Top 5 Internet Buzzwords for the First Half of 2015

Many phrases and sentences have gone viral online in the first six months of 2015. Now that it’s the mid-point of the year, Chinese netizens have summed up the top five Internet buzzwords. We list them in no particular order here.

1. 我的内心几乎是崩溃的。
    wǒ de nèi xīn jǐ hū shì bēng kuì de

Meaning: I am close to a breakdown in my heart.

At the beginning of the year, Annie Chen, the CEO of a technology company, said in an interview, "I am close to a breakdown in my heart", and afterward the sentence has been frequently quoted when people feel overwhelmed or meet hardships.

2. duang

Meaning: No one knows its exact meaning, but generally speaking, it is similar to the English word “tada”.

A video parody adapted from a shampoo commercial featuring kungfu star Jackie Chan went viral online in February, leading Internet users to coin the word "Duang". It is an onomatopoetic word that doesn't correlate with any particular Chinese character, and it refers to "adding special effects".

3. 世界那么大，我想去看看。
    shì jiè nà me dà ，wǒ xiǎng qù kàn kàn

Meaning: The world is so big, I want to see it.

A letter of resignation, which only reads "The world is so big, I want to see it" went viral on Chinese social media in April. The letter was written by Gu Shaoqiang, a high school psychology teacher in Zhengzhou, Henan province. Gu's message certainly struck a chord with the netizens. Since the 10-character letter was released by a teacher in the school office, it was forwarded more than 6,100 times and got 1,700 comments on Weibo in one day.

4 .你们城里人真会玩。
    nǐ men chéng lǐ rén zhēn huì wán

Meaning: You city dwellers are good at playing.

Famous actor Kris Wu was shooting a film in Shanghai while someone impersonated him. Journalists took some photos of the fake star and put them online. Netizens realized that the person in the pictures was not the star himself, and the sentence "You city dwellers are really good at playing" quickly caught on.

5. 我们
   wǒ men 

Meaning: We

Actress Fan Bingbing and actor Li Chen publicly announced their relationship on Weibo, wher they posted a picture posing together, and used the word “we” to describe themselves. One after another, netizens began to post imitations and parodies of “we” pictures.