Coined internally at Huawei under founder Ren Zhengfei, who argued the company needed wolf-pack traits (keen sense, aggression, teamwork) to beat foreign rivals. By the 2010s
狼性文化 had become the generic Chinese term for high-intensity, 'eat or be eaten' corporate culture — and by the 2020s a frequent target of criticism during the
躺平 and anti-996 discourse.
