一种很新的yì zhǒng hěn xīn de

A very new kind of …

zhè shì yì zhǒng hěn xīn de zǎo fàn.这是一种很新的早饭。This is a very new kind of breakfast.

一种很新的 plus a noun means “a very new kind of …”. It is a deadpan way to say that something is strange, confusing or plain wrong, as if it were a new invention.

Took off: 2022
Started in: Short-video comments
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

The joke is mock respect. You do not say “this is weird”. You treat the thing as a new genre: 一种很新的东西, “a very new kind of thing”.

The noun can be anything. A burnt dinner is a very new kind of cooking. A car parked across two spaces is a very new kind of parking. Language Weekly, a Shanghai paper, notes that the phrase often carries a mild criticism.

How people use it

It is still common in comments and chats. 你在玩一种很新的东西, “you’re playing with a very new kind of thing”, means “I have no idea what you’re doing”. Headlines also use the pattern to make a story sound fresh.

里昂

我做了番茄炒蛋，加了巧克力
wǒ zuò le fān qié chǎo dàn, jiā le qiǎo kè lì
I made tomato and egg. With chocolate in it.
一种很新的做法
yì zhǒng hěn xīn de zuò fǎ
A very new kind of cooking.
你要尝尝吗？
nǐ yào cháng chang ma?
Want to try it?
不了，谢谢
bù le, xiè xie
I’ll pass, thanks.

More examples

你这是一种很新的停车方式。
nǐ zhè shì yì zhǒng hěn xīn de tíng chē fāng shì.
That’s a very new way to park.
他往咖啡里加可乐，一种很新的喝法。
tā wǎng kā fēi lǐ jiā kě lè, yì zhǒng hěn xīn de hē fǎ.
He puts cola in his coffee. A very new way to drink it.
我听不懂，这是一种很新的音乐。
wǒ tīng bu dǒng, zhè shì yì zhǒng hěn xīn de yīn yuè.
I can’t follow it. This is a very new kind of music.

Where it came from

It started in 2022 in the comments under music on short-video platforms. Viewers used it for songs that mixed in too many styles to follow. The China Project traces it to one viral Douyin comment on such a song.

In December 2022, Language Weekly, a Shanghai paper, put 一种很新的×× on its list of the ten internet phrases of the year.

The original. There is no single image. The phrase began as comments under songs that mixed too many styles. The Paper reported Language Weekly’s list in December 2022. The Paper (in Chinese)