Emojis first emerged in Japan in the 1990s as a way for people to quickly communicate through visual information. They&apos；ve become mainstream around the world thanks in part to the rise of smartphones and social media platforms.

But while emojis are familiar to many， the same symbols can have different meanings in different cultures. China is a case in point1）. The country is known for generating creative， peculiar internet memes2）. People there have also developed a system for using emojis subversively3）， so that a smiley face can actually convey contempt4）.

The Chinese use emojis primarily on the nation&apos；s two biggest social media platforms： Weibo， with its 313 million monthly users， and WeChat， with its 700 million. The emoji keyboards in these services offer symbols and a style different than what you&apos；d find in， say， WhatsApp5）. Here&apos；s a quick guide.

表情符最好玩的地方就在于同樣的表情在不同的文化中可以表示不同的含義。這不，外國人就被中國人使用的表情符號弄暈了，以至于趕緊出了一份指南，告訴廣大外國同胞們當中國人使用這些表情符時，其背后隱藏的含義。

表情符最早出現(xiàn)在20世紀90年代的日本，被用作人們通過視覺信息進行快速交流的一種手段。現(xiàn)在它們已經風靡全球，這在一定程度上得益于智能手機和社交媒體平臺的興起。

不過，雖然很多人都熟悉表情符，但同一個表情符在不同的文化中卻會有不同的含義。中國就是一個例證。中國以善于產生新奇古怪的網(wǎng)絡表情而聞名。中國人還創(chuàng)造出了一套體系來顛覆性地使用網(wǎng)絡表情符，使一個笑臉表情居然可以表示鄙視。

中國人主要在該國兩大社交媒體平臺使用網(wǎng)絡表情：月活用戶分別為3.13億和7億的新浪微博和微信（編注：英文原文發(fā)表于2017年3月）。這些平臺上的表情鍵盤提供了很多表情符，并且其風格和你在諸如WhatsApp這樣的應用程序上看到的都不一樣。以下是一個快速指南。

On the surface： Happiness.

Below the surface： A despising6）， mocking， and even obnoxious7） attitude.

Background： The upper "muscle movements" here could explain why the face is considered less friendly and more hostile8）. "If you take a closer look at the eyes， the muscle near that upper eye corner does not move， and the muscle near the mouth tightens， which is a sign of suppressing a smile，" notes An Yong， a user on Zhihu， China&apos；s answer to Quora. The answer has got some 16，000 likes since June， 2016.

Guidance： Don&apos；t use it as an expression to say you&apos；re happy about something. Maybe use these instead， since the muscle movements seem to be smiling genuinely：

On the surface： Goodbye with a smiley face.

Below the surface： "I despise you and really don&apos；t want to talk with you. Please go away."

Background： Thanks to the smiley face， this is not a simple goodbye， but rather a mocking expression used to respond negatively to whatever one objects to.

Guidance： If you see this emoji， you might want to change the topic， or just keep your mouth shut. If you wish to retaliate9） sarcastically10）， consider sending back two waving hands.

On the surface： A moon with a face， hiding in the shadow， according to Emojipedia.

Below the surface： Sneaky11）， creepy12）， or even "I despise you".

Background： Since the moon&apos；s eyes are staring to its left， it creates a sense of skepticism. With a closed mouth that looks like a suppressed smile， the black and blurry13） moon face also carries a sense of mocking. The face was among the first releases of emoji documentation from Unicode， a computing standard for consistent encoding symbols. Chinese users can access the face in WeChat after adding the optional emoji-only keyboard.

Guidance： Respond with creepiness of your own， but do it with the bright yellow moon face， staring to its right.

On the surface： Goodbye with a smiley face.

Below the surface： "I despise you and really don&apos；t want to talk with you. Please go away."

Background： Thanks to the smiley face， this is not a simple goodbye， but rather a mocking expression used to respond negatively to whatever one objects to.

Guidance： If you see this emoji， you might want to change the topic， or just keep your mouth shut. If you wish to retaliate9） sarcastically10）， consider sending back two waving hands.

On the surface： A moon with a face， hiding in the shadow， according to Emojipedia.

Below the surface： Sneaky11）， creepy12）， or even "I despise you".

Background： Since the moon&apos；s eyes are staring to its left， it creates a sense of skepticism. With a closed mouth that looks like a suppressed smile， the black and blurry13） moon face also carries a sense of mocking. The face was among the first releases of emoji documentation from Unicode， a computing standard for consistent encoding symbols. Chinese users can access the face in WeChat after adding the optional emoji-only keyboard.

Guidance： Respond with creepiness of your own， but do it with the bright yellow moon face， staring to its right.

Smiley face with a waving hand 揮手微笑

Smiling new moon face 新月笑臉

Smiley face 笑臉

表面含義：快樂

實際含義：鄙視、嘲笑，甚至是討厭的態(tài)度。

緣何如此：眼睛上部的“肌肉活動”在這里可以解釋為什么這個表情被認為是不那么友好甚至是帶有敵意的?！叭绻阕屑氂^察它的眼睛，眼角上側的肌肉沒有動，嘴巴附近的肌肉緊繃，這是抑制笑意的跡象。”知乎（中國版Quora）上的一名用戶“暗涌”指出。從2016年6月以來，這個回答已經收到了大約16，000個贊。

使用指南：不要用它來表達你對某事的喜悅之情?；蛟S你可以使用以下這些表情，因為這些表情的肌肉活動看起來像是在真誠地笑：

表面含義：微笑著說再見

實際含義：“我鄙視你并且真的不想和你說話。請走開。”

緣何如此：由于笑臉的存在，這不是一個單純的再見，而是一個嘲諷的表情，人們用它來對自己反對的任何事情做出消極回應。

使用指南：如果你看到了這個表情，你最好換個話題，或者直接閉嘴。如果你想反唇相譏，可以考慮一下回復兩個揮手微笑的表情。

表面含義：根據(jù)“表情百科”網(wǎng)站的解釋，這是一個躲在陰影中的月亮狀笑臉。

實際含義：鬼鬼祟祟、詭異甚至是“鄙視你”。

緣何如此：由于月亮的眼睛看向左邊，這就有一種懷疑的意味。因為它閉著嘴巴看起來像強忍著笑意，所以又黑又模糊的新月笑臉還有嘲笑的含義。這個表情屬于第一批發(fā)布的采用Unicode編碼的表情符，Unicode是一種規(guī)定了統(tǒng)一編碼符號的信息處理標準。中國的微信用戶在添加了可選的表情符鍵盤之后就可以使用這個表情了。

使用指南：以其人之道還治其人之身，但是要用那個看向右邊的黃月亮臉。

5. WhatsApp： 一款即時通訊軟件

6. despise [d??spa?z] vi. 鄙視；藐視；看不起

7. obnoxious [?b?n?k??s] adj. 令人討厭的；使人反感的；可憎的

8. hostile [?h?sta?l] adj. 懷有敵意的；不友善的

9. retaliate [r??t?lie?t] vi. 報復；反擊

10. sarcastically [sɑ??k?st?kli] adv. 諷刺地；嘲笑地；挖苦地

11. sneaky [?sni?ki] adj. 鬼鬼祟祟的；偷偷摸摸的

12. creepy [?kri?pi] adj. 令人緊張不安的；令人毛骨悚然的

13. blurry [?bl??ri] adj. 模糊的；輪廓不清楚的

14. pretentious [pr??ten??s] adj. 自命不凡的；自負的

15. sticker [?st?k?（r）] n. 表情貼圖

On the surface： Maybe there&apos；s something in your nose？

Below the surface： "I despise you." （Yes， it&apos；s a recurring theme.）

Background： The emoji has a frown and its eyes look to the right side， half-open.

Guidance： Send a smiley face in response—making clear the feeling is mutual.

On the surface： It&apos；s a dog breed from Japan.

Below the surface： "I am just cute and innocent. What are you talking about？ I have no idea." （Also： "I despise you."）

Background： Note the side-looking expression with the closed mouth. So pretentious14）， while simultaneously cute and innocent. This is more of a sticker15） than an emoji， meaning you&apos；ll have to download it on your own， rather than access it from a keyboard. It hasn&apos；t yet been added on WeChat or iOS， for instance， but it&apos；s widely used on the internet. It originated from a Japanese rescue dog named Kabosu in 2008.

Guidance： We haven&apos；t figured this out yet. Try responding with a shiba. Experiment.

Hopefully the above is useful.

Picking your nose 摳鼻

Shiba 柴犬

表面含義：可能你鼻子里有什么東西？

實際含義：“我鄙視你?！保ㄊ堑?，這是一個不斷出現(xiàn)的主題。）

緣何如此：這個表情皺著眉頭，它的眼睛看著右邊，半睜著。

使用指南：回復一個笑臉——表明你也有同感。

表面含義：一種來自日本的狗。

實際含義：“我就是這么可愛又無辜。你在說什么？我可聽不懂?！保ㄒ脖硎荆骸拔冶梢暷恪！保?/p>

緣何如此：注意這個斜著眼睛、閉著嘴巴的表情。如此自負卻又同時顯得可愛無辜。與其說這是一個表情符，不如說是一個表情貼圖，這就意味著你必須把它下載到自己的手機上，而不能直接用鍵盤敲出來。目前為止它還沒有被收錄到諸如微信或者IOS系統(tǒng)上，但它在網(wǎng)上被廣為使用。它的原型是2008年的一只叫卡波蘇的日本搜救犬。

使用指南：我們還沒有想出對策。嘗試也回復一個柴犬表情，就當做試驗吧。

希望以上內容能對你有所幫助。

There are now more than 1000 emojis to choose from when expressing happiness， love or an intense pizza craving1）. The SwiftKey mobile technology company used its cloud data to analyze the use of different symbols in various countries. Across the world， these are the most popular.

In America

America may have fallen behind Canada in gun emoji use， but no one can beat one of the most obese2） nations on earth when it comes to their love of pizza. The pepperoni3） slice emoji is one of the most used in the United States， alongside the equally prevalent4） chicken drumstick5） emoji. America also leads the world in use of the red "100" symbol and in the use of female， LGBT6） and tech oriented emojis.

In France

The French are as romantic as we&apos；ve suspected all along. France accounted for four times as many heart emojis as any other country studied. French iPhone users also made much use of the few available wedding emojis.

In Spain

The study also found that Spanish speaking Americans are the saddest texters， at least as far as emojis go. This group uses negative symbols 22 percent of the time and sends more sad faces than any other cluster7） studied. They also really enjoy the monkey emoji.

In Australia

Australians love to party from the looks of their emoji use. Overall， the country&apos；s citizens referenced8） drugs， alcohol and junk food more than twice the average rate for English speaking countries. Australians also really love sending images of animals.

In Russia

Russians beat even France in overall use of romantic emojis， using three times as many as the study&apos；s average. Perhaps it&apos；s all those low temperatures that make them look for love—they use more cold weather emojis than any other country as well.

In Arabic Speaking Countries

Among Arabic speakers， the rose emoji is used ten times more than any other group studied. In fact， emoji users that speak Arabic are overall fans of inanimate9） symbols and tend to use flowers， stars， clocks， plants， and fruits more than other texters. They also use the male emoji more.