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Thanks for sharing this. I enjoyed reading. We’ve written quite a bit about neijuan 内卷 in RealTime Mandarin over the years. We translate as “destructive competition”.

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thanks Andrew! Ya i had seen it before online but was surprised how often people brought it up in conversation about other topics.

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It can also be used positively too. For example: 你太卷了 = “you’re so intense”; or 卷王 = involution king

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