What does 打工人 mean?

打工人 was the viral sensation of late 2020. It started with a series of posts on Chinese social media featuring the phrase 早安，打工人！(“Good morning, workers!”) delivered with mock-heroic motivational energy. A construction worker carrying bricks became a miner extracting gold; a delivery driver became a logistics commander. Every job, no matter how humble, was reframed with grandiose pride.

The genius of 打工人 is its tonal balance: it is simultaneously self-deprecating and genuinely proud. It acknowledges that the work is grinding (搬砖 — carrying bricks) while insisting that the worker matters. Unlike 社畜 (corporate livestock), which emphasizes exploitation and helplessness, 打工人 carries a sense of shared identity and quiet defiance.

The term spawned an entire genre of content: 打工人语录 (worker quotes), 打工人表情包 (worker sticker packs), and endless variations on the morning greeting. The underlying sentiment: we are all in this together, the work sucks, but we have dignity and each other.

搬砖 (carry bricks) is the companion verb — it is the worker’s action. 去搬砖 means going to work, with full awareness that the work is physical, repetitive, and probably underpaid, but also that it is honest labor.