New meaning of old words

Tweet

"Sea turtle" and "Seaweed" Sea turtle: people have come to use this term to refer to people who have returned to work on the mainland after completing their education overseas. 'sea turtle' in Chinese is pronounced the same as the abbreviated phrase "returning from overseas". Seaweed: the word, a follow up to 'sea turtle' is used to refer to those Chinese youths who have not found a job in theri home country after they study overseas. The Chinese caracter 'dai'in the phrase sounds the same as another Chinese word meaning 'wait' as in waiting for a job.