This paper constitutes a preliminary study of figuration in Chinese slang. While slang in general is highly metaphorical, figuration in Chinese slang is even more pervasive, tending to favor non-literal language, this fact attributed to both sociocultural (frequent indirect reference) and linguistic (marked morphophonological constraints) factors. In the West, relatively little research exists on this fascinating subject; hence, more academic attention is in order. The lexical material analyzed in this paper comes from my database of Chinese slang, a new sociolinguistic project currently under development in the Sociolinguistics Laboratory (formerly Department of Sociolinguistics and Lexicography) at the University of Gdansk, in cooperation with my Chinese students including Deng Ting, Mou Feng and Li Bo Yi; numerous reference books were also consulted.