The Most Common Chinese Words Related to Social Media

Nowadays, Chinese people can’t live without the Internet. Many young people in China spend hours browsing Internet pages with keen interest every day. Hence, it’s helpful to learn some Internet-related vocabulary that you might often come across in your daily life. Let’s take a look at the following Chinese words related to the Internet and social media.

1. Internet Surfing

上网
shàng wǎng
Internet surfing

上网 (shàng wǎng) has become an inalienable part of Chinese people’s daily lives. People get online for different purposes ranging from searching for helpful information to online shopping. What’s interesting about this word is its second character 网 (wǎng), which means “net” and looks indeed like a net. In spoken language, 上网 (shàng wǎng) can be followed by a verb, which means “to do something online”.

EXAMPLE:

我喜欢上网买衣服。
Wǒ xǐhuān shàng wǎng mǎi yīfú.
I like buying clothes online.

2. Online Shopping

网购
wǎnggòu
online shopping

Online shopping has fully penetrated into Chinese society as Chinese people think it’s more convenient to buy things online compared with visiting physical stores. To a certain extent, online shopping has even become compulsory after the outbreak of the COVID-19. In this word, 购 (gòu)” means “to purchase”, and the literal meaning of this word is “Internet purchasing”.

EXAMPLE:

网购很方便。
Wǎnggòu hěn fāngbiàn.
Online shopping is very convenient.

3. Download

下载
xiàzài
to download

This is a very useful word related to the Internet and computing. Apart from downloading different kinds of documents at work, many Chinese people like to download music and movies and enjoy them in their spare time without worrying about whether or not they have access to the Internet. Meanwhile, a lot of netizens also love to upload 上传 (shàngchuán) fun videos to popular social media platforms.

EXAMPLE:

下载音乐
xiàzài yīnyuè
to download music

上传视频
shàngchuán shìpín
to upload videos

4. Follow

关注
guānzhù
to follow

This word is what internet influencers care about the most. They upload all kinds of “outlandish” videos to popular social media platforms to attract people’s attention. In addition, carrying out live stream selling 直播带货 (zhíbō dài huò) on prevalent social media platforms like TikTok 抖音 (dǒuyīn) is considered lucrative in China. Therefore, the more followers, the better.

5. Like

点赞
diǎn zàn
to like

点赞 (diǎn zàn) refers to the “like” button that can be seen on major social media platforms such as WeChat and Instagram. Obviously, those who upload pictures and videos to, let’s say, WeChat moments 朋友圈 (péngyouquān) would be happy to see that their picture and videos are appreciated by their friends. Consequently, sometimes people might even ask their friends to click on “like” under their videos. Moreover, collecting “likes” is also a way for internet influencers to prove that they’re successful in what they do.

EXAMPLE:

可以给我的视频点一个赞吗？
Kěyǐ gěi wǒ de shìpín diǎn yī gè zàn ma?
Can you click on “like” under my video?

We hope these Chinese words related to social media will be useful. To find out more interesting and useful Chinese vocabulary, check out one of our blog posts 5 Ways to Eat in Chinese: Takeouts, Dine-in and More