By Li Hongmei

"Diaosi," an internet term referring to youngsters with a humble background, low income and nerdy look, has become a popular buzzword in China's subculture.

The term was originally a swear word used in a self-deprecating manner by netizens seeking to differentiate themselves from those who are tall, rich, and good-looking. A survey released on April 1 indicates that China's "diaosi population" has reached 526 million, which accounts for 40% of the country's population.

The company which owns Diaosi Online, an online game designed particularly for the diaosi culture, and Analysys International, a domestic provider of product information in the internet industry, jointly conducted a survey on the behavior of online gamers who consider themselves diaosi. They interviewed 34,500 players about how they recognize and identify diaosi and what a diaosi likes and dislikes about online games.

The survey revealed about 80 million online gamers in China label themselves as diaosi, most of them being born after 1980. The majority of players in Shanghai identify themselves as diaosi, whereas Hong Kong contains the fewest.

Only one in three of male diaosi players have a girlfriend.

About 9% of diaosi players use an iPhone and 94% are willing to pay for online games.

Diaosi gamers place more importance on an online game's price, gameplay, and visual and musical effects, paying less attention to the genre. As the number of female characters in online games usually greatly outnumbers male roles, nearly 90% of diaosi players have played online as a female, according to the survey.

The survey also points out that being called a diaosi is not necessarily a comment on a person's income and age. Many diaosi view the social circle as a way of life.