4 viral Chinese buzzwords sweeping the internet this season
Photograph: Marten Bjork via Unsplash
Sunset fans, water royalty and so ridiculous you'll spit your food out. They've all crossed the lips and keyboards of China's netizens this season, but what do these viral phrases even mean and where did they even come from? Here we break down four internet phrases that have been buzzing.
1. Sunset fans (夕阳红粉丝团)
Photograph: @jaychou via Instagram
'Sunset fans' (xiyanghong fensi tuan) is a self-mocking term that fans in their late 20s and 30s use to refer to themselves, and is mainly used by Jay Chou fans who decided to increase the singer's social media presence by banding together and prompting him to become the most discussed topic on Weibo this summer.
2. So ridiculous you'll spit your food out (荒唐得令人喷饭)
Photograph: @People's Daily via Weibo
Commenting on a letter to Trump by some Americans who believed China is a threat to world peace, CCTV presenter Kanghui called the claim 'so ridiculous it would make people spit their food out' (huangtang de lingren penfan), contrary to the usual serious tone that the most-watched propaganda outlet usually projects.
3. To plant grass (种草)
Photograph: Yu Zhiming
Translated directly as 'to plant grass', zhongcao refers to posts often seen on e-commerce apps like Xiaohongshu – aka RED to overseas markets – that aim at introducing a product or a service to potential customers and convert them into actual users. Conversely, bacao (拔草), or 'to pull up grass', is when you decide to actually purchase a product or service you saw on social media.
4. Water royalty (水中跪族)
Photograph: @Global Times via Weibo
This is a play on the Chinese pronunciation of gui which means both 'royal' and 'to kneel down'. Here's it's written as 水中跪族 (shuizhong guizu), meaning 'someone kneeling down by the pool'. Chinese netizens used this phrase to mock Australian swimmer Mack Horton for refusing to take photos with Sun Yang, a Chinese swimmer accused of doping. Memes circulated on the net showing Horton, who refused to get on the podium, looking like he was kneeling down beside Sun.