Ten Chinese memes
One Chinese internet meme every three days for a month: where it came from, what it means and how to use it.
真香。This is so good.
Ten memes, one every three days十个梗
真香
Meme 1
I’ll never… and then I did
From a 2014 TV show: the teenager who swore he wouldn’t eat the food.
友谊的小船
Meme 2
The little boat of friendship
Friendships that tip over at the smallest thing.
洪荒之力
Meme 3
Every last bit of strength
A swimmer’s answer at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
柠檬精
Meme 4
Lemon spirit
Envy, said about others or about yourself.
我太难了
Meme 5
Life is so hard
The sigh of 2019.
社死
Meme 6
Social death
The moment you want the ground to swallow you.
破防
Meme 7
Defences broken
When something gets to you.
雪糕刺客
Meme 8
Ice cream assassin
The ice cream that costs more than it looks.
尊嘟假嘟
Meme 9
Really or not?
A cutesy way to say 真的假的.
City不City
Meme 10
Is it city or not?
The 2024 phrase for something cool and metropolitan.
Read the first one第一课
This is the email you get first, as it arrives. If you like it, one click in it sends you the rest.
Leon from Dengdeng
Chinese memes, 1 of 10: zhenxiang (真香)
Hey, I’m Leon, the founder of Dengdeng.
Every three days for the next month, I’ll send you one meme from the Chinese internet: where it came from and how people use it. Here’s the first.
真香
zhēnxiāng · “smells so good”
It’s what you say when you swore you’d never do something, then did it and liked it. In English, you’d say you ate your words.
It comes from a 2014 episode of the Hunan TV reality show 变形计 (Biànxíngjì), in which city teenagers live with families in the countryside. One teenager refused the family’s food and said he would rather starve. Later in the episode, he sat down to eat and said 真香. In 2018, the two clips came back as a reaction GIF, and the phrase spread again.
说好不买新手机的，结果……真香。
Shuōhǎo bù mǎi xīn shǒujī de, jiéguǒ…… zhēnxiāng.
I said I wouldn’t buy a new phone. And then… I love it.
Use it about yourself, or to tease a friend. Said to a stranger who changed their mind, it sounds like mockery.
What’s something you swore you’d never do, and then did? Reply and tell me.
Leon
