元芳，你怎么看yuán fāng, nǐ zěn me kàn

Yuanfang, what do you think?

yuán fāng, nǐ zěn me kàn?元芳，你怎么看？Yuanfang, what do you think?

元芳，你怎么看 means “Yuanfang, what do you think?”. It is a joking way to ask for an opinion, added after a post about anything from a news story to a plate of noodles.

Took off: 2012
Started in: A detective TV drama
Today: A classic

What it means

The line is a question from a detective to his assistant. Online you add it after a statement to invite comments, or to hint that something looks odd.

People made a template of it, the 元芳体, “Yuanfang style”: describe something, then ask Yuanfang. It works for small questions too: is this dish any good, should I buy these shoes.

How people use it

The phrase now sounds like 2012, but most people know it. Use it as a joke when you want a friend’s opinion.

灯灯

你看这双鞋，打完折三百块
nǐ kàn zhè shuāng xié, dǎ wán zhé sān bǎi kuài
Look at these shoes. Three hundred after the discount.
买不买？元芳，你怎么看？
mǎi bu mǎi? yuán fāng, nǐ zěn me kàn?
Should I? Yuanfang, what do you think?
我觉得你上个月刚买了一双
wǒ jué de nǐ shàng gè yuè gāng mǎi le yì shuāng
I think you just bought a pair last month.
好吧，不买了
hǎo ba, bù mǎi le
Fine. I won’t buy them.

More examples

我觉得这家火锅一般，元芳，你怎么看？
wǒ jué de zhè jiā huǒ guō yì bān, yuán fāng, nǐ zěn me kàn?
I think this hotpot place is so-so. Yuanfang, what do you think?
他说今天不加班，元芳，你怎么看？
tā shuō jīn tiān bù jiā bān, yuán fāng, nǐ zěn me kàn?
He says there’s no overtime today. Yuanfang, do you believe it?

Where it came from

Yuanfang is Li Yuanfang, the bodyguard of the detective Di Renjie in 神探狄仁杰, Detective Dee, a TV drama series that began in 2004. The Paper gives Di Renjie’s catchphrase as 元芳，此事你怎么看, “Yuanfang, what do you think of this matter?”. Zhang Zijian, the actor who played Yuanfang, told the Beijing News that the exact meme line is not in the drama.

In 2012 a Weibo user ended a comment with the question, in Di Renjie’s voice, and many people copied it. The Beijing News says the posts and stills were shared close to 100 million times. 咬文嚼字 put the line on its list of the ten most popular phrases of 2012.

The original. Stills from the drama: the old detective Di Renjie and his young bodyguard Yuanfang, in Tang-dynasty costume. The Beijing News interviewed the actor who played Yuanfang in 2022. The Beijing News (in Chinese)