China
The top 10 popular words of 2020 reflect social life under the epidemic
By Ji Jing  ·  2020-12-23  ·   Source: NO.52 DECEMBER 24, 2020
  
Some of the medical workers from Guizhou Province in southwest China and Hunan Province in central China who  went to support the  novel coronavirus disease response in Hubei in  central China leave from the Wuhan Railway Station on March 17(XINHUA)
At this time when it is customary to run year-end retrospectives, literature and art magazine Yaowen Jiaozi, as usual, recapped the language development in the year in its list of the 10 most popular Chinese buzzwords. Renmin zhishang, shengming zhishang, meaning "people first, life first," and zhibo daihuo, meaning "live-streaming to sell goods," made it to the 2020 list.
Huang Anjing, editor in chief of the magazine, said compared with previous years, this year there were more popular words to choose from as the whole country was involved in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic. There have been more unexpected events and more exemplary individuals this year, giving rise to a variety of new concepts and words.
Huang said this year's catchphrases have two characteristics. First, many of them reflect the anti-epidemic theme. Second, compared with the catchphrases of previous years, which were popular among only a certain social group, this year's phrases are well known among the entire society because the fight against the epidemic has become the focus of society.
Reflection of the times
Fighting the epidemic is the theme of the year and many of the selected catchphrases are related to the theme, such as renmin zhishang, shengming zhishang.
After the outbreak of COVID-19 in the beginning of the year, President Xi Jinping stressed putting people's lives and health first. The entire nation came together to combat the epidemic and it was soon put under control, bringing social and economic development back on track.
Participating in a discussion at the Third Session of the 13th National People's Congress in May, Xi said the Party puts the people's interests first under any circumstances and will protect their lives and health at all costs.
Putting people first was the fundamental reason for China's achievement in the fight against the epidemic.
Sa, originally a mimetic word referring to the sound of the wind, is being used to describe women who are dashing, gorgeous and in high spirits. The word has been used in social media to describe the female medical workers who fought the epidemic on the frontline.
According to statistics from the National Health Commission, 28,000 female medical workers went to Hubei in central China to fight the epidemic, accounting for two thirds of all medical workers sent there.
Zhibo daihuo became an effective way to resolve the problem of overstocking and a new business model as people avoided brick-and-mortar stores for fear of infection during the epidemic.
China's top live-streaming host Huang Wei, better known as Viya, sold 5.87 billion yuan ($890 million) in products from July to September, Xinhua News Agency reported on November 19.
Another live-streaming celebrity Li Jiaqi came second, selling 1.34 billion yuan ($205 million) in September. According to media reports, e-commerce live-streaming is also gaining popularity in the United States, where the pandemic is still severe.
However, live-streaming marketing has its problems as well, such as fabricated sales figures, fake and shoddy products and inadequate after-sales service, which need effective supervision and regulation.
Shenshou, meaning mythical animals, refers to students who learn remotely. In the first half of the year, schools were closed owing to the epidemic and students attended online classes from home.
Many of them were so naughty that their parents exhausted all means trying to make them study and often wished these "mythical animals" would return to school as soon as possible.
  
A poster of a video published on video-sharing platform Bilibili on May 4,  in which actor He Bing expressed his recognition and appreciation of today's young people(FILE)
Positive energy
Yaowen Jiaozi said it has always upheld the principle of promoting positive energy in society as the core criterion for selecting the popular words of the year. This year, its selection represents the achievements in China's fight against the epidemic, lauds exemplary individuals for their response to the epidemic, and reflects the virtues people showed in the anti-epidemic fight.
For instance, nixingzhe or "heroes in harm's way," which literally means those who go in the opposite direction of most people, now also refers to medical workers, disease prevention and control staff, People's Liberation Army soldiers, scientists, community workers and police officers who worked tirelessly and even risked their lives to contribute to the fight against the epidemic. They remained moored to their responsibilities and were not afraid of risks or challenges in life-and-death situations.
Houlang, which literally means rear waves, expresses recognition and appreciation of the young people today. It was first used by 52-year-old actor He Bing, a representative of the older generations, in a video released on video-sharing platform Bilibili on May 4, Youth Day in China.
Although the video sparked controversy with some arguing that it represented only a small portion of young people instead of the entire generation, the word has become a nickname for young Chinese on social media.
These young people born after 1990 are mostly the only child in their families and used to be regarded as unreliable. However in the face of the epidemic, many of them have gone to the frontline, proving their sense of duty and responsibility.
According to the leading group of the CPC Central Committee for COVID-19 response, 12,000 of the medical workers who went to Hubei to fight the epidemic were born after 1990, accounting for one third of the total.
New trends
Other words on the list include shuangxunhuan, or "dual circulation." The dual circulation development pattern, first mentioned by Xi at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in May, is at the center of China's recent development policies. It means an economic development pattern that takes domestic market as the mainstay, with domestic and international markets reinforcing each other.
The COVID-19 pandemic and trade tensions have compelled countries to reevaluate domestic production capabilities and risks in the global supply chain. Given the vulnerability of the global industry chain under the current circumstances, it is the right thing to attach more importance to the domestic market.
The word dagongren has gained new meaning. It used to refer to migrant workers going to cities to work in factories or others doing manual labor. Now its meaning has been expanded to refer to workers from all walks of life, from blue-collar workers and low-level staff to managers and top executives.
It is now used by people to talk about their tough and exhausting jobs with humor. The word became popular this September after a netizen uploaded a video of himself getting ready for work, saying: "Hard-working people have started operating tower cranes, while you are still in bed. You do not take your life seriously. Morning, dagongren!"
The term fanersai wenxue or "Versailles literature" was inspired by the Japanese manga The Rose of Versailles, which depicts the lavishly extravagant and much-criticized aristocratic lifestyle of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France. It is now used on social media to refer to a new style of bragging, in which people comment on their "unsatisfactory" life to actually subtly show off their wealth and status, according to tech media Pandaily.
This was started by a Weibo user, Mengqiqi77, who posted this on the Chinese microblogging platform: "There weren't enough electric car charging stations in the neighborhood and we weren't allowed to install new ones. So we had no choice but to move into a bigger house with a private garage for my husband's Tesla."
Neijuan or "involution" was originally used by anthropologists to describe the self-perpetuating process that keeps agrarian societies from progressing. It has now become a shorthand used by Chinese urbanites to describe the ills of their modern lives: Parents feel intense pressure to provide their children with the very best; children must keep up in the educational rat race; office workers have to clock in a grinding number of hours, according to online magazine Sixth Tone.
Involution can be understood as the opposite of evolution. The Chinese word neijuan is made up of the characters for "inside" and "rolling," and is intuitively understood as something that spirals in on itself, a process that traps the participants who know they won't benefit from it, according to Sixth Tone.
(Print Edition Title:  Essence of the Year 
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
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