SCMP.com's pick of the best Chinese virals of 2012

For many, 2012 was the year that China's netizens took to their keyboards and made their presence known. And where virals and internet memes were concerned, they really marked their territory. Here, SCMP.com picks the China virals that took the world by storm in 2012.

CCTV's happiness survey

When China Central Television (CCTV) asked random Chinese people whether they were happy they were accused of forcing people to fake happiness. But the broadcast of nine episodes of A Happiness Survey of China's Grass Roots Ahead of the 18th Party Congress, also drew a few laughs. With the pronunciation of "are you happy" in Putonghua - ni xingfu ma - sounding similar to "is Fu your surname", one busy migrant worker in Taiyuan, Shanxi, answered impatiently: "My name is Zeng."

HK locust advert

2012 was the year when relations between Hongkongers and mainland Chinese hit a new low after a war of words turned into name-calling.

Mainlanders called Hongkongers dogs and slaves, and Hongkongers labeled the former “locusts.”

A full page advert depicting a locust peering over the peak at Hong Kong further stoked tensions when it appeared in Apple Daily, funded by a group of internet users.