浪浪山小妖怪

What does 浪浪山小妖怪 mean?

我想离开浪浪山, “I want to leave Langlang Mountain”, is the line people quote, usually about their own job. Calling yourself a 浪浪山小妖怪 admits you are the nameless one doing the grunt work, taking orders and watching the credit go elsewhere. Self-deprecating, yes, but not bleak: there is a small ambition underneath, the sense that the mountain is a stage you will walk off eventually, not a life sentence. Office workers picked the phrase up again over the summer of 2025. When the mood turns harsher they reach for 牛马; this one keeps some fairy-tale softness.

Where does 浪浪山小妖怪 come from?

The little pig demon of 《小妖怪的夏天》, the first episode of the anthology 《中国奇谭》 (Yao-Chinese Folktales), spent January 2023 slaving away for a demon king before announcing that it wanted off Langlang Mountain. Audiences recognised themselves in it immediately. Two and a half years later the story was expanded into the feature film 《浪浪山小妖怪》, released in summer 2025; its box-office run pushed the phrase back into office group chats and onto that year’s buzzword lists.

How to use 浪浪山小妖怪

• 每天加班，我就是浪浪山的小妖怪。
  Měitiān jiābān, wǒ jiù shì lànglàng shān de xiǎo yāoguài.
  Overtime every day — I'm basically a little demon of Langlang Mountain.
• 今年我一定要离开浪浪山！
  Jīnnián wǒ yídìng yào líkāi lànglàng shān!
  This year I'm definitely getting out of Langlang Mountain!