Word of the Week comes from the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China’s online “resistance discourse,” used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness.
功夫网 (Gōngfu Wǎng): Kung Fu Net
The pinyin abbreviation for “Kung Fu Net” (gōngfu wǎng) is GFW—the same abbreviation used for the “Great Firewall of China.” Thus the Kung Fu Net is the Internet Chinese users have access to under the restraints implemented by the Chinese government.
Example:
潘石屹: I may be meeting with an Internet management official. Do my friends on Weibo have any suggestions for me to pass on?
最近,我可能会见到一位管理互联网的领导,微博上朋友们有什么建议要转告?
Leo_Wang_: Please shut down the Kung Fu Net. (May 13, 2013)
请关掉功夫网 [Chinese]
See also Chinternet and Great Chinese LAN.
Want to learn more subversive netizen slang? Check out Decoding the Chinese Internet: A Glossary of Political Slang. Available for $2.99 in the Kindle, Google Play, and iTunes stores. All proceeds from the sale of this eBook support China Digital Times.