Saying of the Week: Love the Place That Hates You

Saying of the Week: Love the Place That Hates You

The  comes from the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens or 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.

CaonimaThe new Lexicon home page lets you browse by categories like Party and State, Society and Culture, and Resistance Discourse. It’s easier than ever to discover new words and learn the meaning behind them. We welcome reader feedback on the redesign.

love the place that hates you 

mìng hǎi xīn 地命海心

Chinese drivers of Japanese cars had trouble on the road during 2012 anti-Japan protests. (Source: Weibo)

Chinese drivers of Japanese cars had trouble on the road during 2012 anti-Japan protests. (Source: Weibo)

To support the government against one’s own best interests; to harm oneself in the name of patriotism. Short for “fated to eat ditch oil, worried about Zhongnanhai” (chī dìgōu yóu de mìng, cāo Zhōngnánhǎi de xīn 吃地沟油的命,操中南海的心).

Those fated to eat ditch oil—cooking oil “recycled” from leftover food—are average Chinese citizens, who are neither wealthy nor powerful enough to escape the consequences of lax regulation and poor governance. It doesn’t make sense for them to be concerned about Zhongnanhai, the Beijing headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council. But those who “love the place that hates them” take it upon themselves to show their devotion to the Party and the state, even when they hurt themselves in the process.

This saying arose from the anti-Japan protests of 2012, after the Japanese government announced its plan to purchase the Diaoyu Islands. Some protesters attacked “Japanese” businesses and flipped Japanese cars, even when their owners were Chinese. A second part to the saying goes, “Angered by the Japanese, smashing the cars of the Chinese” (shēng Rìběnrén de qì, zá Zhōngguórén de chē 生日本人的气,砸中国人的车). Thus a ditch oil diet is destined for those who harm their peers as they “protect” the country.

@_echoliao: Every day I check Weibo and find that love the place that hates you feeling. I’ve lost hope for this world. (April 18, 2016)

每天每天刷微博都刷出地命海心的感觉,我对这个世界是失望的。[Chinese]

See also patriotraitor and shit youth.

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