'Resilience,' DeepSeek selected as China's character and word of 2025

Visitors interact with a home service robot during the World Smart Industry Expo 2025 in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Sept. 6, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

China's character and word of the year for 2025 were announced on Dec. 19 at an annual Chinese language review event jointly hosted by the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center, The Commercial Press, and Xinhuanet, the web portal for news and information services of Xinhua News Agency.

The character "韧" ("ren" in Chinese), which means resilience, and the phrase "深度求索" ("shendu qiusuo" in Chinese), the name of the country's open-source large language model DeepSeek, were selected from thousands of candidates as the top domestic character and word, respectively.

Resilience is seen as embodying the spirit of contemporary China. The character "ren" captures steadfastness, firm determination and perseverance.

In an era marked by political, economic and technological uncertainties, resilience reflects not only growth potential but also adaptability, stress resistance, and the ability to bounce back, according to the event's hosts.

The selection of DeepSeek highlights China's ambitions in artificial intelligence.

Launched in January 2025, the domestic large language model represents a key milestone in the country's pursuit of self-reliant AI development.

It is an important symbol of the country's efforts to build autonomous AI capabilities and contributes Chinese ingenuity to the global AI sector, according to experts who said the model's progress mirrors the rise of a new generation of Chinese AI companies.

The Chinese language review event also unveiled three key lists: the top 10 trending terms featured in Chinese media throughout 2025, the top 10 internet buzzwords of 2025, and the top 10 newly coined words of 2025, providing a comprehensive view of language trends.

DeepSeek appeared on both the media buzzwords and online popular words lists, solidifying its status as the top domestic word of the year.

Other entries, such as "Suchao," which refers to the Jiangsu Football City League, and "ticket stub economy" ("piaogen jingji" in Chinese), appeared on the lists of the top 10 trending media terms and the top 10 new words, highlighting key trends and innovations.

Among the new words and expressions that have emerged are "humanoid robots," "Hangzhou's Six Little Dragons" (a term for a group of rapidly-rising tech start-ups in the eastern city of Hangzhou), "emotional value," "a toast to myself," "new mass culture," and "Nobody" (a hit Chinese animation).

Each selected word serves as a time capsule, preserving milestones of national development, reflecting social change and capturing the public mood.