4. ‘Melon-eating masses’

吃瓜群众 (chī guā qúnzhòng)

This term’s full expression is 不明真相的吃瓜群众 (bùmíng zhēnxiàng de chī guā qúnzhòng) which means “the melon-eating masses who don’t know what’s really going on”.

The origin of this term is unclear, but one explanation loosely refers to how some people avoid getting to the bottom of an issue, just like how they will leave the bottom of the melon unfinished. Another theory seems to point the source at an elderly witness of an event who when interviewed replied, “I was just sitting here eating watermelon when it passed me by.”

Whatever the origin, Chinese netizens often use this Chinese phrase derogatorily to describe a group of bystanders who watch but don’t intervene at a major incident or event.

3. ‘Prehistoric powers’

洪荒之力 (hónghuāng zhī lì)

Of all the Chinese sportsmen and sportswomen at 2016’s Rio Olympics, Fu Yuanhui became the most famous one when her interview went viral. This bronze-medal swimmer won over the hearts of netizens when she gave an adorable, now-iconic TV interview regarding her performance.

When told she had qualified for the final, a reporter asked her if she had given everything at the event. Fu then answered with a comical, highly exaggerated expression, “I have used all my prehistoric powers to swim!” The term came to popularity and became an expression for “an unstoppable force”. Soon, netizens started creating graphics and animated pictures to idolize Fu Yuanhui and her iconic phrase. She was so popular her Weibo followers jumped from 56,000 to 3,710,000 in two days.

2. Setting a small target

小目标 (xiǎo mùbiāo)

Wang Jianlin, China’s wealthiest man, put himself to ridicule when he gave an unfeasible advice on how to get rich. Known for his eccentricity, Wang said in a television interview, “First set yourself a small target, for example, I first aimed to earn 100 million yuan (USD14.3)!”

His interview caused an outpouring of sarcasm online. People pointed out the unattainable goal of earning that amount of money in their whole lifetime, let alone to set it as a “small target”. Since then, this term has been used sarcastically to refer to an impossible goal.

For example: “Let me lose weight first – my target will be 30kg (80lbs)” or “I am going to marry Angela Baby (a Chinese celebrity)”.

1. ‘Skinny Blue Mushroom’

蓝瘦香菇 (lánshòu xiānggū)

Probably the most viral and funniest phrase of the 2016 viral Chinese phrases is 蓝瘦香菇 (lánshòu xiānggū). It means “skinny blue mushroom” when translated literally, but it’s actually supposed to be 难受想哭 (nánshòu xiǎng kū) which means ‘I feel bad, I want to cry’.

It went viral when a vlogger was live streaming on the web about his lack of companionship while his girlfriend was away at the time. Originally he wanted to say that he ‘felt bad and wanted to cry’, but due to his thick Guangxi accent, the words he uttered instead came out as ‘skinny blue mushroom’. And so a meme was born. This simple mispronunciation took off and was widely shared on Weibo and Wechat. And since that fateful video, the man has become a celebrity in China’s booming online live streaming world.