The top ten trending Chinese phrases of 2016 have been revealed. Surprise surprise, most of them are internet speak and came from viral videos spreading within the Great Fire Wall. We break down five of the most interesting ones, lest you experience crushing FOMO when your Chinese colleagues send you one of these WeChat stickers.
洪荒之力 honghuangzhili
Source: 81.cn
Although this term originated in a popular Chinese celestial drama, where honghuangzhili referred to unstoppable celestial powers, this year the phrase was made popular by Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui after thinking she had failed to make the 100M women’s backstroke final at this summer's Olympics. The delight-Fu swimmer told reporters after the swim that she had put in her 'effing best' for the semi-finals and hence had no regrets for not making the final (she would find out in the same interview that she had in fact qualified, and would go on to win bronze in the final).
小目标 Xiao mubiao
Popular usage of the phrase originates from a TV interview with Wanda's Wang Jianlin, who advised young ambitious entrepreneurs to earn their 100 million bucks first before dreaming big. Small goal indeed. Use with ample sarcasm.
吃瓜群众 chiguaqunzhong
The literal translation of chiguaqunzhong is 'a crowd eating melons'. It’s not that far off in everyday usage, where it typically refers to throngs of netizens silently (and probably gleefully) onlooking while some poor soul is getting publicly flamed online. The world of 0's and 1's is a cold, cold place.
友谊的小船，说翻就翻 youyidexiaochuan, shuofanjiufan
This phrase makes an allusion to friendship as a boat, and more exactly, to a boat's propensity to capsize. Bleak, no? It was made popular by a comic strip drawn by cartoonist Nandongni, and subsequently sparked an online craze of creating similar 'capsizing' strips.
葛优躺 Geyoutang
Source: HK01
Basically, a slack, IDGAF resting posture, made popular by actor Ge You in the family drama Wo Ai Wo Jia (I Love My Family). So if you’ve ever been accused of geyoutang by your colleagues, you’ve probably been caught snoozing too much in your office chair.
蓝瘦，香菇 lanshou, xianggu
Source: China Daily
Our pick of the bunch, made popular by a heartbroken lovebird in Guangxi. His thick local accent had viewers deciphering words in his song as lanshou, xianggu 蓝瘦香菇 (skinny blue mushrooms), when in fact his intended lyrics were nanshou, xiangku 难受想哭 (heartbroken and on the verge of tears). Now that's why your Chinese teachers have been stressing the importance of proper enunciation. This being China, some opportunists did start selling skinny blue mushrooms to cash in.
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