Eveline Chao: Niubi! The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School

榴莲族 liúlián zú ( lyoo lyinn dzoo)

Durian clan. A durian is an indigenous Southeast Asian fruit with a tough, thorny husk, which is well-known mostly because it smells horrendous-enough so that it is banned on the subway in Singapore. It is perhaps this negative perception surrounding the fruit that has inspired younger people from the “strawberry clan” to give this moniker to what they consider the unprogressive and out-of-touch older generation.

椰子族 yēzi zú ( yeh dz dzoo)

Coconut clan. A moniker for young people who are the opposite of the strawberry clan-able to work very hard and “eat bitterness” because of their tough husks. Why exactly Chinese seem to love categorizing people with names of fruits is unclear, but it means that bewildering comments like these are common on Internet forums: “Not just the strawberry generation, but the generation of children who will graduate college in 2010. How will they know how to face the world’s realities? Strawberries will seem cactuses compared to what these delicate orchids will be once they are cast adrift on the seas of real life’s waters.”

山寨 shānzhài ( shahn jie -jie rhymes with “die”)

Literally “mountain stronghold,” alluding to a period in China ’s history when various areas were controlled by renegade warlords (with mountain strongholds); that is, outside official control. Today shānzhàiretains that renegade idea but means “knockoff” or “fake.” It can also mean “inferior” or “cheap,” though more recently the word has taken on a more positive connotation, suggesting ingenuity and a sense of humor, as people begin to embrace “ shānzhàiculture.” Knockoff mobile phone makers extoll the shānzhàinature of their products, arguing that they are making high-end products accessible to the masses, and some companies even cheekily use shānzhàispokespeople-that is, celebrity look alikes-to endorse their products. One especially hilarious example of shānzhàiculture’s tongue-in-cheek nature: KFC’s Chinese name is 肯德基 Kěn Dé Jī ( ken duh gee ), but one shānzhàibusiness, also serving fried chicken and fast food, calls itself 啃他鸡 Kěn Tā Jī ( ken tah gee ), which sounds similar but means “nibble his chicken” and is a dirty double entendre, since 鸡 jī ( gee ) is a slang term for “penis.”

极品女 jípǐn nǚ ( gee peen nee) and 极品男 jípǐn nán ( gee peen nahn)

Literally “extremely great woman” and “extremely great man” but often used sarcastically on the Internet to mean someone who is fussy or annoying.

宅女 zhái nǚ ( jigh nee) and 宅男 zhái nán ( jigh nahn)

A woman or man, respectively, who stays indoors all day and spends all her or his time on the Internet. A Japanese slang term (written with the same characters) that spread first to Taiwan and is now frequently used by Internet users all over China.

EVELINE CHAO is a freelance writer and editor based in Beijing. She is extremely fortunate to have foul-mouthed friends willing to teach her words that most Chinese would be too embarrassed to reveal to a foreigner.