China’s ‘diaosi’: growing ‘loser’ population sheds light on Chinese youth

Call them China's millennials. They are young, they are plugged into the culture, they are a growing population, but they feel like the economic system they live in is short-changing them. They are the diaosi, a term that loosely translates as "losers." Even though they are gainfully employed, they are getting left behind in capitalist China.

他们是中国的千禧一代。他们年轻，他们跟随文化潮流，他们的人数正在壮大，但是却感觉正被经济体系吞没。他们就是“屌丝”——意为成“失败者”。即便他们有工作有收入，也被“资本主义”中国远远的甩在了身后。

A report by prestigious Peking University's Market and Media Research Center, unveiled in China’s The Paper in October, was the first to study the term and delve into the actual conditions of life as diaosi. A slang term that originated from China’s blogosphere, it has now taken on the meaning of "self-aware, self-deprecating loser."

北京大学著名的市场与媒体研究中心的报告显示，中国澎湃新闻在10月声称他们是第一家研究这个单词，以及深入屌丝真实生活的媒体。这个从中国博客圈诞生的俚语，如今已经成为“有自知之明的，并自我嘲讽的失败者”。

Using a collection of over 200,000 questionnaire responses from people in 50 large, medium and small cities, the study found that being a diaosi means being a single man between the ages of 21 and 25, or a single woman between ages 26 and 30, with little money to their name. But these are not poor people. Distinguishing themselves from China’s impoverished population, generally speaking diaosi are gainfully employed and making ends meet, but struggling to establish themselves economically and socially.

研究收集了来自50个大中小城市的20万份调查问卷，他们发现屌丝的含义即为没钱的21到25岁之间的单身男人，或26到30岁之间的单身女人的代名词。但是并不说这些人是穷人。要将他们和中国贫困人口区分开来，通常来说，屌丝有工作有收入并且保持着收支平衡，但是经济上并不富裕，且在社交上也不顺畅。

Diaosi work at the lower level of their jobs, earning an average of 2,917 yuan a month, or $473. By comparison, the average monthly wage of a Beijing resident in 2013 was roughly 5,793 yuan, or about $950. Nearly 75 percent of those who identified as diaosi lived far from their hometowns, with many of them pursuing higher-paying jobs and making money to send back home to family as the reason they left; 71 percent of those surveyed said they sent part of their wages back home.

屌丝都做着基层工作，平均每月收入是2917元（473美元）。相比之下，北京居民的平均月薪是5793元，就是950美元。几乎75%的屌丝们远离家乡，他们追求着高收入的工作，并在离家期间把赚的钱寄回家；71%参与问卷的屌丝们表示，他们只寄工资的一部分回家。

Others make a lot more money than they do, and that's leaving the diaosi behind in the race to get married. Socially, diaosi hold the reputation of being perpetually single. A repercussion of trying to stay afloat economically, work leaves little time for a social life. Potentially related emotional or mental issues have also been linked to the diaosi, with 37.8 percent of respondents believing they have some sort of undiagnosed mental disorder, with many of them turning to drinking to cope.

另外一些人比他们赚的钱多一些，所以屌丝们在结婚上并不占优势，屌丝长居单身群体榜首。试着节俭地维持生活的反弹下，工作繁忙中留给社交的时间就少的可怜。感情上或者精神上的问题也很可能和屌丝们息息相关，37.8%的居民们声称他们有某些未确诊的精神障碍。

While the label sounds like nothing to brag about, it has become a popular moniker that has established itself as a cultural trend. Many who identify say they aren’t depressed. Instead, they have humble attitudes and enjoy the perceived no-frills, down-to-earth air that goes along with being a diaosi, but don’t actually think they are a loser.

这个标签听上去不像是什么值得夸耀的事情，不过它已经成为一个文化思潮的流行绰号。很多人承认他们并不因此感到沮丧。相反，作为“屌丝”他们有着谦逊的态度，热爱经济型生活，脚踏实地，但是并不认为自己是失败者。