漂老族(piāo lǎo zú)
drifting parents
Chinese parents who move temporarily to large cities wher 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.