Meaning:

Literally translated as “societal death,” this term was coined by Chinese netizens to refer to the scenario where someone is so humiliated in front of the public that he or she just wants to flee to a place where nobody could see them. Originally this term is used by the speaker jokingly to refer to embarrassing incidents that happened to themselves. It recently became a buzzword when certain cases of cyber violence and trolling have alerted the public because “societal death” is inflicted on other people by strangers online.

Example:

A: 说说你是怎么认识你男朋友的？

Shuōshuo nǐ shì zěnme rènshí nǐ nánpéngyou de？

Tell us how you met your boyfriend.

B: 有一天我在路上远远看见他，以为是我闺蜜的弟弟，就径直走过去拍了拍他的肩膀，然后发现我认错人了。

Yǒuyītiān wǒ zài lùshang yuǎnyuǎn kànjiàn tā，yǐwéi shì wǒ guīmì de dìdi，jiù jìngzhí zǒu guòqù pāilepāi tā de jiānbǎng，ránhòu fāxiàn wǒ rèncuò rén le。

One day, I saw him on the street from afar and thought he was the younger brother of my BFF, so I walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder, only to find that I was patting a stranger.

A: 真厉害，把社会性死亡现场变成了一场艳遇。

Zhēn lìhài，bǎ shèhuìxìng sǐwáng xiànchǎng biànchéng le yīchǎng yànyù。

Good for you! You turned an embarrassing incident into a meet-cute.