疗伤系 (liáo shāng xì)
soother, balm
First used to refer to a style of song featured in a Japanese album that is characterized by soothing melodies, the expression now refers to any cultural product that can set your mind at rest. It is also used to refer to a kind of person that is gentle and endearing.

学院风 (xúe yuàn fēng)
preppy style
This term means a dress style that can be traced back to students or graduates of expensive preparatory schools in the United States. It includes denim shirts, V-necked sweaters and pencil trousers.

温吞水 (wēn tūn shǔi)
tepid, apathetic
This phrase has been used as a colloquial expression in Shanghai dialect for many decades and remains very alive in everyday conversation today. It refers to a person who lacks interest or enthusiasm in doing things or tends to go about duties or chores at a snail’s pace.

恐婚族 (kǒng hūn zú)
marriage-shy clan
The term is used to describe some young people who are extremely afraid of making the commitment to get married. The same people are totally at ease with pursuing dating relationships.

太超过世代 (tài chāo guò shí dài)
exceptional generation
The term, first publicly used by Peggy Chiao, chairwoman of Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Awards and well-known movie critic, refers to a group of young Taiwan directors. The word "exceptional" here means extremely talented and outstanding. This generation of directors includes Wei Te-sheng, who made "Cape No.7,"a blockbuster Taiwanese hit.

糖水片 (táng shǔi piàn)
aesthetic photo
The term translates literally as a "sugar water photo."It refers to the portrait or scenery photos that feature aesthetic techniques and superficial beauty but lack significance or meaning. "Sugar water"sounds similar to "Pond water"in Chinese and the latter is deemed by some shutterbugs as a sine qua non in scenery photos.

奥布 (ào bù)
dirty trick
The term originates from the dialect of southern Fujian Province and means cunning thoughts or methods that are used to reach a certain goal. It was extensively used during the election of local leaders in Taiwan as some candidates were discovered employing unfair or unlawful methods to collect votes in support of particular candidates.

衰退达人 (shui tui da ren)
recessionista
The term refers to those who are adept at changing their consumption habits during the severe economic downturn. Contrary to the "fashionista"who are in blind pursuit of labels, they advocate a kind of thrift -permanent, steady, moderate and positive consumption in order to minimize the impact of a recession. They are expert in sourcing discounts to buy what is cheap but chic.

草食男 (cao3 shi2 nan2)
herbivorous man
It refers to men who are gentle and very polite toward women. But they rarely take the initiative or an aggressive approach to court the female they love. Instead, they tend to keep a lukewarm relationship with them.

机械舞 (ji1 xie4 wu3)
popping dance
A type of dance similar to break dance, which features tightening and flexing of the muscles, just like a robot.

炒婚 (chao3 hun1)
wedding fanfare
China's champion gymnast Yang Wei disputes online criticism of his ostentatious wedding ceremony, saying love for his bride Yang Yun was his focus and some of the luxurious aspects were from sponsoring businesses.

末端时尚 (mo4 duan1 shi2 shang4)
tip-top fashion 
It refers to trendy hairstyling and manicures pursued by many young women. As the makeover involves the woman's head hair and fingernails and toes, it is hence called "tip-top" fashion.

快速时尚 (kuai4 su4 shi2 shang4)
fast fashion
Also known as high-street fashion, it involves shoppers getting the latest clothes just a few weeks after they first appear on the catwalk and at reasonable prices.

私享家 (si1 xiang3 jia1)
person of free spirit
The word is a homonym with "thinker" in Chinese and means literally a "person of private enjoyment." But it actually refers to people who pursue health, leisure and an independent lifestyle. They have their own ideas, pick their own place to stay and share leisure time with family and friends, but always keep some time for their own. They also tend to maintain a place of privacy in their heart and try to "privatize" their enjoyment.

涉黑 (she4 hei1)
gang-related crimes
Chinese rock musician Zang Tianshuo has been arrested by Beijing police for a suspected role in several gangland activities. It is the tip of a social problem in which a few government officials and celebrities are in cahoots with local gangsters.

好人卡 (hao3 ren2 ka3)
nice guy card
This is today's answer to the "dear John letter" of the 1940s. A girl may turn down an admirer by saying "You are a nice guy, but I'm sorry we are not suitable." So if a guy says he has "received a nice guy card" that means he has been rejected. The "card" has also developed into "nice guy pop culture." Some designers are creating "nice guy" cards and sell them online.

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考碗族 (kao3 wan3 zu2)
civil servant test sitter
Against the backdrop of the global recession, more young Chinese people nowadays look for a secure job as a civil servant, usually nicknamed as the "gold rice bowl." So, they all sit for the examinations designed for winning such jobs. Chinese traditionally refer to a stable job as an "iron rice bowl."

洗澡蟹 (xi3 zao4 xie4)
bathed crab
Late autumn and early winter is the season for hairy crabs, one of the most favored delicacies of people living in Shanghai and its surrounding areas. Among hairy crabs, those produced from the Yangcheng Lake are deemed as the very best and people are willing to pay big money for them. Crooked dealers, however, tend to bring in cheaper, and perhaps inferior, crabs from other places and dip them in the Yangcheng Lake for a few days or weeks. They then sell those "bathed crabs" as the genuine product for higher prices.

金融海啸 (jin1 rong2 hai3 xiao4)
financial tsunami
People often use the expression to describe, if not exaggerate, the current financial crisis that is looming large across the world.

长跑令 (chang2 pao3 ling4)
long jog requirement
The Chinese Ministry of Education has asked students across the country to take a long jog every morning from October 26 through to April 30, in an attempt to improve their physical condition. Under the plan, grade-five and grade-six students will run 1,000 meters per day, middle school students 1,500 meters, and high school and university students 2,000 meters. The compulsory jogging has attracted protests from parents who worry their children will be too tired after the morning exercises to focus on their studies.

民间食神 (min2 jian1 shi2 shen2)
popular foodie
The term refers to ordinary gastronomes who are fond of sharing their experiences on Websites and making comments on restaurants that they have visited. They have been attracting a growing number of followers and beginning to influence the culinary trends among the public and even in the catering industry.

螺蛳壳 (luo2 si1 ke2)
tiny space, small apartment
The Chinese term literally means a "snail shell," but it is used figuratively to describe a tiny space or a very small apartment.

民心工程 (min2 xin1 gong1 cheng2)
heart-winning project
It refers to a project which benefits ordinary people, such as building affordable housing for low-income earners.

鸡冻 (ji1 dong4)
excited
The term means literally "chicken jelly." Since its pronunciation is the same as the word "excited" in Chinese, it is usually used in online context to replace the conventional phrase.

虚拟经济 (xǖ nǐ jīng jì)
fictitious economy
This term refers to transactions involving securities, futures and financial derivatives. Due to the current global financial crisis, this term appears frequently in newspapers and daily conservation. It is the opposite of the “real economy” or “substantial economy.”

道德扶贫 (dào dé fú pín)
moral poverty relief
In reporting the recent melamine-laced milk scandal in China, some media point out that the government and all social sectors in the country should not only pay attention to the material poverty in rural areas, but also their moral poverty.

乐触族 (lè chù zú)
LOTAF
The term stands for “lifestyle of touch and fun.” It refers to people who are interested in and enjoy using touch screen digital devices, such as iTouch and iPhone.

润物女 (rùn wù nǚ)
woman of active life
This is a phrase coined by Chinese and used as the opposite to the Japanese term “himono onna” or “dried-fish woman.” The Japanese term refers to a female who has little activity other than staying home and spending time online. They pursue a simple lifestyle and shy away from complicated social networking. The Chinese term refers to women who love going out, keep fit and enjoy life.

封口费 (fēng kǒu fèi)
hush money
The term can be used formally or informally. People sometimes jokingly demand hush money from their friends for keeping a secret between them. But this word attracted nationwide attention recently as dozens of journalists from various Chinese media organizations were found to take hush money for not reporting a fatal coal mine accident.

正太控 (zhèng tài kòng)
shota complex
The word “shota,” derived from Japanese cartoons, refers to those thin and weak Asian boys aged between 3 to 13 years old usually in shorts. Some people, mostly females, take a fancy to comics and stories featuring such characters and pay extra attention to them. They are known to have a shota complex.

碟托 (díe tūo)
album shill
These shills usually post their opinions or comments on online bulletin boards about a newly-released album to earn money from the record company. They will either be hired to boast about a certain record or attack records issued by rival firms.

纯净水 (chún jìng shǔi)
post without content
The term translates verbatim to “purified water,” but it is often used to describe those online posts that contain little substantial content. It is related to another Chinese term “guanshui,?or 搃rrigation,?in its literal sense, referring to Web bloggers uploading tons of nonsense to earn more online credits.

首席忽悠官 (shǒu xí hū you guān)
CHO
The H here is short both for “human resources” and the Chinese pinyin for huyou (or coaxing). Young people playfully call the human resources workers as CHO these days because they believe in many cases the HRs are trying to paint a rosy picture of their companies for job seekers, against the fears of a global economic recession.

公司腐败官(gong1 si1 fu3 bai4 guan1)
CFO
The term means Corporate Fraud Officer here, not chief financial officer. It is another example of borrowing and twisting the meaning of an existing term.

排(pai2)
agreed
At online chat rooms, Netizens use this Chinese word, meaning literally to queue or line up, to express their agreement to an opinion. It roughly means to get into the queue or stand in the same line as others.

自来熟(zi4 lai2 shu2)
naturally chummy, gregarious
It refers to people who tend to willingly and instantly befriend strangers or newcomers. Some people like this kind of "instant befriending"attitude, but others loathe it.

抢抢族 (qiang3 qiang3 zu4)
online bargain hunter
Some young people are hooked online and keep an eagle eye on the limited number of gifts and bargains offered by a business and lose no time to take the offer and get the services.

黑屏 (hei1 ping2)
black screen
It's the latest Microsoft scheme to fight piracy. It replaces the screen wallpaper of a computer using pirated Microsoft Windows and Office software with a black screen every hour when the computer is turned on.

立升 (li4 sheng1)
high-heeled clout
The word in Shanghai dialect originally describes the volume of a container. A person with "volume"now means a high-heeled investor or a person with clout.

娃妈 (wa2 ma1)
doll mommy
This term refers to some young women who spend a lot of time with ball-joint dolls. They "adopt"(buy) dolls and treat them like their own kids. The dolls, mostly made in Japan and South Korea, look realistic and cuddly with large heads and big eyes.

打鸡血 (da3 ji1 xue3)
get excited, be stimulated
The word literally means injecting chicken blood, a fad in the late 1960s in China as a way to boost one's health. Now, it is often used to describe someone getting excited or stimulated.

跟风 (gen1 feng1)
copycat, follow blindly
A copycat is a person who mimics other people. The word means someone following a trend often in a blind way.