Slang dictionary · Work and life · Chinese internet slang
What does neijuan (内卷) mean?
Also written: 内卷, involution, juan (卷), nei juan
In short
Neijuan (内卷, nèi juǎn), translated as "involution", describes competition in which everyone keeps raising their effort for the same limited rewards, so people grow more exhausted while no one ends up better off. In casual speech it is shortened to 卷 (juǎn). The word comes from the sociology and anthropology term involution and went viral online in China in 2020, when the language magazine 咬文嚼字 (Yaowen Jiaozi) named it one of the year's top 10 buzzwords.
Where neijuan comes from
内卷 (or 内卷化) is the Chinese rendering of involution. American anthropologist Clifford Geertz used the term in his 1963 book Agricultural Involution to describe rice farming in Java: more and more labour and ever finer techniques went in, yet output per person barely rose. The anthropologist Alexander Goldenweiser had used involution earlier, in 1937, for cultural forms that keep growing more intricate without changing.
In the second half of 2020 photos of a Tsinghua University student working on a laptop while riding a bike went viral. Such students were nicknamed 卷王, "kings of involution", and the academic term became everyday slang. 咬文嚼字 put 内卷 ninth on its 2020 top 10 list.
How to use neijuan
- 我们组已经卷到周末也在群里汇报进度了 (our team is so involuted we post progress updates on weekends)
- 考研人数一年比一年多，这就是内卷 (more people take the grad-school exam every year; that's neijuan)
- 别卷了别卷了，下班就下班 (stop competing, when work's over it's over)
- 他是我们班的卷王，假期还在刷题 (he's our class's involution king, doing practice tests over the holidays)
- 外卖平台打价格战，商家都说太卷了 (delivery apps are in a price war; restaurants say it's too cutthroat)
卷 works as a verb (卷起来了, "it's getting competitive"; 别卷了, "stop it") or as an adjective (这个行业很卷, "this industry is brutal").
Related terms
| Term | Meaning | Relation to neijuan |
|---|---|---|
| 内卷 neijuan | pointless over-competition | the core idea |
| 卷王 juanwang | the most hyper-competitive person | teasing or half-admiring |
| 躺平 tang ping | lying flat, opting out | often framed as the response to neijuan |
| 摆烂 bai lan | letting things rot | more defeatist than lying flat |
| rat race | endless competition | the closest English idiom |
Using it carefully
Today 卷 is used loosely for any tough competition or for someone who simply works hard. Strictly, neijuan means effort rises while overall returns don't; ordinary hard work or real progress is not involution.
Calling someone 卷 can sound like a jab at them for overworking. Fine with friends; watch your tone at work. The word is also used about businesses: price wars in which every company cuts prices and none profits are often called involution.
FAQ
What is neijuan in English?
It is usually translated as "involution". English-language media also use the pinyin neijuan, and "rat race" is a close everyday equivalent.
What does 卷 (juan) mean on its own?
It is short for 内卷: to compete excessively, or (as an adjective) intensely competitive.
Is neijuan the same as competition?
No. Healthy competition produces better results; neijuan is when everyone gives more but the total payoff stays the same, so only the bar gets higher.