Word of the Week: Mystical Country

Word of the Week: Mystical Country

The  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.

shénqí de guódù 神奇的国度

China, a country which seems to defy the laws of nature; a virtual throwing up of hands at aggravations and tragedy in China.

Examples:

Yuerujinyuan (@月如晋元): The outpouring of grief after the Tianjin explosions, I think it’s too much. I just want to say, for this kind of explosion to happen in a city in good working order—this is really and truly a mystical country. (August 13, 2015)

天津爆炸这件事,我觉得表达悲哀什么的过于矫情,我只想说,一个好端端的城市就这么炸了,这特么真是个神奇的国度 [Chinese]

Duanguifa (@段贵发): Doesn’t this mystical country get the joke? Is it worth jumping for joy over a fallen tiger? Wake up! Did your taxes go down? Did your rights go up? Can you vote? Did your social status change? Can you speak the truth? Nothing has changed. The root of corruption is still there, and all we have is shit and an unstoppable succession of maggots! (July 30, 2014)

这个神奇的国度还差这一个小笑话吗?一个大老虎倒下去了,值得欢呼雀跃吗?醒醒吧!税少了吗?权利多了吗?选票有了吗?社会地位改变了吗?能说真话了吗?什么都没变,产生贪腐的根基仍在,只要屎还在,就阻止不了蛆虫的前仆后继![Chinese]

See also expensive country and Celestial Empire.

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