来财lái cái

来 is “to come” and 财 is “wealth”. 八方来财, “wealth from all eight directions”, is an old lucky phrase, in the same family as the New Year greeting 恭喜发财.

As a meme, 来财 is a wish you say out loud or type, often twice in a row. Huxiu calls it a 显化 word, from the online idea that saying a wish makes it come true.

It is current. People type 来财 under posts about pay, side jobs and sales, say it before something that could bring money, and send 大展宏图，来财 as a New Year wish in place of 恭喜发财.

It is half joke and half wish.

The song 八方来财 is by 揽佬 (SKAI ISYOURGOD), a rapper born in 1998 in Huizhou, Guangdong. It is the title song of his second studio album, released in 2024. He mixes Memphis rap with Cantonese.

The chorus repeats 来财, and the song spread on Douyin in the second half of 2024. Simple cartoon animations of little figures shouting 来财 over and over made the chant a meme of its own.

The Paper reports that it won single of the year at NetEase Cloud Music’s 2024 Chinese rap awards. Another of his songs, 大展鸿图, “a grand plan unfolds”, also spread, and the two are often said together. A Woshipm year-end review counts 大展宏图，来财 among the memes of 2025, so sources date the meme to 2024 or 2025.