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晕菜（yun cai）
stupefied
The colloquial word is used when someone feels at a total loss in an unexpected situation which is beyond his or her comprehension.
发嗲（fa dia）
act endearingly
In Shanghai dialect, not only a young woman but also a man can employ endearment to attract attention or invite sympathy.
歇菜（xie cai）
come on, hit a wall
The slang expression commonly used in Beijing and other northern regions is a mild way of telling someone to stop doing or saying something others find disagreeable. It may also be used to say someone’s hitting a wall.
特型演员（te xing yan yuan）
lookalike actor
China’s film authorities have a tradition of setting up a pool of actors who resemble late Chinese leaders like Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. One such actor, Wang Lixian, a Mao Zedong lookalike from Liaoning Province, died recently in a road accident in Taiwan during the National Day holiday.
阿木林（a mu lin）
moron
The expression in Shanghai dialect is a transliteration from the English word. It came into use after foreign powers set up
concession areas in the city in the mid-19th century.
血汗工厂（xie han gong chang）
sweatshop
The Chinese term, a “blood-sweat factory,” is used to describe a workplace where employees are forced to work long hours under poor conditions and with very low pay.
尸体货（shi ti huo）
corpse goods
Some online buyers complain that the products, most second hand, they purchase from others are thoroughly broken, functionless or cannot be used any more. Such goods are called corpse goods, which have already “died” and have no “second life.”
一肩挑（yi jian tiao）
multi-tasker
The term in Chinese is often used to describe a person who, just like a multi-function device, plays at least two different roles in his or her daily work and life. For example, an able mother can work both as a housekeeper and an office lady, so that her children can live happily. It also refers to some Chinese officials, who act as both the administrative head and the Party chief of a unit.
摸我（mo wo）
MSN me
The first letter of MSN sounds like the Chinese word “mo” or touch. So, MSN users in China often use the term “touch me” to ask someone else to keep him or her posted via the instant online message tools.
流氓软件（liu mang ruan jian）
rogue software
This is a kind of software that uses malware or malicious tools to advertise or instill itself on a computer. It can appear in the forms of adware, spyware, track ware, browser hijack and malicious shareware. Rogue software programs are usually very hard to remove.
死机（si ji）
stunned, dumbfounded
Netizens borrow the Chinese term for an unexpected computer shutdown to refer to the state when people are too stupefied by an occurrence to respond.
窝边草（wo bian cao）
nest-side grass
A rabbit would not eat grass around its nest, ad an old Chinese saying goes. The traditional adage advises people never to harm their neighbors if they want to go a long way.
喇叭腔（la ba qiang）
bungle, screw up
In Shanghai dialect, when people talk about “bungle tune,” they actually mean something’s botched up. This is because Shanghai locals believe the bungle tune sounds like saying “going wrong, going wrong’ in their parlance.
扎台型（zha tai xing）
be showy, act dashingly
When some people feel too good about themselves and go to the lengths to show it off in front of others, they are “acting dashing.” This is a Pidgin English term in Shanghai dialect which borrows the English words “dashing.”
福袋（fu dai）
lucky bag
Lucky bag is a promotion method used by shopping malls. The malls sell several products in a bag, with different combinations, to shoppers at fixed price. The price is lower than the combined retail price of the products in the bag.
大起大落（da qi da luo）
boom and bust
Companies that pursue short-term profits without a vision for sustainable development tend to face drastic fluctuation in their performance. The Chinese government is moderating its economic policies to avoid a “boom-and-bust” in the country’s micro-economy.
小人书（xiao ren shu）
picture storybook
Books contain pictures matched with word, which are popular among children because they are easy to understand. Many classic editions have become very expensive now.
黑嘴（hei zui）
black mouth
It refers to all people who brag shamelessly in order to treat. For example, stock commentators who brag they can always beat the market are dubbed “black mouth”.
夜店（ye dian）
nightclub
The Chinese term derived from Taiwanese parlance. The term literally means “night shop.”
内紧外松 (nei4jin3wai4song1)
floating duck tactic
This translation is based on the English term of “floating duck syndrome,” which describes a situation where a duck paddles frantically underneath in order to keep its body calmly floating on the water. In China, however, people don’t see it as a syndrome, but a tactic to hide one’s efforts in speeding up his work or in controlling damages underneath a calm and relaxed appearance.
一招鲜 (yi4zhao1xian1)
trump card
This Chinese term refers to any unique skills, products or ways of doing thing that can bring you success wherever you go.
写真集 (xie3zhen1ji2)
photo album
It literally means a collection of portraits, but in daily talk it often refers to the photo albums of popstars or other celebrities. The trend is they are showing more and more flesh in such albums.
摇新族 (yao2xin1zu2)
IPO chaser
Profit-minded stock investors who chase only lucrative initial public offering while shunning listed shares offerings. This is a special condition in China because share prices always rise on the debut trading day.
熟女文学 (shu2nv3wen2xue2)
chick lit
It is the abbreviation of “chick literature.” Chick lit is a type of novels that are written by young women and for young women readers. Heroines in these stories are spike-heeled, single and professional women, who search for their positions in big cities, just like those in “Sex and the City.”
贴牌 (tie1pai2)
original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
This term means a manufacturer that makes products for its clients with its clients’ brands. Many Chinese companies grow by working as OEMs for overseas companies. In the latest example, Japanese electronic maker Sanyo Electric Co has agreed to let Haier Group, the Chinese mainland’s biggest home appliance maker, become its only original equipment manufacturer of refrigerators.
闪约 (shan3yue1)
flash appointment
It refers to a blitz kind of meetings between single men and women. Arranged by a go-between agency, a man would talk to a girl he never met before for only 20 minutes, and then he must dash to the next appointment and talk to another girl for no more than 20 minutes. He can meet several girls in such a flash way to find his best love. Wow. You try.
搓衣板 (cuo1yi1ban3)
thin as a lath
The Chinese term literally means a washing board with wavy grooves. Now it is used jokingly or derogatorily to mean a person, especially a female model, who is as thin as a lath, since their chest case looks very much like a washing board.
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