后浪 hòu làng
The wave behind — a classic word for the young, revived by a speech.
The short answer
EverydayFadingChecked November 2026
后浪 means “the wave behind”: the younger generation. It comes from the proverb 长江后浪推前浪 — the rear waves of the Yangtze push the waves ahead.
In a chat
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
公司新来的实习生，做视频比我快多了。
The new intern makes videos much faster than me.
- 亮亮 Liangliang
后浪来了，你要小心了！
The next wave is here. Watch out!
- 灯灯 Dengdeng
长江后浪推前浪，我认了。
The new waves push the old ones along. I accept it.
In the Dengdeng app, Dengdeng and his friends text you in Chinese every day, at your level.
How to reply
你也还年轻呢！
You're still young too!
When not to use it
- Online, it is often ironic. If you call a young person 后浪, check your tone, or it can sound like you mock them.
What it means
In the proverb, each wave pushes the previous one forward: the young replace the old, as nature intends. As a standalone noun, 后浪 is simply “the young” — what speakers of English once meant by “the rising generation”.
Online, the word's irony gauge matters. Said by elders, it can sound patronizing. Said by the young about themselves, it often quotes the 2020 video — sometimes sincerely, often with a raised eyebrow about the life the video assumed they could afford.
How people use it
Typical uses: 后浪可畏, “the young are formidable” (from the classical 后生可畏); headlines pairing 后浪 with 前浪 (the front wave — the rest of us); and endless puns, since every generation-shaped news story is now a wave story.
The proverb itself remains living Chinese: 长江后浪推前浪，一代新人换旧人.
Where it comes from
The proverb is centuries old, collected in traditional sayings anthologies. The modern flashpoint came on May 4th, 2020 — Youth Day — when the video platform Bilibili released a speech called 《后浪》, in which a celebrated actor addressed the young as China's luckiest wave ever.
The video divided the internet: some found it moving, others noted it celebrated consumers of globe-trotting leisure rather than the gig workers most young people knew. Either way, it made 后浪 the word of the moment — and it has stayed in circulation ever since.
In use
2 examples长江后浪推前浪，现在的年轻人比我们厉害多了。
Rear waves push the front — young people today put us to shame.
这部纪录片拍了几位普通的“后浪”，没有豪车和跳伞。
This documentary filmed some ordinary “rising waves” — no sports cars, no skydiving.
The characters
Explore individuallyIndividual character meanings do not always explain the meaning of the whole word.
Sources
This guide is original Dengdeng editorial content, offered under CC BY-SA 4.0. The linked dictionary entries adapt CC-CEDICT under the same license.