The moment something breaks through your emotional defenses and you can no longer maintain composure — whether from being deeply moved or overwhelmed with frustration.
破防了 is what Chinese internet users say when something hits them so hard emotionally that their defenses collapse — when a video, comment, or moment breaks through the emotional armor they've built to survive scrolling through their feeds. The phrase captures both directions of overwhelm: being moved to tears by a touching story, or being so frustrated by injustice that you can't hold your composure anymore.
It emerged from Chinese gaming culture around 2018, where players used it literally — your opponent broke through your defensive line, your armor shattered. But as streamers and gamers adopted it to describe their own emotional states, the metaphor stuck. By 2021, Bilibili declared it their top phrase of the year, recognizing how perfectly it described the modern experience of emotional vulnerability in the age of endless content.
The phrase reveals something about contemporary Chinese internet culture: emotional experiences are described through gaming and military metaphors, as if feelings are tactical battles. It acknowledges that people actively defend themselves from being moved — and that sometimes, despite your best efforts, something gets through.