Chinese office workers have built an entire vocabulary for the experience of surviving the 9-to-5 (or more like 9-to-9). From the 'office stench' to 'touching fish,' here's how to talk about work in 2026.
Aug 23, 2026
The 2026 Chinese Meme Wave: From 搞抽象 to 牛来
August 2026 has been a wild month for Chinese internet culture. A terrible animated film became a box office phenomenon, absurdist humor was declared the dominant comedy style, and the whole world was called a straw-stage troupe. Here's what you missed.
Aug 23, 2026
The Ultimate Chinese Internet Slang Guide for 2026
From the eternal YYDS to the devastating 破防, here's every Chinese internet slang word you need to understand the conversation in 2026.
Aug 22, 2026
August 2026: Bamboo Cicadas, the Worst Movie Ever, and the Great Brick Trend
August 2026 was a month of extremes: a ¥3 toy defeated a tech giant, the worst movie ever became a box office hit, and young people started raising bricks as a hobby.