4 viral Chinese buzzwords you need to know about

Photo: Flickr

It's never too late to learn...

Sunset fans, water royalty and so ridiculous you'll spit your rice out – these are the viral phrases that crossed the lips and keyboards of China's netizens this summer. But what do they even mean and where did they even come from? Here we break down four internet slangs that have been buzzing this past summer.

1. Sunset fans (夕阳红粉丝团）

Photo: @Jaychou/Instagram

'Sunset fans' (xī yáng hóng fěn sī tuán) is a self-mocking term that Chinese celebrity fans in their late 20s and 30s use to refer to themselves. While it's mainly used by Mandopop artist Jay Chou's followers, it typically refers to the phenomenon of die-hard fans of washed-up pop stars coming together to promote their idols to younger social media users.

2. Plant grass (种草）

Photo: @Yu Zhiming

Literally translated to 'to plant grass', 种草 (zhǒng cǎo) refers to online posts often seen on Taobao or other Chinese e-commerce apps that give a plug for a product or a service to potential customers in an attempt to convert them into actual users. Conversely, 拔草 (bá cǎo), or 'to pull up grass', is when you're convinced and decide to purchase that product or service you saw on those posts.

3. Water royalty (水中跪族）

Photo: @Flickr

This is a play on the Chinese pronunciation of guì which means both 贵 'royal', and 跪 'to kneel down'. Here written as 水中跪族 (shuǐ zhōng guì zú), the phrase loosely translates to 'someone kneeling down by the pool'. It was coined by Chinese netizens during the World Championships in Gwangju, after Australian swimmer Mack Horton was seen refusing to share the podium and taking photos with Sun Yang, China's controversial Olympic and world champion swimmer who's accused of doping. Memes circulated on the net showing Horton, who stood away from the podium, looking like he was kneeling down beside Sun. 

4. So ridiculous you'll spit your rice out (荒唐得令人喷饭）

Photo: @flickr

This particular phrase became trending among patriotic Chinese, after it was used by a CCTV presenter in condemning Americans who believed China is a threat to world peace in a letter to Trump. Confronting the claim head-on with a heated response that's contrary to the serious tone that the state media usually projects, the anchor seemed to lose his cool on live TV when he said the letter was 'so ridiculous that it would make people spit their rice out' (huāng táng dé lìng rén pēn fàn).

You might have missed

More from Time Out Beijing