Course:ASIA319/2022/“Punch line”（梗）

Geng by Mao Zedong

Introduction

The word “geng” (梗) is the misusing of the word “哏”. In traditional Chinese, “geng” (梗) refers to three meanings: the branch or stem of a plant, standing upright and obstruct. As the development of the Chinese popular culture and the usage of the network language, the meaning of “Geng” gradually evolved to “punch line”.

The evolution of language, especially internet slang, is an important manifestation of the development of popular culture. It reflects the current situation of a society and the mass ideology and culture of the present era. “Geng” is widely used and frequently used on the Internet. On the other hand, this word is also a general term for all jokes in current popular culture. In this case, the word “geng” is the general name of all internet "jokes", the study of this word can involve various fields, so as to study its role in the development of Chinese pop culture in a more comprehensive way. The different and representative meanings of "geng" in each fields will be discussed in detail in following.

The genesis of the “punch line”（梗）

One of the earliest uses of geng can be found in Classic of Poetry (诗经), a collection of Chinese poetry composed in Western Zhou period. Here, geng is interpreted as the “sickness”, and another interpretation read it as catastrophe.

Screenshot from the original film-Kung Fu Hustle (this is what one calls professional)

In Chinese popular culture, “Punch line” or “geng” (梗) emerged on some online discussion boards or groups such as Baidu Tieba ( a Reddit-like platform) and Douban as early as 2008 when their users were discussing Taiwan’s variety show and entertainers

Given this evidence, the origin of geng may be founded in Taiwan’s media history. One theory suggests that geng is in fact created from a wrong pronunciation of “gen” (哏). Gen is often used in crosstalk (相声), and it means a punch line or a “laughing point” that makes the audience laugh. However, in the Min Nan dialect, a widely used dialect in the Taiwan area, it is hard to distinguish geng’s pronunciation from gen’s pronunciation. Thus, the misuse of the word geng emerged in the subtitles of Taiwan’s variety show, and geng is given a meaning-punch line. Today, in Chinese popular culture, the use of geng or geng culture is not limited to discussions on Taiwan’s variety show and entertainers. A Geng or punch line may be derived from:

• a famous scene of a film, TV drama, or animation (e.g., this is what one calls professional 这就叫专业)
• a hot topic (e.g., laborer 打工人)
• other interesting figures, language, and action (e.g., come and “cut” me if you are my brother 是兄弟就来“砍”我)

There are some theories that give the possible answers to how geng culture become popular. First, using geng helps people to reduce stress. That means the use of geng is a form of entertainment that gives people a way to shoot out their feelings and emotions with others who also use the same geng. Another possible reason is that it helps people to build a relationship with others online and in the real world. In using geng, it is easier to convey one’s emotion and to trigger resonance among the others, and then it is easier to form a group (be it real or imaginary) that its members share the same ideas or opinions toward a certain topic. Also, geng is utilized in identity building. That means, in fulfilling one’s needs of expressing personality and building the desired figure on social media, geng may play an important role. All those factors contribute to geng culture’s popularity.

The evolvement of its meaning and usages

Dictionary meanings

In the 12^th version of Xinhua dictionary (新华字典), geng (梗) has three meanings:

• a branch or stem of a plant )植物的枝或茎)

• standing upright (挺立)

• obstruct or hindering (阻塞，妨碍)
  

  The plant （刺榆）that was described in Discussing Writing and Explaining Characters thorns （说文解字）

In Discussing Writing and Explaining Characters (说文解字), probably the first Chinese dictionary written by Xu Shen during the Han dynasty, geng is about a kind of plant that has thorns (刺榆).

How "Geng" (梗) 's meaning evolves into "punch line" in Chinese popular culture

Given the dictionary meanings, we may say that “punch line” is not geng’s (梗) original meaning., and punch line is a meaning that is adopted from gen (哏). However, there is a theory about a process that probably establishes and reinforces a connection between geng’s original meaning (part of plant…) and this meaning of punch line without a little influence from gen.

According to Zhang Yuqiu’s research, one of geng’s original meanings, a branch or stem of a plant, is indicating a relationship between the whole picture and a part of it, and this is very similar to the relationship between a single scene/paragraph and the entire plot of a story. And another geng’s original meaning, hindering, may be related to the conflicts in the plot. Those similarities weaken the difference between geng and punch line, and therefore geng obtain its new meaning with this cognitive path or connection in the language system.

The Relationship between Geng and Subculture

The relationship between gengs and its subculture, as well as its influence on mainstream culture, is still at a controversial stage on the internet in China. Some people think that Gengs'cross-cultural use represents the popularity and Chuquan of these gengs, which is a happy thing. Some others think that gengs from subculture only belong to its subculture and they should not participate in the mainstream culture. Such arguments are common and long-lasting, and are almost always discussed when the subculture gengs is "Chuquan" (出圈, out of its sub-cultural circle and appears in the public field of vision).

Positive influences

Many gengs are derived from different subcultures and are spread and used mainly between their own sub-cultures. So when a geng "Chuquan" (出圈), there is an opportunity to bring the spread of sub-culture. At the end of 2018, for example, a picture of Wang Sicong, a Chinese entrepreneur and retired eSports player, appeared on the Internet. He was wearing a green coat and eating a hot dog with his mouth wide open. Because his labels of "rich" "success" and photos of the simple and lovely image of the formation of a sense of contrast, was loved by Chinese netizens, and was widely spread.

The original photo of "Wang Sicong eats hot dog"

Furthermore, because the photos were taken in South Korea at Inchon, the site of the League of Legends eighth season finals, they initially spread quickly among Chinese esport enthusiasts. Because Wang Sicong himself has long been a high profile figure on the Chinese Internet, this photo was soon not limited to esports enthusiasts, it's spread across the entire Chinese internet. Thanks to the widespread use of the photo, "Wang Sicong eats hot dog" became a very popular geng at the time, and several netizens created different works based on this geng. These all make this geng so popular in the internet. It is worth noting that the photo was taken at a very specific time and place. The day this photo was taken, Invictus Gaming, a China’s League of Legends eSports team owned by Wang Sicong, won the World Championship for China for the first time. So while this photo and Wang Sicong eating hot dog's Geng spread on the internet, this information also spread along with the Geng, making more Chinese netizens aware of the subculture of e-sports.

The Ward skin of Wang Sicong

At the same time, as mentioned above, there is commercial value behind the Geng culture. After the "Wang Sicong eats hot dog" Geng becoming popular, Wang Sicong received a "prerogative". Production company of League of Legends, Riot, creates special skins for the teams that win the World Championship each year. Unlike in previous years, the IG team members not only have their own skin, but also that of team boss Wang Sicong due to the spread of the geng. While Wang Sicong's skin is not that of a champion it is a skin of Ward, and it is the only non-player to have gained skin in the League of Legends's 11 seasons through 2022. The announcement has drawn widespread attention and controversy in China and around the world. There are those who believe that exclusive skin is an honour for a champion, and that Wang Sicong is not a player and should not be allowed to even guard it; there are those who believe that the skin exists only as an Easter egg, and therefore does not matter. From the standpoint of the game company, which is a business point of view, only when the economic benefits of Wang Sicong's skin will be greater than the negative impact of public opinion, will they choose to make this skin, so there is commercial value behind the geng of Wang Sicong eats hot dog.

Sometimes gengs which Chuquaned not only facilitate the spread of their subcultures, but also make some gengs part of mainstream culture. For example, the recent Chinese internet explosion of the geng "A Duiduidui" (啊对对对, ah yeah you are right), which originated in a game CSGO anchor called Wang Xishun. This geng initially only circulated among CSGO players. However, it was similar to the geng "Bailan" (摆烂, write oneself off as hopeless and act recklessly) that was already a hit on the internet at the same time because it expressed a reluctance to argue, so people often use both "Bailan" and "A Duiduidui" gengs at the same time. It is worth noting that not only "A Duiduidui" from the sub-cultural circle, as well as "Bailan" Geng. Its earliest spread in Chinese basketball fans, used to describe the players of the act of writing themselves off as hopeless and act recklessly.

In recent years, Chinese young people's "Tang Ping" (躺平, Maintain a minimum standard of living and refuse to be exploited) behavior is almost the same as the meaning conveyed by "Bailan", so people begin to use the term "Bailan" to describe their "Tangping" playfully, and spread it far and wide. Nowadays, "Bailan" geng is not only used by basketball fans, but can be seen everywhere on the internet in China. Since "Bailan" Geng has become a very common geng on the Chinese internet when "A Duiduidui" geng appeared, therefore, it can be said that "Bailan" geng to help the spread of "A Duiduidui" geng. It can be seen that the association between geng and geng can promote the spread. Gengs, which originated from subculture, became part of the mainstream culture when they spread to a larger and more general environment than the original subculture. The gengs spread their subculture while people inquired about the origin of these gengs.

Negative influences

EStarPro's Weibo screenshot

There are related gengs that can play a positive role in promoting transmission to each other, but there are also gengs that can play a negative role, this is especially true when the subcultural circle to which it belongs is opposed to the subcultural circle of another Geng. For example, the relationship between League of Legends players and Honour of King players has been strained in Chinese esports subculture due to Honor of Kings's copying of the game. In this case, the use of a geng from one party to the other is called "stealing a geng". A case in point is "La Ge Nanren" (辣个男人, That Man) geng. The "La Ge Nanren" geng originated around 2016-2017 when the fans created and used it to refer to League of Legends player Ming Kai (ID: Nuoyan, clearlove) at Baidu Tieba. But on April 14, 2018, Estar Pro, a eSports team of Honor of Kings, used the "La Ge Nanren" geng to refer to Guo Guixin, whose ID is also Nuoyan, and posting on Weibo. As soon as the post was been posted, due to the tension in the subculture of the two games and the repetition of the ID of the two players, it was considered "stealing a geng", it triggered a backlash from League of Legends fans in China. Since both players have the same ID, many League-of-Legends-related practitioners, a number of League of Legends eSport teams from different countries, as well as a number of League of Legends fans, have spontaneously organized on Weibo to create Nuoyan, a Weibo community group, with the aim of making the community group belong to Ming Kai's fans, not Guo Guixin's. This kind of subculture conflict caused by terrier can prove that terrier has certain originality and copyright in certain context. This is consistent with the previous argument about the use of "Dagongren" Geng: in the eyes of some gengs culture users, some gengs can only be used in specific contexts.

Cultural and society influence

With the popularity of electronic devices such as mobile phones and the rise of various internet platforms, the use of geng has become a part of the lives of young Chinese. Young people create, use, and spread gengs, and apply them online and in real life. These gengs play different roles due to their different origins and dissemination groups, such as reflecting real life, business marketing, the dissemination of sub-culture and so on. But some gengs also can bring negative effects, cause network violence even.

Reflect Real Life

Many of the Internet's most popular gengs reflect the real world problems faced by certain groups of people. These populations have achieved psychological satisfaction through the use and dissemination of these gengs. People escape the pressure and burden of daily life by creating and using the stem, which brings the release of emotion. Gengs, such as "dagongren" (打工人, laborer) and "neijuan" (内卷, volution), reflect the enormous pressures of modern life. People turn this kind of negative emotion into gengs and use it to make fun of themselves and satirize the society to achieve the goal of emotional release. It is important to note that since this type of joke represents the life of a particular group of people, it is counterproductive for people outside of this group to use this ironic joke. For example, if the representatives of capitalism (such as the top management of enterprises) use the geng of "dagongren", while the real "dagongren" and them belong to different classes, the use of the term "dagongren" can trigger negative emotions.

Commercial Value

From a business point of view, gengs is an excellent online marketing tool because of the sometimes viral spread of stems across the web. Once this genre becomes popular and starts to spread quickly on the web, it can be incredibly profitable, both for businesses and individuals. For example, the Chinese milk tea brand Mixue Bingcheng released a promotional song in 2021 in June, which was transformed into Gengs by netizens and quickly spread on the internet because of its simple melody and lyrics. The song alone has garnered 2.38 million likes in Douyin in its five versions of the music video, which has been a great source of publicity. Another example is Douyin blogger "Ni de Chen Bifang," (你的陈比方, Your Chen Bifang) because her video often uses exaggerated tone called her dog "Mom's good son," attracting the attention and love of many netizens. This sentence became a geng, so that "Ni de Chen Bifang" in Douyin platform to gain more fans while also bringing huge economic benefits. As of March 2022, she has 8.46 million followers on Douyin. Due to limitations, it is impossible to find the video promotion fee of "Ni de Chen Bifang", but it is certain that in today's internet environment, exposure and commercial value have a direct relationship, so the financial benefits of her account are undoubtedly huge. In general, the creation and dissemination of gengs has been very helpful in increasing exposure, so there is a huge commercial value behind the Geng culture.

Geng and Cross-Culture

Left: Gunjō's album cover; Right: reworked Nicocado's photo

Due to the universality and commonality of the Geng culture in the world, as well as the vast number of users of social media such as Twitter and YouTube in the world, some gengs originating outside the great firewall of China can not only spread across languages, it could spread in different countries where it is allowed, and it could even appear on Chinese social media, even if it comes from a different language. A good example is the song Gunjō (群青) released by the Japanese group Yoasobi on September 1, 2020. It started out as a song for the Japanese manga called Blue Period. On October 29 at the 2021, Filipino Netizen Alexander Mars created a spoof video about YouTube blogger Nicocado. The video was discovered by a group called AAU in Indonesia, and the Nicocado spoof was reworked to make it similar in artistic style to Gunjō's album cover. The idea became a sensation, it was imitated, it became a genre, and it was popular all over the world. Many people who make videos online also like to use this Geng to enrich their videos and make them more interesting. Geng of Gunjō has received attention and spread on social media in China and around the world, which shows that Geng culture has cross-cultural significance.

Limitations of Geng’s transmission

Because some stems come from different cultures, they have limitations and can only be transmitted in specific contexts. For example, the geng of "丈育" (Zhang Yu), which means "文盲" (Wen Mang, illiterate). Because the meaning of this geng and its expression are very similar in Chinese writing, and the people who cannot tell the difference just fit the meaning of "illiteracy", and have a great sense of humor, so on the internet in China it has been well spreaded. However, due to the limitations of its language, only those who understand Chinese can understand this kind of humor. So it is destined to have a certain threshold of understanding, and can only be disseminated in a specific context rather than the world.

The "New" and "Old" Gengs

Because there is always a lot of news and information in the Internet every day, the appearance speed and frequency of geng become very high, producing the phenomenon of quick alteration and large quantity. As a result, it is common for people to find gengs in the comments section of a social network that they do not know about. Some of these gengs are new, some are old. Generally speaking, the old and new of a geng depends on its own time, rather than the time of publication of the provenance of the geng. For example, in 2019, for example, snack brand Liuliumei asked Yang Mi to shoot an ad in which Yang Mi asked "Ni Mei Shi Ba?" (你没事吧, are you okay) again and again, in a different tone. And in 2022, nearly three years later, the phrase has become a new popular geng that has spread widely on the internet in China.

Although there are old and new gengs, people do not mind using old ones, and sometimes they even use them deliberately. In certain cases, some gengs can even represent an era. Therefore some people especially love the "Niandai Gan" (年代感, sense of time) in the old gengs.

At the same time, because of the rapid emergence of Geng, resulting in a huge number. It is almost impossible to know all the gengs. As a result, there has been a proliferation of self-media accounts that introduce Gieng for a living on Chinese social media, and they have garnered a lot of attention.

Social, cultural, and political problems

Cyberbullying

Because stem can spread quickly on the network, it also can bring certain negative effect, even cause cyberbullying. For example, Cai xukun, a well-known Chinese idol, has gained a lot of anti-fans because his image matches the stereotype of "Sissy" that some Chinese netizens (mainly men) find objectionable. In his self-introduction to the show "Idol Producer," he said he liked "singing, dancing, rapping and basketball." And the lyrics to his song Just Because You're So Beautiful (Zhi Yin Ni Tai Mei, 只因你太美), which sounded like "chicken you're too beautiful," (Ji Ni Tai Mei, 鸡你太美) became a common geng of endearment for anti-fans to attack and laugh at him. Because of the rapid spread of these two gengs, people who had not paid attention to the entertainment industry also knew about Cai Xukun, and some of them used these gengs on the internet with an entertaining attitude. However, in the eyes of Cai Xukun's fans, the use of the two gengs for whatever purpose is a cyberbullying on Cai Xukun. The popularity of the two gengs began in 2019 and will continue until 2022.

There are a lot of derogatory, aggressive gengs on Chinese social media. But some of them after the dissemination, deconstruction, lost the original derogatory, became no longer offensive terrier. For example, Chinese League of Legends eSports player Ming Kai, who used Lee-Sin to deal only 4,396 damage in the 2016 League of Legends Semi-Final, has been criticized by League of Legends fans. In all the videos  associated with Ming Kai at the time, "4396" was played on both the commentary and the bullet chat to express dissatisfaction and anger at his underperformance, so the numbers became an aggressive geng. But with Ming Kai's retirement and the passage of time, 4396 is no longer aggressive now. Fans of the League of Legends type out the numbers with more nostalgia for him and his past than their dissatisfaction with Ming Kai's performance.

Lack of language

For people who under the influence of the Chinese Internet, they will not be unfamiliar with some hot words. Abbreviations for some words may confuse readers. “YYDS” is the pinyin abbreviation of "Eternal God"(永远的神) in Chinese. The term is used for someone who excels in certain fields. In fact, the meme about "YYDS" reflects word distortion and inflation of word meanings among Chinese internet users.

A series of pinyin abbreviations of Chinese words flood the Chinese Internet, "YYDS", "XSWL", "AWSL", "u1s1", "srds" have different Chinese meanings. What's interesting is that when these acronym-based "Geng" enter the Chinese Internet public, people will be confused about these English letters or numbers. In the early stage of the Chinese Internet, due to the insufficient development of input methods, the speed of Chinese inputting Chinese into computers was slow, which gave birth to a series of online vocabulary about digital homophony. (such as: 520:”i love you”,88:”Bye-Bye”) The users of these words composed of pinyin abbreviations may not understand the origin or meaning of these words. Vocabulary trendsetters can only roughly understand which words represent which emotions, or to put it another way, these words have become emojis for people on the Chinese Internet, rather than formal words. Their meanings can be expanded or contracted, or they can be used as negatives to satirize what they were meant to describe. As words continue to spread online, their original meaning is as confusing as their literal meaning. Over time, online vocabularies become unusable because they have lost their ability to express meaning. No one would use words like "神马",”浮云”,”给力” on the Chinese internet these days. Internet buzzwords make people give up thinking about the logic of language, and Chinese students' literacy skills have also been affected to a certain extent. When teens become addicted to using punchlines as their everyday vocabulary, they spend less time judging the accuracy of their words. After these hot words from the Internet are no longer popular among their peers, these words have been distorted and lost their vitality due to abuse.

On Douban, a well-known BBS in China, there is a discussion on the topic of "The Phenomenon of Language Inflation I Experience". Many users shared their experiences of weakening the meaning of words. When a more exaggerated adjective appears, the meaning of the original old word will be weakened.This is similar to the development of "haha", "hhhhh", "lol", "lmao" in the English Internet. When a new punchline appears, it is quickly spread and abused on the Internet, and different users will inevitably misread or feel offended by the high frequency of a punchline. There is a conflict between those who think "lmao" is funny and those who think "lmao" is sarcasm. Similarly, in the Chinese Internet context, "酷", "强" and "牛" all expressed praise at the beginning. But over time, more punchlines appeared, and the original meaning of these old words was no longer sufficient. The appearance of "酷毙了" and "牛逼" dispelled the compliments of "酷" and "牛", and in contrast, the older generation may think these words are impolite. And when "YYDS" appeared, all the punchlines that appeared before became old fashion. The origin of "YYDS" comes from the praise of the professional League of Legends player Uzi in the e-sports community. In fact, "Uzi, is the eternal god" can be praised for Uzi's performance on the field, or it can be used to satirize that Uzi has never won the top honor of League of Legends. Therefore, "Eternal God" is misused, and it can be used to express praise or irony of things. As the "Forever God" punchline was spread out of the esports community, the complex meaning of the punchline helped spread itself, until "YYDS", the pinyin abbreviation for "Forever God," was used by some of Weibo's official news organizations, The more abstract punchline "YYDS" has been confusing to the general public and has sparked widespread discussion on the Chinese Internet. Punchlines were created because of the devaluation of the meaning of old words and then spread widely. And the widespread dissemination of the new punchline has accelerated the devaluation of the new punchline, the new punchline is symbolized, loses its vitality, and then goes unnoticed.

The Political Impact of Geng

Due to the influence of China's internet public opinion environment, some of the Geng with a certain political sense or will cause political controversy. Some believe that the Chinese government is manipulating public opinion to create and use gengs to speed up the dissemination of information. Others believe that it is the spontaneous behavior of netizens.

Geng and Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement

During the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, there was another wave of patriotic fervor on the Chinese internet, including calling China "Azhong Gege" (阿中哥哥, Brother Azhong). The name comes from a Chinese internet geng, where groupies often refer to their idols as "Gege" (哥哥, older brother) to express their affection. During the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, groupies used the term to express their patriotism toward the nation, and then the use of this term was extended to some ordinary netizens. The term was supported by Chinese government's official account the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (共青团中央) on different social medias. But it was later questioned by netizens as to its appropriateness. But in any case, when netizens use "Azhong Gege" Geng for political purposes, there is no doubt that it adds a touch of politics to the geng.

Geng and flood in Zhengzhou, 2021

During the floods in Zhengzhou in 2021, a wave of patriotic donations by some Chinese enterprises to Zhengzhou during their own economic constraints triggered a wave of patriotic fervor. Netizens began to express their patriotism by enthusiastically buying the products of these enterprises, whether they really need them or not. This practice, known as "Yexing Xiaofei" (野性消费, spend money wildly), has become a geng due to a lot of online publicity.

After this, as long as there are Chinese enterprises to show their patriotism, will usher in the netizens of "Yexing Xiaofei" and related publicity. It is worth noting that, especially during the flood in Zhengzhou, the Internet has not been too much about the disaster, but there are a lot of corporate donations and "Yexing Xiaofei". Therefore, some people believe that this is the Chinese government's usual "comedy funeral" propaganda method, will "comedy" propaganda, and to spread the speed of the geng, to reduce the negative impact of the public opinion on the flood.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the paper introduces the keyword “punch line”, or “geng” (梗) from its original meaning to its genesis into the meaning of “punch line”, and how it has been used in contemporary Chinese popular culture. On the other hand, popular internet terms can reflect the social status quo and reflects todays’s mass ideology and culture. Therefore, cultural and social influences are also be discussed above. Many of the most popular gengs on the internet are culturally reflects the problems people is facing in their real lives. Although these problems make people very struggle, they create gengs on the internet to teasing the situation of themselves and to achieve the psychological satisfaction. Also, the emerge of “geng” provide the online market a useful tool to spread their brand and ideology.

“Geng” is even more widely used in the world of esports, and many of them are based on esports speeches. However, because of the quickly spreading of gengs on the internet, some of them create certain negative effects, in this case, network violence. Some of the scholars suggest that the rise of network language culture is the prove of lack of language in today’s Chinese culture. Under this idea, punchlines are created since the devaluation of the meaning of old words. With the the fast spread of the network, popular punchlines are also changing rapidly, which finally cause many of the old punchlines be ignored.

References

This resource was created by Course:ASIA319.