Abstract:

The wide spread of neologisms or network catchwords often reflects the current situation in people’s speech social interactions and social mentality A questionnaire is designed on the buzzword nǚ hàn zi and the survey is done online in 2014 and 2015 respectively, with an interval of 12 months in between It aims to analyze social mentality and gender awareness of the general public from five variables, which are age, gender, social identity, educational background and region through data analysis of the respondents’ attitudes toward nǚ hàn zi and their aesthetical features The research shows that people have a general understanding of nǚ hàn zi, and they think there are more positive traits of human nature than negative traits reflected from nǚ hàn zi Through further analysis, especially on the group of different genders and social identities, it shows that there are positive changes in social mentality and gender awareness of the general public

Key words: nǚ hàn zi, buzzword, social mentality, gender awareness, variables