Fang nu and luo hun

[Benjamin Barrett]

1. The word "fang nu" appeared again in the Seattle Times today, with a translation of "house slaves."

A fang nu is a person whose home loan takes such a large part of their paycheck, they become like a slave working to pay it off. It seems likely this is fángnú (房奴) (http://forum.hellomandarin.com/viewthread.php?tid=58).

"China's housing bubble is losing air," David Pierson, Los Angeles Times (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/13/business/la-fi-china-housing-bubble-20111213)

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That's news to millions of Chinese for whom real estate ownership has become an obsession. The mania has cemented itself into the national zeitgeist, inspiring a wildly popular soap opera, songs and even new slang. Debt-strapped home buyers have been dubbed fang nu, or house slaves. Couples who wed without owning a home are said to have a luo hun, or a naked marriage.
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The earliest I see this term on Google is August 21, 2007:

"House slaves and brokebacks find true calling," The Standard (Reuters) (http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=10&art_id=51682&sid=15017937&con_type=1&d_str=20070821)

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Economic reforms and soaring rates of home ownership have coined a new moniker for those struggling to pay off home loans: fang nu, or "house slaves."
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2. Also in that first citation above is "luo hun," meaning a "naked marriage" or a no-frills marriage. It appears to be luǒhūn (裸婚) (http://www.kukuspeak.com/kouyu/huati/1482.html).

The earliest I see this on Google is January 7, 2010:

Chinese youth take to ‘naked weddings’, Venkatesan Vembu (http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_chinese-youth-take-to-naked-weddings_1332143)

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“It’s not what you think,” Li says. “A luo hun (‘naked wedding’) is a ‘no-frills civil wedding’: it means getting married without a house of our own, a car, a wedding ring — or even a wedding ceremony.”
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Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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