How does “任性” go viral online?

"I just lick the lid of the container but throw away the rest when having yogurt. Don't ask me why, I am rich and willful (我喝酸奶只舔盖儿,别问我为什么,有钱就是任性！Wǒ hē suānnǎi zhǐ tiǎn gàir, bié wèn wǒ wèishénme, yǒuqián jiù shì rènxìng!)". For those paying attention, such eccentric declarations seem to have exploded on social media. At first glance, it seems a bit daft, but chances are the attention-hungry poster is just making fun of the buzzwords, "有钱,任性" ( yóu qián, rènxìng). It's somewhat similar to saying, "I am rich, so I can do as I please." 

“我喝酸奶只舔盖儿，别问我为什么，有钱就是任性！”。有心人会发现类似怪异的言论充斥于网络中。乍一看，这种说话方式有点愚蠢，但实际上，这很有可能是博主们为了吸引他人的注意，而戏用这些流行语。“有钱,任性”的意思和“我很有钱，因此我可以做任何我想做的事情（I am rich, so I can do as I please）”的意思差不多。

任性 conjures up a strong-willed, unrestrained, and do-as-I-please attitude, perhaps bordering on capriciousness; neither had much to do with the other until a strange event in 2014 when a man surnamed Liu spent 1,760 RMB on a health supplement. Later, a stranger called to persuade him to buy more and Liu agreed. Over the next four months, Liu was swindled out of 540,000 RMB by a gang of unscrupulous conmen, always recommending more useless (but somehow vital) products. The police eventually caught the culprits, but Liu claimed that he knew he was being swindled at the 70,000 RMB mark: "I just wanted to see how much on earth they could take from me!" The online world thus proclaimed, "Rich people can always follow their own way (有钱就是任性 yǒuqián jiù shì rènxìng )."

 “任性”一词表现的是意志坚定、无拘无束、我行我素的态度，和英文中的“capriciousness”相似。“有钱”和“任性”原本并无任何联系，但是在2014年发生了一件奇怪的事情。一位刘姓先生花了1760元买了一款保健品。后来，有一位陌生人给他打电话，劝他多买该类产品，刘先生同意了。在接下来的4个月间，骗子不断地向刘先生推荐更多的无用产品（骗子则称这类产品非常重要），总共骗取了刘先生54万元。那些罪犯最终被抓获，但是刘先生称，在他被骗了7万元人民币时就已经发现自己被骗了，“我就是想看看他们究竟能骗我多少钱”。“有钱就是任性”也因此引爆网络。

The phrase has since fallen into self satire. And, of course, wealth is not the only source of such privilege; a pretty face can open just as many doors, giving rise to the phrase, "Good-looking people are self-willed (长得好看就是任性 Zhǎng de hǎokàn jiù shì rènxìng)." Education is also a pretty good leg up, with top-performing graduates garnering a wealth of options, hence the sour statement from the struggling masses: "Top students are so willful (学霸就是任性 xuébà jiù shì rènxìng )."

自此，“任性”就变成了一种自嘲。能使你有权“任性”的不仅仅是财富。许多大门也随时为长得漂亮的人敞开着，因此就有“长得好看就是任性”。教育也能带来极大的帮助，成绩好的毕业生可选择的就业机会很多，因此，还在挣扎着求职的普通毕业生则酸溜溜地说“学霸就是任性”。

But, when it comes to true willfulness, nothing guarantees it like power. When asked about the anti-corruption movement during this year's CPPCC meeting, to show determination, spokesperson Lü Xinhua replied: "The Party, the government, and the people have the same attitude toward the corruption problem, to use a popular online slang term, we are all very willful (大家都很任性 dàjiā dōu hěn rènxìng )." This time his poor interpreter paused at the word 任性 to ask for more clarification. She ultimately translated it to "capricious". The incident was discussed heatedly, and, three days later, Premier Li Keqiang emphasized in a work report that "power should not lead to capriciousness (有权不可任性 yǒu quán bù kě rènxìng )".

但是，真正的“任性”无需任何条件作支撑。在今年的全国政协会议上，新闻发言人吕新华在回应反腐决心问题时表示“党和政府以及人民群众在反腐问题上的态度是一致的，用网络热词，大家都很任性”。听到“任性”一词 ，现场翻译停了下来，在吕新华做了进一步解释之后，她将其翻译为“capricious”。这件事情引起了热议。三天后，李克强总理在做工作报告时也强调“有权不可任性”。 

Translated from:ecns.cn