Cuddly Protest Icon Says ‘Neigh’ To Censorship

Cuddly Protest Icon Says ‘Neigh’ To Censorship

With the Year of the Horse beginning next week, The South China Morning Post reports from Hong Kong, where plush “Grass-Mud Horse” trinkets are becoming popular in joint celebration of free speech and the imminent Chinese zodiac:

[…A] new cuddly protest icon has hit town: the “grass mud horse”.

The mainland symbol of dissent against censorship is proving a popular choice of product for stalls at the Lunar New Year fairs, which will welcome the Year of the Horse from Saturday.

With a moniker that sounds in Chinese like a phrase suggesting an unspeakable act with one’s mother, the grass mud horse – supposedly a species of alpaca – has been adopted by mainland internet users to mock the government’s efforts to crack down on obscenity

[…]Tommy Yip Kwan-yeung, who will run a stall with his classmates from City University’s department of management, will sell a cushion shaped like the head of the grass mud horse. With a space inside, the cushion can be used as a hand warmer.

[…] The team picked the animal for its funny face rather than its vulgar links, he said, but if buyers chose it for another reason, “we have nothing against it”. [Source]

For more on the Grass-Mud Horse, see prior CDT coverage.

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