Chinese netizens have a new term to describe their exhausting office culture—“work smell”
Workers in China had a tough time following the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday this year. Due to the much-ridiculed policy of “make-up workdays (调休 tiáoxiū),” employees had to work for seven days straight after the eight-day (actually six work days and a weekend) break.
Now, netizens are asking: What would one smell like after an exhausting experience like that? Answers online include the stinky scent of sweat, the lingering aroma of coffee, or using a new slang term: “the smell of work (班味儿 bānwèir).”
Zhang Wenjie is a contributing writer at The World of Chinese. She loves to share the lifestyles, voices, and concerns of China’s Gen Z. She is also fond of collecting and displaying the flourishing slang expressions in the Chinese language.
