Top 10 Keywords in 2026

01 Deception

The subtlety of a deception lies in the fact that when it operates smoothly, people regard it as the truth. Deception is not necessarily truly deceptive. When a deception has not been realized by people and truly exposed to the public, it is a form of truth. It is calm, sincere, enthusiastic, and even contains some profound and noble elements. Only when a small number of people gradually realize that behind the so - called truth is actually the deprivation of the interests of the majority by a small minority, will the definition and consequences of "deception" truly surface.

02 Struggle

Compared with the intensity of the word "war", "struggle" presents more complexity, entanglement, distress, and a long - drawn - out process. In 2025, we realized that we were in an era of war, but in 2026, we will more deeply realize that "war" cannot fundamentally solve problems. The sharp contrast between success and failure in an ideal state - especially the fairy tale of justice or goodness winning the world after a battle does not exist. On the contrary, we need to face a world where multiple forces are repeatedly entangled for a long time, a world that can always become more incredible and whose lower limit can always be continuously refreshed.

03 Shadow

You can't single out a villain and execute him neatly because the black in this world is not only gray but also white. You can't find a perfect hero to praise either because the white in this world is not only gray but even black. You can distinguish the black night sky and the white moon in the gray city and freely praise or curse, but in the eyes of others, you are no different from others in the dark. You are all under an endless shadow.

04 Extremes

The pendulum is a rather profound metaphor: driven by an initial mysterious force, a mid - line is repeatedly crossed but will always be the final destination. The human heart never stays on any mid - line, so neither business, economy nor society ever stays on any mid - line. There is always a mysterious force that will push the pendulum forward, making it show a state of rapid madness and reach places it should not go. Then, after exhaustion and collapse, it returns to the origin. Then, without hesitation, it will head towards the madness in the opposite direction, and the cycle repeats. Aren't we like pendulums, not only destined to stay away from the mid - line but also speeding towards the extreme that doesn't belong to us.

05 Cycle

A cycle is a phenomenon that combines a variety of complex factors. People are more willing to believe that it is a process determined by the great power of nature. In fact, a cycle is not only determined by profound natural laws but also driven by mysterious forces behind the scenes. A few years ago, the speculation about the "new cycle" was ridiculed. A few years later, the global cycle market that surged shocked the world. The impact of the periodic market of elements on people has just begun, but what is different and difficult to adapt to from before is that this booming era has nothing to do with oneself at all.

06 Confluence

Chinese people in the new era are completely unfamiliar with the word "confluence". People simply don't know and are not willing to believe that they may be in danger. People have long forgotten the information revealed in the saying "Either at the table or on the menu". And people are more willing to regard the clearly demonstrated malice as a coincidence. Using admiration for the strong as an excuse, people calmly accept that their fate can only be manipulated by the powerful. Using stability as a reason, people acquiesce that their world can become worse. In a world where the core need of most people is simply to reduce energy consumption, the confluence of a small number of people becomes the choice with the least cost and maximum benefits.

07 Differentiation

Differentiation is not only a natural phenomenon but also a man - made action. Differentiation does not depend on human will. The world has never been equal or fair. Just as for life, where there is the dryness of the Sahara Desert, there is also the vitality of the Amazon rainforest. But the difference between humans and animals or some unknown evil creatures lies in that human sociality and moral sense should drive the world out of the original imbalance and periodic destruction and make the inevitable differentiation more decent in the most ideal way possible. Instead of continuing to release out - of - control fireworks in an already disordered race.

08 Capital Autocracy

The so - called capital autocracy means that capital completely transcends the limitations of business, finance, and even the economy. Instead, it develops in depth, takes over the policies, laws, and regulations of a country or society, and takes over more fields such as the cultural system and ideology. Under the capital autocracy model in Western European and American countries, the state machinery is emptied, and capital takes over and controls all aspects of society and is passed down hereditarily behind the scenes. The most crucial manifestation and basis for judging whether capital autocracy is formed is whether capital breaks through the functional limitations and forms a control system for the entire social operation, cultural thinking. In contrast, whether people pay attention to which enterprises are allowed to participate in the operation of certain restricted industries and how much wealth they obtain is only a "low - dimensional fact". Being able to observe capital autocracy is like having a magnifying glass for studying the whole world. When people can pay attention to the development process of capital autocracy, they can have a more in - depth and detailed observation of the current East - West world and get clearer and more real thinking results.

09 Production Relations

Generally speaking, the productive forces determine the production relations, and the progress of production relations will also have a counter - effect on the development of productive forces. However, the change of production relations by productive forces is not synchronous but takes time. Especially in a country like China, where the productive forces have increased significantly in just a few decades, it is difficult for production relations to match immediately. The vested interests will continuously delay the process of "productive forces determining production relations" to maximize their interests. Moreover, people are also commodities. With a population base of 1.4 billion in China, the supply of people as a commodity will be abundant for a long time. Previously, there were concepts like the demographic dividend and the engineer dividend. From the perspective of the law of commodity value, this actually means that as a "commodity", a large supply of people leads to a decrease in the price of the commodity. Facing fierce market competition, the profits of workers - that is, their wage treatment and the opportunity to participate in the distribution of results - will inevitably approach the cost of survival. Therefore, China's current population structure naturally delays the process of productive forces determining production relations. Seeking more innovative measures in production relations and implementing them effectively can change the current situation of the disconnection between production relations and productive forces. Raising wages is a direct way, but it cannot solve the fundamental problem.

10 Intelligence

The wave of artificial intelligence is sweeping the globe, which means that ordinary people will be forced to face a truly different employment environment. In the past few years, artificial intelligence has mostly appeared in front of the public in the form of infrastructure, like a newly built highway that is straight, brand - new, convenient, and fast, but there aren't many cars on it. In the next few years, the biggest difference between artificial intelligence and now is that it will not only be a tool that has just been developed and few people can use. It will gradually become a real production tool that more and more people can use. At the same time, it will also become an automated intelligent means of production that can truly replace many people. If 2025 is the year of "building high - speed railways" for artificial intelligence, then 2026 is the beginning for some people to start taking this express train. In this environment, global employment will face unprecedented pressure, especially the jobs of the urban middle class will hardly remain unaffected. What is most worthy of attention is how "people", as the most basic component of society, will be treated when almost everyone's future is forced to be affected.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Juchao Business Review" (ID: tide - biz). Author: Yang Xuran. It is published by 36Kr with permission.