Yuanshengjiating means 'family of origin'. It is a psychology-flavoured term for the household you grew up in, used in Chinese public talk for the idea that it shapes your adult choices and wounds. The word spread through online discussion and dramas, often in stories about parents who demand things from a grown child. Ode to Joy fed that conversation with the storyline of Fan Shengmei's family.
Dramas
Where it comes up
Neon & Nine-to-Five
Ode to Joy: The Shanghai Drama That Put Five Women on One Floor and Made Class the Plot
A guide to the 2016 first season of Ode to Joy: five women from very different backgrounds on one Shanghai floor, why class is the real subject, the Fan Shengmei family debate, the novel-to-screen production, and the template it set for later city dramas.