浪浪山小妖怪làng làng shān xiǎo yāo guài

浪浪山 is a made-up mountain, and 小妖怪 means “little monster”. Not the demon king of the story, but one of the small ones who cook, clean and run errands for him.

When you call yourself a 浪浪山小妖怪, you mean an ordinary worker at the bottom of a big organization. The tone is self-mocking and fond. A related line, 我想离开浪浪山, “I want to leave Langlang Mountain”, means you want to quit and try something else.

It is current. People use it about work and school, in captions and chats: 今天又当了一天小妖怪, “another day as a little monster”. Some use 浪浪山 alone for any place or routine they want to leave, such as a job or a small town.

The character first appeared in 小妖怪的夏天, “The Little Monster’s Summer”, a 2023 episode of the animated series 中国奇谭, directed by 於水 (Yu Shui). Its hero is a little pig monster who works on the mountain for the monster king.

The feature film 浪浪山小妖怪 opened in mainland cinemas on August 2, 2025. In it, the pig monster and a few other small monsters dress up as the pilgrims of 西游记, Journey to the West, and set off on their own trip west. Jiemian reported more than 100 million yuan at the box office by the next afternoon.

Viewers saw their own jobs in it: the small monsters do the work, take the blame and get none of the reward. A commentary in The Paper called 我想离开浪浪山 the most-quoted line of that summer. In December 2025, the 汉语盘点 list of the year’s top ten internet phrases included 浪浪山小妖怪.