Chinese (Mandarin) slang
打工人
dǎ gōng rén
A wage worker — the self-deprecating way ordinary employees describe themselves.
- Literally:
- 打 to do + 工 work + 人 person
How it's used
打工 used to mean doing manual or temporary work, but since 2020 office workers of every level call themselves 打工人 with a wry smile: underpaid, overworked, still showing up. It's warm, jokey solidarity — the classic greeting is 打工人，早安 (“good morning, fellow workers”). Fine with colleagues and friends; you wouldn't put it in a formal email.
Examples
打工人，早安！又是搬砖的一天。
Dǎgōngrén, zǎo'ān! Yòu shì bānzhuān de yì tiān.
Morning, fellow wage slaves! Another day of grinding away.
我们打工人哪有资格挑三拣四。
Wǒmen dǎgōngrén nǎ yǒu zīgé tiāo sān jiǎn sì.
We working stiffs aren't in a position to be picky.