Gen Z Slang

yǎng zhuān tóu

A new hobby where young people pick up discarded bricks, spray them with water daily, and wait for moss to grow. It's meditation, gardening, and absurdist humor — all for the price of a brick.

XX suì zhèng shì XX de nián jì

A template meme: 'X years old is the age of Y.' Originally used to describe Olympic swimmer Pan Zhanle's unfiltered interview style, it became a format for pairing any age with any unexpected behavior.

jiā háo

A label for someone who confidently pretends to be an expert on something they know nothing about — named after a high schooler whose birthday video went viral.

bèi shǒu fù shǔ

A photo of a possum standing with its paws behind its back became the defining burnout meme of summer 2026. It captures the exact feeling of looking composed on the outside while falling apart inside.

SBTI

A joke MBTI parody that hands you an absurd, self-deprecating label. It's a way for young Chinese to laugh at burnout and defuse personality-test anxiety with dark humor.

gū gū gā gā

A nonsense sound that became a universal internet response — the equivalent of going 'uwu' or 'rawr' but with zero meaning and maximum absurdity.

kū kū mǎ

A factory error turned a smiling horse mascot into a teary-eyed, downcast 'crybaby horse' — and it became the first viral toy of 2026, perfectly capturing the 'I'm fine (I'm not fine)' mood of burned-out workers.

ài nǐ lǎo jǐ

A self-love slogan that went viral in China — a playful way to say 'take care of yourself, old pal.' The word '老己' (old self) turns self-care into a friendly chat with an old friend, removing the guilt usually attached to putting yourself first.

nà zǎ le

A breezy, unbothered verbal shrug that brushes off criticism, pressure, or an obvious shortcoming. 'So what?' 'And?' 'What about it?' — delivered with the confidence of someone who genuinely doesn't care.

dàn rén / nóng rén

A simplified personality spectrum: 淡人 are low-energy, calm, and understated about everything; 浓人 are loud, passionate, and intense about everything. The labels describe how you react to life, not how social you are.

cuì pí dà xué shēng

A lovingly sarcastic word for college students: today's twenty-somethings, who order bubble tea at 2am, skip the gym, and immediately end up 'injured' in some spectacularly avoidable way — the crispy, fragile generation.

dā zi

A fallback friend for one specific thing — your lunch buddy, gym buddy, travel buddy or study buddy, found quickly (often online) and kept exactly for that one activity.

i rén / è rén

Shorthand labels taken from MBTI for introverted ('I') and extroverted ('E') people. i人 dreads the phone call; e人 thrives on it. The pair became self-introduction cards for a whole generation.

sōng chí gǎn

An aura of effortless composure — the person who doesn't try too hard, doesn't panic when things go wrong, and makes everyone around them feel at ease. The most coveted social compliment of the decade.

shè kǒng / shè niú

Two poles of social ability: 社恐 (social anxiety) describes someone who dreads social interaction, and 社牛 (social cow) describes someone who is fearless and thrives in any social situation. The pair replaced entire paragraphs of self-description.