Shénshén (神神) refers to an anti-establishment, nihilistic subculture in the mainland Chinese internet, noted for their edgy humor, emoji spam, and unusually pro-Western “liberal” positions. Its members may call each other Shényǒu (神友), while those opposed use Shénqū (神蛆).

The subculture partially stems from the DouYu esports channel, “6324 Chōuxiàng(Abstract) TV” (6324抽象TV), where Sun Xiaochuan¹⁾ indirectly inspired a rebellious “abstract” movement of evading vulgarity filters using emojis.²⁾³⁾ Followers at Baidu Tieba's “Li Gan Bar” (李赣吧) and “Abstract TV Bar” (抽象TV吧) would routinely push the limit on what they could say within the mainland Chinese internet.

As such, they'd eventually had to relocate over to the “Great Wave Off Kanagawa Bar” (神奈川冲浪里吧, Shénnàichuān Chōnglàng-lǐ Ba),⁴⁾⁵⁾ which the term is derived from. These forums were eventually banned more consistently in 2019, forcing them to resurface under a multitude of names,⁶⁾ while they slowly became explicitly anti-establishment in nature.

Some of these users fled to the Western forum Reddit and set up /r/chonglangTV in 2019,⁷⁾ which later split into four subreddits.⁸⁾ In 2022, the subreddit would initiate the Great Translation Movement, hoping to paint pro-establishment voices as evil, yet soon found themselves banned for a pro-Ukrainian doxing.⁹⁾ It isn't clear where they went after this, but they still have the /r/KanagawaWave subreddit.

Back on the Chinese internet, Baidu's internal problems would indirectly allow the community to regain their footing in Baidu Tieba, but improved government security has made vigilantism more costly. Despite this obstacle, they've reportedly started to dox and harass individuals, hoping that these actions would somehow lead to the government being overwhelmed.

The community tends to be a bit unhinged, with very little regard for ethics. For instance, they will attempt to enrage the pro-establishment camp by idolizing Japan and the Nordic countries, liberally use the Zhina slur, and ironically praise people who have massacred the Chinese population.¹⁰⁾¹¹⁾ However, please keep in mind that they are impressionable and don't represent the entire anti-establishment camp.

• The community has an NSFW subreddit at /r/ShouChongTV, which is hilarious to think about.
• In addition to the terms mentioned above, the community may also describe themselves using terms like “Làngrén” (浪人, lit. “Ronin”) or “Shǔrén” (鼠人, lit. “Rat Man”).¹²⁾¹³⁾