“Shit,” “sexy,” and “dead.” These are among the results in China’s hottest new personality test, a parody of the MBTI called “SBTI,” or the “Silly Big” Type Indicator.

Created by a user on Chinese video platform Bilibili under the handle “Qrourchuanr,” the test began spreading widely online Thursday after a video introducing it drew more than 2 million views within a day. Traffic briefly crashed the link before it was restored early Friday.

Built on the MBTI, or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the new personality replaces corporate self-analysis with absurdist humor. On its homepage it declares: “MBTI is outdated. SBTI is here.” Its name carries an extra joke in Chinese: the first two letters of SBTI sound like a vulgar slang term meaning “idiot.”

In the past few years, MBTI tests have exploded in popularity in China, with some employers even requiring scores from job candidates. In social circles, people often ask each other their MBTI results while introducing themselves, and the terms “I ren” and “E ren” — “introvert” and “extrovert” — are commonly used in Chinese.

SBTI comprises 31 deliberately ridiculous questions and gives users a custom result in minutes, no registration required. 

One asks what a user would do after sitting on the toilet for more than 30 minutes with constipation. Another asks whether “most people are kind,” with one answer option reading: “Actually, there are more evil hearts in the world than hemorrhoids.” A third states, “This question has no topic; please choose blindly.”

One of the personality types is “Dead.” Dubbed the “rarest personality in China,” it describes someone who can ignore more than 99 unread group messages but slowly replies “Received” when a deadline approaches. 

Another type, “Shit,” is described as the “only known rare personality type in the universe,” someone who “says the world is a piece of shit and that it should just end already. But the next morning, you’re up at 7 a.m. sharp, squeezing onto a shitty subway, heading off to that shitty job.” Beyond personality types, the test also scores users across 15 dimensions, including self-esteem, decision-making style, and attachment security.

Qrourchuanr has stressed that the quiz is not rooted in psychology or science. In a note at the end of the test, she said it was originally made simply to persuade a friend who liked drinking to quit. 

“I haven’t balanced entertainment and professionalism well, so some personality interpretations are vague or completely inaccurate,” she stated in the note. “I apologize if I’ve offended anyone.” 

In a commentary published on Friday, domestic media outlet The Beijing News said that personality tests resonate because they satisfy people’s need for identity and emotional expression. Because the MBTI format is already well known, the paper said, SBTI  is easier to grasp. 

“SBTI is lighter and more fun, hitting young people's sense of humor and emotion,” it said. “It also gives test-takers more room for dark humor and for using absurdity to break down life's pressures.”

But the test has also drawn criticism. Some users on microblogging platform Weibo said they received different results after taking it multiple times with the same answers. 

Others argued certain questions were inappropriate. Such as, “You're walking down the street when a cute little girl hops and skips toward you. She hands you a lollipop. What goes through your mind at that moment?” 

A check by Sixth Tone on Friday found that the creator’s original video was no longer available on Bilibili, with no explanation given. Related hashtags and topics also did not appear on Weibo or on lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: SBTI personality quiz goes viral on Chinese social media. VCG)