China Media
The Top 10 Buzzwords in Chinese Online Media in 2020 (咬文嚼字)
Some of the buzzwords that were most noteworthy in Chinese media this year.

Published
3 years agoon
By
Jialing Xie
These are some of the expressions and idioms that have been buzzing in Chinese media in 2020. What’s on Weibo’s Jialing Xie explains.
China’s online media environment is a breeding ground for new terms and niche expressions that suddenly make it to mainstream discussions.
Every year, the most popular new words and expressions are listed by the Chinese magazine 咬文嚼字 (yǎo wén jiáo zì). The magazine selects buzzwords that reflect present-day society and the changing times.
Yǎo Wén Jiáozì, which means “to pay excessive attention to wording,”* is a monthly publication featuring commentary, criticism, and essays on the Chinese language.
Founded in 1995, the magazine has gained social influence for correcting typos in the language used by media and celebrities. Some of these corrections have been impactful, such as their correction of the 2006 CCTV Chinese New Year Gala on writing ‘Shenzhou 6’ (the second human spaceflight of the Chinese space program) as “神州六号” rather than “神舟六号” (different character for ‘zhōu’). It was included in their “Ten Biggest Language Mistakes” list (十大语文差错) of that year.
On social media, Chinese online (state) media always promote the magazine’s selection of the top words and terms of the past year. The ten terms have also become a relatively big topic on Weibo over the past month, with the list of Top 10 Buzzwords in 2020 #2020年度十大流行语# already garnering 460 million views.
*yǎo wén jiáo zì, literal meaning: to talk pedantically and pay excessive attention to wording, often referring to a stickler for detail with an intent to display their fine knowledge; often used negatively or neutrally.
We’ve listed the top 10 buzzwords for you here:
1. 人民至上,生命至上 (Rénmín zhìshàng, shēngmìng zhìshàng): “People First”
- Literal Meaning: “People are above everything else, life is above everything else.”
- The context of this phrase in 2020: On May 22 of 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping took part in the deliberation of the Inner Mongolia delegation at the annual legislative session, where he stated that “our people come first, people’s lives come first, and the safety and health of our people should be secured at all costs.” “People first, life first” has since become a widely circulated slogan and guiding principle for government and society to combat Covid-19 across the country.
2. 逆行者 (Nìxíng zhě): “People Going against the Tide”
- Literal Meaning: “People who swim upstream / people who go against the current.”
- The context of this phrase in 2020: In a broad sense, this phrase shares a similar meaning as its English counterpart, describing people who dare to differ from the mainstream and to go above and beyond their call of duty. In 2020, it has become a term often used by state media to refer to frontline workers and individuals who made a significant contribution or sacrifice during the battle against the novel coronavirus.
3. 飒 (Sà): “Spirited”
- Literal Meaning: “1) Chill and refreshing 2) Onomatopoeia: the sound of the wind
- The context of this word in 2020: In modern Chinese literature, this word is commonly used in the idiom “英姿飒爽” (yīng zī sà shuǎng), illustrating how a person, either a man or woman, is high of energy and full of morale and is showing an attitude of heroism and prestige. According to People’s Daily, half of the doctors and more than 90% of the nurses working in healthcare during the fight against COVID19 are female. State media started to use 飒 (sà) as an adjective to eulogize these female medical workers. The word was later used to praise both men and women working in other industries as well.
4. 后浪 (Hòu làng): “The Rear Waves”
- Literal Meaning: “The rear waves.”
- The context of this phrase in 2020: 后浪 hòulàng is often used within the idiom “长江后浪推前浪” (cháng jiāng hòu làng tuī qián làng) which literally means “the rear waves in the Yangtze River drive on those before,” and figuratively referring to how the new generation excels beyond the one before, or how the new is constantly replacing the old. This phrase became an internet meme regarding the young generation in China – specifically, those born in the 90s and 00s – as a result of heated online discussions about a video launched on Bilibili and other social media for Youth Day (May 4th), in which the older actor He Bing talks about the rights and opportunities enjoyed by young people in China today. On various occasions, this word is used to address the more privileged young people. Some associated stereotypes about this group include studying or living abroad, high-quality lifestyle, and luxury material possessions. Those who don’t identify with this privileged group tend to refer to themselves as “韭菜” (Jiǔcài, chives), which shares a similar sentiment as “屌丝” (Diǎosī, loser), as opposed to “the rear waves.”
5. 神兽 (Shén shòu): “Divine Beasts”
- Literal Meaning: “Divine beasts.”
- The context of this word in 2020: Totem worshiping is deeply rooted in the religion and tradition of many ancient cultures. Divine beasts in China are in fact deities, also known as the Four Symbols (四象), as a mixed product of Chinese ancient cosmology and mythology. Since the beginning of remote learning and delay in schools reopening across the country, many parents and caregivers have posted their experience balancing work and remote learning with their children from home. In these posts, parents often call their children ‘divine beasts’ then share their children’s naughty behavior and how they struggled to deal with them.
6. 直播带货 (Zhíbò dài huò): “Live commerce”
- Literal Meaning: “Live commerce”, “Influencer marketing via live streaming.“
- The context of this phrase in 2020: China’s live-streaming economy played an important role in the country’s economic market recovery amidst COVID19. Influencer marketing via live streaming combines talk show-like entertainment and the convenience of online shopping, at times even leveraging social proof and the reputation of influencers themselves to crack astonishing sales records. Apart from internet celebrities, many business executives (i.e. Jack Ma) and even government officials (i.e. 13 local mayors in Hubei Province) also took advantage of the booming live-streaming and appeared in front of webcams to promote certain products which resulted in millions of views on TikTok. On the flip-side of the business, there have been concerns about the quality of the products as well as lawsuits against fraudulent sales practices. Popular topics on Weibo as such include #如何看待直播带货卖假货#(“What do you think of counterfeit goods in live-streaming sales”).
7. 双循环 (Shuāng xún huán): “Dual Cycle”
- Literal Meaning: “Dual cycle.”
- The context of this word in 2020: This term comes from President Xi’s speech at the meeting of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party on May 4, 2020, during which he stated that the dual-cycle system will be the party’s strategy for China’s economic and political development for the near future following COVID19 recovery. The system focuses on recovering and growing the economy by primarily expanding domestic demand mixed with healthy participation in international trade. While it certainly was not the first time the Communist Party introduced this concept of prioritizing the domestic market, according to Xinhua News Agency, the dual-cycle system has been regarded as a suitable strategy given current restrictions facing international trade due to the pandemic and the ongoing trade tensions between China and a few western powers.
8. 打工人 (Dǎ gōng rén): “Working People”
- Literal Meaning: “Working people”
- The context of this phrase in 2020: As agriculture, foreign trade, and investment sectors developed following the economic reform in 1978, a social-economic trend emerged in the 80s during which labor forces across China’s villages and countrysides migrated to cities and worked in blue-collar jobs. These migrant workers are called 打工人 (Dǎ gōng rén) / 打工仔 (Dǎ gōng zǎi). The word later evolved and was used to address the entire working class and salaried employees. For example, the memoir written by Shujuan Liu of the former president of Microsoft China, Jun Tang, was titled “I’m the 高级打工仔 (Gāojí dǎgōng zǎi, high-class worker) at Microsoft”. The term was frequently used as an internet buzzword in 2020 after appearing in a viral video in which a man acted as a migrant worker and showed watchers warm and positive encouragement. The video ended with a “good morning” greeting and addressed watchers as 打工人.
9. 内卷 (Nèi juǎn): “Involution”
- Literal Meaning: “Involution“
- The context of this phrase in 2020: According to People’s Daily, this word is a direct translation of the concept of ‘involution’ brought up by the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz. Involution describes the economic situation in which as the population grows, per capita wealth decreases. This year, this word is used to represent the competitive circumstances in academic or professional settings where individuals are compelled to overwork because of the standard raised by their peers who appear to be even more hard working. In the latter half of 2020, a few pictures capturing college students’ multitasking went viral on Weibo. One of the images shows a person working on his computer while riding his bike. These people were then called “卷王” (Juǎn wáng, meaning they are the example of overworking) on social media and became the origin of this buzzword. You can find this word sometimes associated with the 996 working hour system on Weibo.
10. 凡尔赛文学 (Fán’ěrsài wénxué): “Versailles Literature”
- Literal Meaning: “Versailles literature.”
- The context of this phrase in 2020: Social media has made displaying wealth and superiority easier than ever before. Instead of showing off explicitly, some find a way to both satisfy their desire for publicity and avoid doing so ostentatiously, by flaunting wealth and material possessions in an indirect and often negative-toned message. This writing style for social media posts is then referred to as “Versailles literature.” Admittedly not all posts labeled as “Versailles literature” were written with the intent to show off, but those with clear intention are often easily spotted and circulated online and became funny memes. This then led to a wave of discussions and a contest of “Versailles literature” on social media, which became a form of entertainment itself.
By Jialing Xie
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©2020 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
Jialing is a Baruch College Business School graduate and a former student at the Beijing University of Technology. She currently works in the US-China business development industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a passion for literature and humanity studies, Jialing aims to deepen the general understanding of developments in contemporary China.

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China Media
Wilders’ Win on Weibo: Hu Xijin and Others Discuss the “Dutch Trump”
Chinese netizens on Weibo have placed Wilders’ victory in a broader geopolitical context.

Published
2 weeks agoon
November 25, 2023
The Dutch general elections on Tuesday, 22 November 2022, resulted in a victory for the right-wing Freedom Party (PVV). The party, established in 2006, is led by the 60-year-old Dutch politician Geert Wilders who is known for his outspoken populist rhetoric and anti-establishment sentiments.
On Chinese social media, the Dutch election outcome became a topic discussed by some well-known bloggers.
The PVV secured 37 of the 150 seats in the Second Chamber, making it the largest party by a significant margin, followed by the left-wing Groen Links-PvdA (25 seats), center-right liberal VVD (24), and the brand-new centrist party NSC (20). The remaining seats were distributed among eleven other parties, each claiming between 9 and 1 seat in the Second Chamber.
Wilders’ triumph garnered international attention. As reported in 2017, the PVV’s popularity had been steadily increasing for years, drawing particular notice in Chinese media and other international publications in the wake of Trump’s victory and Brexit.
Dutch politician Wilders, referred to as Wéi’ěrdésī (维尔德斯 or 威尔德斯) in Chinese, became a recurring subject in Chinese media, with his success viewed as a harbinger for other elections across Continental Europe.
Wilders and his PVV are known for their strong anti-Islam stance, Euroskepticism, aspirations to significantly limit immigration, and populist commitment to “put the Dutch first.”
On Weibo, the well-known Chinese political commentator Hu Xijin (@胡锡进) wrote a column about Wilders’ win on November 23. Here’s a translation of Hu’s post:
“It shocked Europe, it shocked the West! The Freedom Party led by Wilders, the ‘Dutch version of Trump,’ received the most votes on Wednesday. His slogans and labels are anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, anti-Islam. The leader of the French extreme right-wing political party Le Pen immediately extended his congratulations through social media.”
“The results of the Dutch elections again show that xenophobic and intolerant political retrogressions are like cancer cells spreading across Europe and the West. However, the far-right line will not become the overwhelming new political choice in the West, as many Western societies are painfully going from side to side. Wilders also proposes that the Netherlands should stop providing weapons to the Ukraine, which goes against the mainstream European line. This is something that should be quite popular among Chinese.”
“It’s not clear yet if Wilders will actually become the premier of the Netherlands. Although his party received the most votes he only took about 37 seats of the 150 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives and will need to form a coalition government. Because it’s an extreme rightwing party, whether or not he will be able to pull allies in is hard to say. If Wilders fails, the Netherlands will not rule out a minority government.”
“Regardless, the victory of the Freedom Party is a heavy blow to Europe. There are concerns that it will become a model, that it will boost the rise of other extreme right-wing parties on the stage. In short, the West is becoming more and more chaotic and is becoming more lost.”
On Weibo, Hu Xijin’s post about Wilders received hundreds of replies, but many netizens did not agree with his stance on the victory of the Dutch right-wing party.
“You don’t represent the Chinese people,” one commenter wrote: “You just represent yourself. Don’t overstep your boundaries.”
“You’re actually so leftist underneath,” another reply said.
“Why did we witness a UK ‘Trump,’ a Brazilian ‘Trump,’ an Argentinian ‘Trump,’ a Dutch ‘Trump’?”
Among the numerous comments below Hu’s post, quite a few expressed sympathy for the populist stance advocated by PVV and Wilders. One popular comment reads, “Anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-Islamic—sounds about right?” “Europe is waking up.”
Another person commented: “Over the past couple of years, the population of Muslim immigrants in Europe and the United States has been rapidly expanding, bringing about serious social problems when it comes to public security, employment, fertility rates, and religious beliefs etc., which has since long been a source of distress for the local population.”
Apart from Hu’s post, Chinese netizens elsewhere on Weibo have also placed Wilders’ victory in a broader geopolitical context. Blogger Xiaosunchu (@小笋初) writes, “Why did America have Trump? Why did we witness a UK ‘Trump,’ a Brazilian ‘Trump,’ an Argentinian ‘Trump,’ a Dutch ‘Trump,’ and so on – all these non-traditional, anti-establishment ‘crazy’ candidates?”
According to Xiaochunchu, the election of these kinds of political figures is a result of a so-called ‘democratic illusion’ (“民主幻觉”) in the West, in which voters are perpetually disappointed in politicians as they end up getting “a different broth but the same old medicine” (“换汤不换药”): the names may change, but the system does not, leading voters to blame themselves for picking the wrong candidates when, in reality, it’s actually deep-rooted political structures that prevent actual change from happening.
Regardless of whether others agree with Xiaochunchu’s idea that voters’ preference for unconventional political figures is linked to a ‘democratic illusion,’ many do acknowledge that ‘Trump-style’ politics represents a broader political trend that began with the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
Other bloggers called the election of different ‘Trumps’ a “new change in global democratic politics” and even labeled the current international political arena the “Trump era” (“特朗普时代”). “Who’s next?” one Weibo user wonders.
“Let’s wait and see,” other people write, “It might not be easy for him to form a cabinet.”
While the Dutch formation has begun, the world will be watching to see which parties will govern together and whether Wilders might become the next Dutch Prime Minister, and the so-called ‘next Trump.’
Also read: Chinese Reactions on Wilders and “The Rise of the Right”
By Manya Koetse
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China Brands, Marketing & Consumers
Tick, Tock, Time to Pay Up? Douyin Is Testing Out Paywalled Short Videos
Is content payment a new beginning for the popular short video app Douyin (China’s TikTok) or would it be the end?

Published
3 weeks agoon
November 18, 2023
The introduction of a Douyin novel feature, that would enable content creators to impose a fee for accessing their short video content, has sparked discussions across Chinese social media. Although the feature would benefit creators, many Douyin users are skeptical.
News that Chinese social media app Douyin is rolling out a new feature which allows creators to introduce a paywall for their short video content has triggered online discussions in China this week.
The feature, which made headlines on November 16, is presently in the testing phase. A number of influential content creators are now allowed to ‘paywall’ part of their video content.
Douyin is the hugely popular app by Chinese tech giant Bytedance. TikTok is the international version of the Chinese successful short video app, and although they’re often presented as being the same product, Douyin and Tiktok are actually two separate entities.
In addition to variations in content management and general usage, Douyin differs from TikTok in terms of features. Douyin previously experimented with functionalities such as charging users for accessing mini-dramas on the platform or the ability to tip content creators.
The pay-to-view feature on Douyin would require users to pay a certain fee in Douyin coins (抖币) in order to view paywalled content. One Douyin coin is equivalent to 0.1 yuan ($0,014). The platform itself takes 30% of the income as a service charge.
According to China Securities Times or STCN (证券时报网), Douyin insiders said that any short video content meeting Douyin’s requirements could be set as “pay-per-view.”
Creators, who can set their own paywall prices, should reportedly meet three criteria to qualify for the pay-to-view feature: their account cannot have any violation records for a period of 90 days, they should have at least 100,000 followers, and they have to have completed the real-name authentication process.
On Douyin and Weibo, Chinese netizens express various views on the feature. Many people do not think it would be a good idea to charge money for short videos. One video blogger (@小片片说大片) pointed out the existing challenge of persuading netizens to pay for longer videos, let alone expecting them to pay for shorter ones.
“The moment I’d need to pay money for it, I’ll delete the app,” some commenters write.
This statement appears to capture the prevailing sentiment among most internet users regarding a subscription-based Douyin environment. According to a survey conducted by the media platform Pear Video, more than 93% of respondents expressed they would not be willing to pay for short videos.

An online poll by Pear Video showed that the majority of respondents would not be willing to pay for short videos on Douyin.
“This could be a breaking point for Douyin,” one person predicts: “Other platforms could replace it.” There are more people who think it would be the end of Douyin and that other (free) short video platforms might take its place.
Some commenters, however, had their own reasons for supporting a pay-per-view function on the platform, suggesting it would help them solve their Douyin addiction. One commenter remarked, “Fantastic, this might finally help me break free from watching short videos!” Another individual responded, “Perhaps this could serve as a remedy for my procrastination.”
As discussions about the new feature trended, Douyin’s customer service responded, stating that it would eventually be up to content creators whether or not they want to activate the paid feature for their videos, and that it would be up to users whether or not they would be interested in such content – otherwise they can just swipe away.
Another social media user wrote: “There’s only one kind of video I’m willing to pay for, and it’s not on Douyin.”
By Manya Koetse
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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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