跨界车 (kua4jie4che1)
crossover vehicle
Refers to vehicles that have qualities of a sedan, like high fuel efficiency and comfortable seating, and easy operation of an SUV.

人肉搜索 (ren2rou4sou1suo3)
human search engine
Refers to Netizens using their human network to track down someone they have seen on the Internet.

数字原生代 (shu4zi4yuan2sheng1dai4)
digital native
Usually refers to people who grew up with computers, mobile phones and other digital devices. They are not necessarily defined by age — those not “born digital” can be just as connected as their younger counterparts.

倒卡族 (dao4ka3zu2)
coupon scalping clan
Those who make profits dealing in a variety of coupon-like cards.

透视装 (tou4shi4zhuang1)
see-through dress
A piece of see-through clothing, barely suitable for public view.

野猫罢工 (ye3mao1ba4gong1)
wildcat strike
Jargon in the human resources sector that refers to an unauthorized work stoppage while a labor contract is still in effect.

天使投资人 (tian1shi3tou4zi1ren4)
angel investor
An affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Angels have begun forming angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool investment capital.

黑嘴 (hei1zui3)
crooked stock analysts
Literarily meaning “black mouth,” it is used to describe some stock analysts who use smooth-tongued rhetoric to coax small investors into buying shares not worth buying.

彼得潘症候群 (bi3de2pan4zheng1hou2qun2)
Peter Pan Syndrome
Describes people who are just like Peter Pan, the character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (18601937). They are adults who refuse to grow up. Similar to kidults.

卡生活 (ka3sheng1huo4)
card addiction
White collars who can’t live without cards — from credit cards to membership cards to discount cards.

35岁现象 (san1shi4wu3sui4xian4xiang4)
35 phenomenon
The term describes a phenomenon of government officials at or below 35 years of age becoming susceptible to corruption. It used to be the 59 phenomenon, meaning an official becoming prone to corruption on the eve of his retirement.

上班蟑螂(shang4ban1zhang1lang2)
clockroach
A combination of “clock” and “cockroach” Refers to employees who idle their time away by watching the clock.

指责风暴 (zhi3ze2feng1bao4)
blamestorming
This term borrows from “brainstorming”. It means a meeting to review a failed project and pin down the person responsible.

A货 (A huo4)
top-grade fakes
Quality matters even in the case of bogus goods. If a counterfeit can challenge the professional eye, it is a top-grade fake.

裸博(luo3bo2)
school-school PhD
PhD students who graduate with a diploma but no work experience because they have moved only from school to school are sometimes discriminated against by employers. 

八点女王(ba1dian3nu3wang2)
prime-hour soap star
An actress who helps ensure  high ratings for prime hour TV soap operas.

不雅照(bu4ya3zhao4)
indecent photo
Any picture that is sexually explicit or involves a wardrobe malfunction. It is used as an understatement for steamy pictures after the sex picture scandal in Hong Kong.

高楼(gao1lou2)
high-rise posting
Widely used online, it refers to topics that attract hundreds of postings. In online communities, one posting is regarded as one storey, so popular topics are like high-rise towers.

键盘爱国者(jian4pan2ai5guo2zhe3)
keyboard patriot
Netizens who express their patriotism in cyberspace but never really take action, such as millions of Internet users who added a red heart and“China” at the beginning of their names on MSN to express support for the Beijing Olympics and a love of their country.

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辣奢族(la4she1zu2)
luxury-craving clan
Refers to die-hard pursuers of luxury products. They are usually aged 15-30, come from a wealthy family or earn 20,000-50,000 yuan a month. For them, getting their hands on luxury items is more important than sleeping and eating.

穷忙族(qiong2mang2zu2)
working-poor clan
Urbanites who work in a frantically busy way, but barely earn more than enough to cover basic living costs.

食男族(shi2nan2zhe3)
man-killer
A beautiful woman who conquers many men's hearts with her undisputed charm.

反厌食条约(fan2yan4shi3tiao2yue1)
anti-anorexia charter
French fashion industry representatives recently signed a government-backed charter pledging not to encourage eating disorders and to promote healthy body images.

牙膏贴(ya2gao1tie1)
toothpaste postings
Refers to online postings which have an attractive start to a story but are updated at an extremely slow speed, just like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube.

永久性脑残(yong3jiu3xing4nao3can4)
PhD (permanent head damage)
Widely used in Chinese online BBS communities to tease someone who has done something considered out of line and crazy.

信骚扰(xin4sao1rao3)
spam message harassment
The pronunciation of the term is similar to "sexual harassment" in Chinese. However, it describes junk short messages or advertisements sent to mobile phone users.

麦芽糖女人(mai4ya2tang2nu3ren2)
malt sugar women
Refers to women who are always possessive and demand their boyfriends or husbands spend every minute with them, just like the sticky malt sugar.

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草台班子(cao3tai4ban1zi1)
fly-by-night band
It refers to unregistered and illegal performing troupes that stage indecent shows in rural areas and city suburbs.

没女(mei2nu3)
no-no woman
It is an expression used by young people these days to refer to women who are neither rich nor beautiful but are well-educated and kind-hearted. It is pronounced similar to 美女, which means a beautiful woman.

腐女族(fu3nu3zu4)
fujoshi
This term, which is literally “rotten girl,” is a Japanese word referring to girls and young women who are Yaoi (boy love) fans and devoted to comics and pornography which focus on love, sex and romance between men. They often fantasize about relations between two boys. However, these women are not lesbians.

酷格格(ku4ge2ge2)
cougar woman
The description of “cougar woman” refers to women in their mid-30s to 50s who chase younger men. They are usually fi nancially stable and independent, such as Samantha on “Sex and the City” and Gabrielle on “Desperate Housewives.”

走餐族(zou3can1zu2)
walk-eating clan
The fast pace of urban life has reduced many offi ce workers to eating their breakfast while walking in a hurry to catch buses and subway trains as they head to work during rush hour.

社会企业(she4hui4qi3ye4)
social business
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus coined the phrase to mean a new kind of business whose motive is one of social benefi ts, such as helping the poor, rather than maximizing profits.

金蓝领(jin1lan2ling3)
golden blue collar
It refers to well-paid technicians such as plumbers. Many educational experts argue that China should train more technicians rather than college students to meet the market demand.

加草站(jia1cao3zhan4)
grass station
Instead of fueling at gas stations, some eco-friendly vehicles now use bio-fuels, some of which are even refi ned from wild grass alongside the road.

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