OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (6)
走绳(zǒu shéng)
Slacklining
Slacklining involves balancing and walking on a piece of bouncy nylon rope which is suspended above the ground, trees or other upright structures.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (5)
不眠精英 （bù mián jīng yīng）
sleepless elite
This refers to a small number of people who can function well on little sleep. Universtiy of California researchers recently found that around 1 percent of the population are naturally “short sleepers” who can happily and healthily get by on four or five hours of a shut-eye a night, without needing naps or caffeine.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (4)
玻璃雨(bō li yǚ)
shards of falling glass
The term literally means rainfall of glass sheets. Several accidents in which glass sheets fell from buildings whose exterior walls consisted of glass blocks have occurred recently in Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. A woman's lower leg was cut off last month by a shard of glass falling from a building in Hangzhou.
H2O族(H2O zú)
home to office clan
Instead of juggling between work and family, this group of people, usually aged 25-35, enjoy a slow-paced and low-carbon lifestyle. They remain calm and composed even when stressed at work or in daily life.
高铁体(gāo tiě tǐ)
gaotie style
Gaotie means high-speed bullet train. The phrase refers to an online frenzy to use the words of the spokesperson of the Railway Ministry to mock his arrogance and improper response at a press conference following last month’s train crash in Wenzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. After the deadly collision on July 23, Wang Yongping said regarding the explanation that the carriage of the bullet train was buried to carry out a swift rescue, “I don’t care if you believe it or not. I just do!” This sentence quickly became a catchphrase and Internet meme.
勾兑食品(gōu duì shí pǐn)
blended food
In a series of recent food scandals, eateries admitted some dishes or beverages were not freshly made in the kitchen. Instead, they were either blended from concentrated liquids or made from powders. KFC acknowledged its soybean milk was made from powders after a picture of boxes of powders piled in front of a KFC restaurant in south China’s Guangzhou was posted online.
睡美人条款(shuì měi rén tiáo kuǎn)
sleeping legal terms
It refers to those legal terms which have never been implemented in real life. They are just like the fictional character Sleeping Beauty who has not been awakened.
铯牛(sè niú)
beef tainted with radioactive caesium
The phrase refers to tainted beef in which unsafe levels of radioactive caesium has been detected after a devastating earthquake struck northeast Japan and damaged its nuclear plants causing radiation leaks in March.
女巫情结(nǚ wū qíng jié)
fortune-telling complex
This term refers to the popularity of fortune-telling among white-collar workers, especially women. People use fortune-telling as well as divination to predict their possibilities in work, life and love. It has become a fashionable way to seek suggestions, spiritual or practical guidance or affirmation, and a way to ease the pressure of a fast-paced life.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (3)
拜登吃面(bài dēng chī miàn)
Biden eats noodles
The new phrase was coined and spread quickly online. Online bloggers said it means purchasing goods that greatly overvalue their actual price. They composed a sentence to explain how to use the phrase: “Don’t think about marrying me without owning a house. That’s just a Biden eats noodles dream.” The 79-yuan (US$9.4) lunch US Vice President Joe Biden had with his team at a Beijing restaurant during his visit to China last week raised suspicion that it was a publicity stunt by the US to convey the information that China should appreciate its currency.
Chinese Idioms and Colloquialisms (3)
Each country has colloquialism. After learning Chinese for quite some time and knowing a lot of characters, however, once immersed among local Chinese, you’ll still find yourself totally lost. Because you don’t understand the Chinese idioms and colloquialisms. This series of articles will help you learn these. Today we will learned five of them.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (2)
三手烟(sān shǒu yān)
third-hand smoke
It refers to cigarette particles or the odor remaining in furniture, clothing, hair or skin. Third-hand smoke is an invisible killer hidden on walls, in carpets, bed sets and other places. When babies crawl on the ground or grab things and put them in their mouth, they can get poisoned by the third-hand smoke.
冷妈(lěng mā)
cold-faced mother
Unlike traditional mothers who love their children unconditionally and sacrifice themselves, cold-faced mothers appear relatively detached, cold and strict. They don¡¯t always give unconditionally or remain tender and mild. On the contrary, they tend to teach children to face reality.
TVB体(TVB tǐ)
TVB style
It refers to a recent online trend to comfort others by using lines from TV series produced by Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Ltd, commonly known as TVB.
月饼税(yuè bǐng shuì)
mooncake tax
Tax authorities recently reminded employers that if they give mooncakes to employees as a bonus, it should be included as part of their taxable income. Although the tax has been levied for the past two years, most taxpayers think it is ridiculous and there was a wave of online criticism.
试探性自杀(shì tàn xìng zì shā)
tentative attempts before suicide
The phrase refers to tentative attempts made by a person before he/she has enough courage to commit suicide. The phrase came to light after a Hubei Province government official who had 11 deep knife wounds on his body was ruled to have committed suicide by police. His family and some members of the online community questioned whether it was possible that the official could stab himself 11 times to commit suicide.
格差婚(gé chā hūn)
kakusa marriage
Gecha is a translation from the Japanese word kakusa, which means gap. A kakusa marriage involves a man and a woman that have a great gap in income, family background, temperament, hobbies and outlook on life.
拉黑(lā hēi)
blacklist/block
An expression used to refer to blocking someone from viewing your posts on a social networking site. It also means to blacklist a person or organization.
闪辞族(shǎn cí zú)
speed job-quitter
Some new graduates will use a trivial setback as an excuse to find another position only several months or weeks into the current job.
OMG! Chinese Buzzwords! (1)
漂老族（piāo lǎo zú）
drifting parents
Chinese parents who move temporarily to large cities where their adult children work in order to help care for their grandchildren and do household chores before children are old enough to go to school.
纸张癖(zhǐzhāng pì)
paperphilia
A deep appreciation for the aesthetic qualities of paper and the preference for reading materials printed on paper rather than displayed on a screen. The resurgence of paperphilia rekindled people’s love for simple arts and handcrafts.
反潮族(fǎn cháo zú)
trend-bender
Contrarians who buck the trends. They ride a bike to work when they can afford a car, write snail-mail whenever possible in preference to e-mail and prefer reading “real” books and publications instead of e-books.
反季淘(fǎn jìtáo)
off-season shopping
Purchasing winter clothing in summer or the other way around to save money in big off-season discounts.
穿越剧(chuān yuèjù)
time-travel TV drama
A popular new TV series genre in which people in modern times travel to the past; or people from the past jump to the present or future times. Recent hits include “Startling by Each Step” and “Palace.”
瘦人基因（shòu rén jīyīn）
skinny gene
British and Swiss scientists have discovered that people with duplications of chromosome 16 were more likely to be skinny after studying the DNA of over 95,000 people. One out of every 2,000 people is affected by the lean gene, which can make men 23 times and women five times more likely to be underweight.
头像性格（tóu xiàng xìng gé）
profile picture character
It refers to an online trend to guess a netizen’s character from his or her profile picture on social networking sites. According to the theory developed by netizens, women who use there own photos usually have a strong spirit, lots of energy and are charismatic. Those who use pictures of aggressive foreign women tend to be weak and shy, they say.
Chinese Idioms and Colloquialisms (2)
Each country has colloquialism. After learning Chinese for quite some time and knowing a lot of characters, however, once immersed among local Chinese, you’ll still find yourself totally lost. Because you don’t understand the Chinese idioms and colloquialisms. This series of articles will help you learn these. Today we will learned five of them.
Chinese idioms：The fox borrowing the awe of the tiger
Hú jiǎhǔwēi
狐假虎威 Zài màomì de sēnlín li ， yǒu yì zhī lǎohǔ zhèng zài xúnzhǎo shíwù .
在 茂密 的 森林 里， 有 一 只 老虎 正 在 寻找 食物。
Mend the fold after a sheep is lost (Chinese)
Wánɡyánɡbǔláo
亡 羊 补 牢
Cónɡqián yǒu ɡè rén ，yǎnɡ le jǐ zhǐ yánɡ 。 Yī tiān zǎoshànɡ ，tā qù fànɡ yánɡ ，fāxiàn shǎo le yī zhī. Yuánlái yánɡjuàn pò le kūlonɡ, yèjiān lánɡ cónɡ kūlonɡ lǐ zuān jìnlái bǎ yánɡ diāo zǒu le。Línjū quànɡào tā shuō:"Gǎnkuài bǎ yánɡjuàn xiū yi xiū ，dǔ shànɡ nà ɡè kūlonɡ bɑ。" Tā shuō："Yánɡ yǐjīnɡ diū le， hái xiū yánɡjuàn ɡān shénme ne ？" Tā méi jiēshòu línjū de quànɡào。Dì èr tiān zǎoshànɡ，tā qù fànɡ yánɡ，fāxiàn yòu shǎo le yī zhī。Yuánlái lánɡ yòu cónɡ kūlonɡ lǐ zuān jìnlái bǎ yánɡ diāo zǒu le。 Tā hěn hòuhuǐ，bù ɡāi bù jiēshòu línjū de quànɡào。Tā ɡǎnkuài dǔ shànɡ nà ɡè kūlonɡ， bǎ yánɡjuàn xiū dé jiéjiē－shishí de。 Cónɡcǐ， tā de yánɡ zài méiyǒu bèi lánɡ diāo zǒu de le。
从前有个人，养了几只羊。 一天早上，他去放羊，发现少了一只 。原来羊圈破了窟窿，夜间狼从窟窿里钻进来把羊叼 走了。邻居劝告他说：赶快把羊圈修一修，堵上那个窟窿吧。他说：羊已经丢了，还修羊圈干什么呢？他没接受邻居的劝告。第二天早上，他去放羊，发现又少了一只 。原来狼又从窟窿里钻进来把羊叼走了。他很后悔，不该不接受邻居的劝告。他赶快堵上那个窟窿，把羊圈修得结结实实的。从此，他的羊再没有被狼叼走的了。
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