At the Spring Festival, people send greetings to everyone they know. According to one estimate, China’s three mobile operators carried 32 billion text messages during the seven days of the 2012 Spring Festival.
For the seven-day holiday of 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported 13.96 billion mobile text messages nationwide. The two figures were counted in different ways.
In March 2019, the General Office of the Central Committee declared 2019 the “year of reducing burdens at the grassroots.” Its notice targeted inspections and evaluations that were “too many and too frequent,” and guodu liuhen, “excessive leaving of traces,” the record-keeping done to prove that work was done.
One rule was specific. Screenshots of work scenes or videos uploaded to WeChat work groups and government apps may not replace an assessment of the actual work.
On December 30, 2019, Li Wenliang, an eye doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital, wrote in a WeChat group of his medical school classmates that seven cases of SARS had been confirmed from the Huanan seafood market. He wanted to warn colleagues to protect themselves.
On January 3, 2020, a local police station gave him a warning and a reprimand for “publishing untrue statements on the internet.” Li died of COVID-19 on February 7, at the age of 33. On March 19, an investigation team of the National Supervisory Commission recommended that the reprimand be withdrawn.
During the 2014 Spring Festival, red envelopes sent by phone and taxi-hailing apps helped mobile payment take the market fast. By the end of 2014, the China Internet Network Information Center counted 217 million mobile payment users, up 73.2 percent in a year. The share of internet users who paid by phone rose from 25.1 to 39.0 percent.
你是个好人 “You are a good person.” Since the 1990s, this has been a common way to turn down a suitor, often followed by “I believe you can find someone better than me.” The phrase spread from online forums in Taiwan.
Internet slang calls it receiving a 好人卡, a “good-person card.” To refuse a suitor gently is 发卡, to hand out a card.
In September 2023, during a livestream, the star sales host Li Jiaqi rebuked viewers who said that a 79-yuan eyebrow pencil from the brand Florasis was expensive. “Where is it expensive?” he asked.
In the early hours of September 11, he posted an apology on Weibo. That evening, he apologized again during his livestream. The anger did not die down.
甩锅 To throw the pot. To shift the blame onto someone else.
背锅 To carry the pot. Short for 背黑锅, to carry the black pot, to take the blame for others.
踢皮球 To kick the ball around. Said of offices that pass a matter back and forth to avoid responsibility.
In November 2025 Simon Wong, Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, traveled to a village in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, for the wedding of a member of his staff. He wore Indian dress and posted photos: “Attended the #wedding ceremony of my staff in his village at #Bulandshahr #UP… so much joy. Congratulations.”
The post went viral. “This speaks volumes about your down-to-earth upbringing,” one user wrote.
In January 2026 a 29-year-old software developer in Gurgaon wrote on Reddit: “Laid off from Software Job just bcz I didn’t responded to manager’s message during holiday.” He said he had been in a high-altitude area with a weak signal over Christmas and New Year. His manager took his silence for avoidance.
Indian news sites, among them OdishaTV and Republic, reported the post. They did not verify his account.
On April 2, 2020, ESPNcricinfo marked the anniversary of India’s 2011 World Cup win with M.S. Dhoni’s winning six: “On this day in 2011, the shot that sent millions into jubilation.”
Gautam Gambhir, a member of that team, replied: “Just a reminder @ESPNcricinfo: #worldcup2011 was won by entire India, entire Indian team & all support staff. High time you hit your obsession for a SIX.”