米虫 mǐ chóng, 啃老族 kěn lǎo zú, literally means “rice bug” and “the group that chews on the olds”  are used to describe a person who does nothing but staying home, being unproductive, and is useless except for consuming food that is provided by their family/parents. In English, we sometimes call them the “boomerang kids.”  With the global economy melt down and a over 10% rate of unemployment rate- more and more people become 米虫 or 啃老族 involuntarily, especially in the big cities. When it get harder to meet the rent and bills every month, many young adults decide to move back in with their parents to cut the cost down.

Both words 米虫 mǐ chóng and 啃老族 kěn lǎo zú are used as noun. For example: 他已经三个月没工作了，在家当米虫。tā yǐjīng sānge yuè méi gōngzuò le.（He has been out of work for three months, just stay at home being a boomerang kid.) or 我不想一直在家做啃老族。wǒ bùxiǎng yìzhí zài jiā zuò kěnlǎozú. (I don’t want to keep staying home to depend on my parents.)

败犬 bài quǎn - literally means the defeated dog – is now used to describe a woman who is over thirty, with good career, good health, and good looks, however is not able to find a boy friend or a husband. The term 败犬 bài quǎn is originated from a Japanese writer, 酒景顺子, writes in her book in 2003 : a beautiful woman with abilities, when she is over thirty years old and still without partners or kids, she is a defeated dog (loser.) In Japanese dictionary, The defeated dog means a loser from a battle.

The word 败犬 has become increasingly popular in both Taiwan and China for the past 6 months, there has been articles and dramas written about this phenomenon, and there are plenty of talk shows and variety shows using 败犬 as a topic to invitethe  ”ripened women” (熟女 shóu nǚ - meaning women who are over 30 years old) to go on the shows and talk about their experiences.  

败犬 is used as a noun, for example: 我不是败犬 wǒ bú shì bài quǎn (I am not a defeated dog.)

I sincerely recommend a drama dedicated to this subject, called 败犬女王 bài quǎn nǚ wáng (The defeated Queen). It is focusing on the sensitive sides of women who are capable and  independent, and the most important of all-instead of the common negative connotation on 败犬 from the society,  this drama gives new meanings to the role of 败犬 in relationships, workplace, as well as personal choices for women. And hopefully soon people will realize that these independent, beautiful, and intelligent women are all 胜犬 shèng quǎn (the winning dog), not 败犬!

Hi all, so here are some cool Mandarin learning I-Phone tools you can download free from I-Tune:

Gengo Flashcards (very useful, and this is great for time killing if you take public transportation), Chinese Word Search Lite, Small Dictionary 小字典, Dianhua 电花 (cute), Mandarin Fast Track Lite, World Nomads (you can go to their website for other languages apps too. I like their simple useful phrases) Okay, here are just a few that I have tried and found interesting, however, you can always go to I-Tune and simply search for IPhone apps, then Chinese, then choose from all the free apps! They also have paid ones which I have not tried yet, so please let us know if you’ve tried any of them and what you think! Take your learning tools with you at all times!

狗仔 gǒu zǎi or 狗仔队 gǒu zǎi duì - literally means doggies or a team of doggies, is now used as Paparazzi in Chinese. Hong Kong is the birthplace for Paparazzi culture in Asia and they have produced numerous gossip magazines that are involved in series of lawsuit against their paparazzi teams. The paparazzis are called “the doggies” because they hunt and dig like hungry dogs and usually team up to get what they want. There are more and more paparazzi magazines in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan nowadays. Just to name a few: 苹果日报 píng guǒ rì bào  (Apple Daily)，东方日报 dōng fāng rì bào(Oriental Daily)，太阳报 tài yáng bào (The Sun) …etc. Now there is a new term on the internet called 全民狗仔quán mín gǒu zǎi, meaning that all people can be paparazzi and find out the information they need if they try hard enough. So watch out people, it is the generation of 狗仔！