锦鲤jǐn lǐ

Lucky koi

zhuǎn fā jǐn lǐ!转发锦鲤！Sharing the lucky koi!

锦鲤, the koi carp, is the Chinese internet’s word for a very lucky person or a lucky charm. People repost a koi picture before an exam or a job interview, hoping it brings them luck.

Took off: 2018
Started in: An Alipay draw
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

In Chinese tradition the koi is already a sign of good fortune. The meme makes it personal: if someone wins a lottery or gets every lucky break, people call them a 锦鲤. 转发锦鲤, “repost the koi”, is the habit of sharing a koi picture to ask for luck.

How people use it

The lucky-charm meaning has stayed. Before the 高考 or a job interview, you still see posts that say 转发这条锦鲤, “repost this koi”.

里昂

我抽中了演唱会的票！
wǒ chōu zhòng le yǎn chàng huì de piào!
I won concert tickets in a draw!
你也太幸运了吧
nǐ yě tài xìng yùn le ba
You’re way too lucky.
你就是锦鲤，借我点运气
nǐ jiù shì jǐn lǐ, jiè wǒ diǎn yùn qi
You’re a koi. Lend me some luck.
好，明天面试加油！
hǎo, míng tiān miàn shì jiā yóu!
Sure. Good luck at your interview tomorrow!

More examples

明天考试，转发这条锦鲤！
míng tiān kǎo shì, zhuǎn fā zhè tiáo jǐn lǐ!
Exam tomorrow. Reposting this koi!
她运气太好了，真是锦鲤。
tā yùn qi tài hǎo le, zhēn shì jǐn lǐ.
She’s so lucky. A real koi.

Where it came from

On 29 September 2018, Alipay announced a prize draw on Weibo before China’s National Day holiday. One repost gave a chance to win a bundle of prizes that reports valued at about 100 million yuan, and the winner would be named the 中国锦鲤, “China’s koi”.

The post passed a million reposts within six hours. When the winner was drawn on 7 October, 锦鲤 was all over Weibo. That December it was on the 咬文嚼字 list of the ten most popular phrases of 2018, and first on the list of internet words of 2018 from the national language monitoring center.

The original. Alipay’s Weibo post for the draw, with a koi and a long list of prizes. ifanr’s round-up of the memes of 2018 describes it. ifanr (in Chinese)