Hostility to newly rich 'tuhao' reflects resentment with perhaps a tinge of jealousy
A groundswell of hostility towards the ostentatious newly rich disguises more subtle, ambiguous attitudes about accumulating wealth
An old word, tuhao, has become the most popular word online for the mainland's rich ( hao) and uncultured ( tu).
The term originally referred to rural lords who bullied their countrymen and became a target of communist class struggle, but it is back in fashion, albeit with a different connotation.
The phrase " tuhao, let's be friends?" has gone viral in the past month after it was first used in an ironic joke: a rich and unhappy man seeks help from a Buddhist master, who, after hearing how rich the man is, pauses - then, rather than offering sage advice, asks to be friends.
A series of events helped to popularise the term, including the release of Apple's new champagne-coloured iPhone 5s - dubbed " tuhao gold" - and the star-studded opening ceremony of Wanda Group's film production project in Qingdao in Shandong province
It conveys mainlanders' complex feelings towards the rich: a mix of jealousy of their wealth and disapproval of how they obtained it and what they buy.
" Tuhao are to be friends with, to be ridiculed and to be overthrown - nowadays in the form of virtual violence," said Zhu Dake , dean of the Cultural Criticism Research Centre at Tongji University.