In May 2020, Weibo influencer 小奶球 (Little Milk Ball) coined the term '凡尔赛文学' (Versailles Literature) after noticing friends complaining about acquaintances who casually posted about luxury hotels, designer goods, and fine wine with an air of effortless superiority. She named the style after the Japanese manga 《凡尔赛玫瑰》 (The Rose of Versailles), which depicts the lavish court life of Marie Antoinette. She created a Douban study group called '凡尔赛学研习小组' and posted a viral Weibo tutorial breaking down the genre's three core techniques: the reverse complaint (brag disguised as grievance), the self-Q&A, and the third-person narrator.

The term stayed niche until November 2020, when Weibo blogger 蒙淇淇77 (Meng Qiqi) — who regularly posted about her charmed marriage and lavish Beijing lifestyle — became the living embodiment of Versailles Literature. Her name trended on Weibo for 9+ hours, the hashtag hit 440 million views, and she became a national punchline. She claimed she didn't know what 凡尔赛文学 meant until she was already its poster child. Even real celebrities got retrospectively 'diagnosed' — Sa Beining once lamented being admitted to Peking University without taking the gaokao, and Jack Ma called founding Alibaba his 'biggest mistake.'

Today 凡尔赛 is used both as an accusation and as ironic self-aware content. People jokingly label their own posts '凡尔赛预警' (Versailles warning) before sharing good news, turning the callout into a shared joke. It's also become a verb — '你在凡尔赛' (you're Versailles-ing). 《咬文嚼字》 named it one of 2020's top 10 buzzwords. The term works because it captures a specifically Chinese internet frustration: in a culture where direct boasting is taboo, the humble-brag became the socially acceptable workaround — and 凡尔赛 is the internet's revenge.