没福硬享méi fú yìng xiǎng

Treat yourself anyway

jīn tiān méi fú yìng xiǎng yí xià!今天没福硬享一下！Treating myself today!

没福硬享 means “no luck coming, but enjoy it anyway”: treating yourself to small comforts on a normal day, without waiting for a reason or a raise.

Took off: 2024
Started in: Social media
Today: Current

What it means

福 is “good fortune” or “comfort”, 硬 means “by force” or “stubbornly”, and 享 means “to enjoy”. Read together: no comfort is coming your way, so you make some yourself.

It answers 没苦硬吃, “no hardship, but eat bitterness anyway”, a joke about older people who choose discomfort they could avoid. 新周刊 gave these examples: no air conditioning in the heat, eating food past its date. 没福硬享 goes the other way: eight eggs in a bowl of instant noodles, or one milk tea delivered even with the fee.

How people use it

It is a light joke about spending on yourself, often with a photo of the treat. A counselor quoted in the same report said a little of it relieves stress, but spending often with “I deserve it” as the reason is only an excuse.

灯灯

你在干嘛？
nǐ zài gàn má?
What are you up to?
加了一周班，刚点了一份两百块的牛排
jiā le yì zhōu bān, gāng diǎn le yí fèn liǎng bǎi kuài de niú pái
A week of overtime, so I just ordered a 200-kuai steak.
这么贵？
zhè me guì?
That pricey?
没福硬享，今天要对自己好一点
méi fú yìng xiǎng, jīn tiān yào duì zì jǐ hǎo yì diǎn
Treating myself anyway. Today I’m being good to me.

More examples

加班一周，周末去吃顿好的，没福硬享。
jiā bān yì zhōu, zhōu mò qù chī dùn hǎo de, méi fú yìng xiǎng.
A week of overtime, so a good meal this weekend. Treating myself anyway.
我坐高铁买了商务座，没福硬享一次。
wǒ zuò gāo tiě mǎi le shāng wù zuò, méi fú yìng xiǎng yí cì.
I booked business class on the high-speed train. Treating myself for once.

Where it came from

The pair of phrases took off on social media in 2024. In October 2024, a news report on Guangming Online said that the 没福硬享 topic had 190 million plays on short-video platforms and 15.9 million views on Xiaohongshu. Its examples included a whole durian after a busy week and a first trip in business class on the high-speed train.

In December 2024, 新周刊 put it on its list of the year’s words, in the section on society, as the mindset of young people who make their lives as comfortable as they can.

The original. There is no single image. The meme is a phrase in posts about small treats. Guangming Online reprinted the report with its examples. Guangming Online (in Chinese)