(“It’s kind of silly,” Ai told The Global and Mail. “But being afraid will not help me.”)

From China Real Time Report:

By Sunday night, about 30,000 people had sent in a combined total of 8.7 million yuan ($1.37 million), he told China Real Time on Monday, adding that he planned to pay back as much of the money as possible.

“I feel that this is the beginning of civil society in China,” he said. “Young people have their own knowledge and don’t believe state media or the government’s accusations against me. This shows people care. They don’t only care, but they take action ….”

If he succeeds in paying the deposit, he should be able to continue with an administrative appeal to the tax bureau, and if that fails, he will then try to take it to court, he said.

“We cannot win the case, but we can win popular support and we can win morally,” he said. The tax bureau did not respond to a request for comment.

Ai and his associates have continued to seek a way forward which avoids implicitly accepting the charges against him. Fake Cultural Development Ltd’s lawyer Pu Zhiqiang explained to The Associated Press that they had tried to offer proven ability to pay in lieu of actual payment, in accordance with Chinese law.

Ai was planning to be the guarantor and offer a bank deposit certificate as collateral, Pu said.

But the tax bureau told Fake Cultural’s tax attorney Monday that it wanted the money paid into one of its accounts instead, Pu said.

The lawyer said the tax bureau’s request was illegal because Chinese law stipulates that a person trying to challenge a tax bill can use a deposit certificate as collateral for a guarantee.

Pu said the company wants to fight the tax evasion allegation, and to do that it cannot take any actions that might be interpreted as an acceptance of the tax evasion accusation.

“I think whether or not putting money into a tax bureau bank account is a sign of acceptance, we are not prepared to do that,” Pu said, adding that he was also concerned getting the guarantee money returned would be difficult should Ai win the case.

The Telegraph’s Malcolm Moore reported on Google+ that, according to Ai Weiwei, the tax bureau had professed concern about the appropriate procedures for accepting him as guarantor, which they suggested was legal but unprecedented. But in an apparent attempt to force a quick resolution and implicit confession, the bureau warned on Tuesday that the case would be turned over to police if payment was not made by the Wednesday deadline.

“They also clearly told us that if we exceeded this time period, they would transfer the case to the public security. There would be a different kind of outcome from that,” Ai said in a phone interview ….

“It’s very simple,” Ai said. “Those in power have the right to do anything and their power faces no restrictions.”

See also Newsweek’s current cover story, an interview with Ai Weiwei, via CDT.

Update: Ai Weiwei has paid the bond, according to Reuters:

Ai, 54, paid the bond, all of it raised by his supporters, into a tax bureau bank account on Tuesday afternoon to cover what the government says he owes in back taxes and late payments. It does not include a fine of about 6.6 million yuan.

But Ai said he remains pessimistic about successfully contesting the charge of tax evasion, and the combined bill of 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) ….

Ai said he will not pay the remaining 6.6 million in fines now because that would be a tacit admission of guilt before the appeal ends, which could take months ….

Ai said his mother, Gao Ying, does not know that he has paid the bond and will be furious if she hears it, adding that “she will think, ‘what an insult’.”

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Post tags: Ai Weiwei, Ai Weiwei detention 2011, grass-mud horse, pu zhiqiang, tax evasion, tax law
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Take this quiz to see how well you understand the colorful and constantly evolving language of China’s netizens. The answers all relate to new Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon entries as explained at the bottom of this page. Good luck!

1. What is the nickname given to the current Foreign Ministry spokesperson of China?
A. Stiff fish
B. The iron lady
C. The terminator
D. Madame Mao

2. What is the new nickname for Chongqing
A. The even-bigger apple
B. The tomato
C. Re-celebrate
D. Sicily of the Orient

3. It’s not rape if . . .
A. he was wearing a condom
B. she was unconscious
C. you both were unconscious
D. your father is Li Gang

4. The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson told foreign reporters who had attempted to cover the “Jasmine Revolution” in China that:
A. They could interview whomever they wanted as long as they agreed to only publish Xinhua news reports.
B. They should carefully consider how much they cared about getting visas to China in the future.
C. The law would not act as a shield to protect them
D. The protestors had ulterior motives and did not understand the actual situation.

5. There can be no new China without:
A. Lots and lots of fireworks
B. Forced demolitions
C. Finally burying Mao’s pickled corpse
D. Pandas

6. The Wall Street Journal dubbed which of the following, “China’s Weiner.”
A. Jon Huntsman
B. A tiger-suited David Wu
C. A famous type of sausage sold by vendors outside the Forbidden Palace
D. The “room opening bureau chief”

7. If you were to say, “I want to be a man” (我要作人) who would you be expressing a desire to emulate?
A. Jacky Chan
B. Mao Zedong
C. Liu Xiang
D. Tan Zuoren

8. If you pay enough money, which award might you be given?
A. The Confucius Award
B. The Backbone Award
C. The One-China Award
D. The Gentleman Hottest Cadre Award

9. Which food possibly caused the death of Mao Zedong’s oldest child, Mao Anying?
A. Ditch oil
B. Milk powder
C. Egg fried rice
D. Poison rice

10. Whose fault is it?
A. Foreigners who have eaten their fill and have nothing to do
B. Temporary workers
C. Babe Guo
D. Soy sauce committee members
E. Ministry of Bullying

11. Who is the mortal enemy of the poison jackal, and why?
A. The river crabs
B. The grass-mud horses
C. The water-weasel ape
D. The chirping pig
E. The yax lizard

12. If you wanted to refer to China without alerting the internet nanny, you would refer to it as:
A. The town of Jingde
B. The Celestial Empire
C. “Demolish it”
D. The mystical country

13. Why might you encounter difficulty if you searched for “love the future” on the internet.
A. Because the Party loves the past more than the future
B. Because of the recent ban on TV dramas based on time travel
C. Because of Ai Weiwei
D. Because it may encourage unauthorized reincarnation

14. If you wish to understand the motherland then . . .
A. Confucius said that you must first understand yourself
B. You must resolutely follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and scientific development in pursuit of creating a harmonious society that adheres to the policy of the “seven happys and the four benevolents” being continually vigilant against capitalist roaders and their running dogs who would ignore our great leader Deng Xiaoping’s admonition that “some must get rich first” while implementing Mao Zedong thought in all levels of government
C. You have already gone down the path of breaking the nation’s laws
D. You must regularly read China Digital Times

15. Why is the following image controversial?

A. Because the cranes are arrayed in a military formation
B. Because of the subtle references to Nobel Laureate, Liu Xiaobo
C. Because the hot pink chairs and the baby blue-colored road totally clash
D. Because two of the cranes were injured in the making of this image

16. The Chinese Red Cross published its first microblog post on Sina Weibo, which said, “Red Cross China sincerely thanks the concern and oversight the public and the media have shown towards the Red Cross.” What is the one word used in response by netizens, repeated over 120,000 times?
A. Thank YOU!
B. You’re welcome
C. Finally
D. Screw you!
______________________________

Answers:
1. (a) Stiff fish.
2. (b) Tomato
3. (c) If you were wearing a condom. Though if your father was Li Gang that would probably also help.
4. (c) The law is not a shield. However, it’s more than likely that at one point the protestors were also accused of being a small bunch of people with ulterior motives who did not understand the actual situation.
5. (b) Forced demolitions
6. (d) The “room-opening bureau chief”
7. (d) Tan Zuoren. Though, if you said Brother Chun, then she would understand
8. (b) The Backbone Award
9. (c) Egg fried rice. However, if Mao Anying were alive today, ditch oil, milk powder and poison rice could all be likely candidates.
10. All of the above:
- Foreigners who have eaten their fill and have nothing to do
- Temporary workers
- Babe Guo
- Soy sauce committee members
- Ministry of Bullying
11. (d) The chirping pig. Poison jackal sounds like “dictatorship” in Chinese, and “chirping pig” sounds like democracy. The other options are also mythical creatures with thinly veiled political meanings. See:
- river crab
- grass-mud horse
- watered-weasel ape
- Yax Lizard
12. All of the above. See:
- The town of Jingde
- The Celestial Empire
- Demolish it
- mystical country.
13. (c) Because of Ai Weiwei.
14. (c) According to Ai Weiwei, If you wish to understand the motherland then you have already gone down the path of breaking the nation’s laws.
15. (b) As explained by China Digital Times, the cover is in reference to Liu Xiaobo’s receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. (The word “crane” in Chinese sounds like “congratulations” and also sounds like “peace.” Liu Xiaobo’s empty chair in Oslo had crane embroidery. There are empty chairs in the image.) Well, whether you believe it or not, that’s up to you. But I do anyway.
16. (d) Screw you!

Thanks for taking this informative quiz. But before you thank us in return, remember to first give thanks to the country.

Here is a list of recently updated entries in the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon:

* love the future
* Ministry of Bullying
* foreigners who have eaten their fill and have nothing better to do
* egg fried rice
* poison jackal
* it’s not rape if you wear a condom
* the law is not a shield
* Babe Guo
* “harmony” high-speed train
* the fabricator
* Muddled-Sh*t Times
* stiff fish
* soy sauce committee members
* The Backbone Award
* The town of Jingde
* temporary workers
* the “room-opening” bureau chief
* Without forced demolitions there can be no new China.
* jasmine
* Project Hope-less
* You understand
* shouting font
* screw you!
* Representative Rui
* The Screwing People Post
* vicious garlic, play with beans, and other similar phrases
* go with the flow
* shocking proposals
* surround and watch five cats
* slight erection
* My father is Li Gang
* I only serve the leaders
* I will be a person
* idle chit-chat
* tomato
* movie star
* Reposting is power
* Zhou self-castration
* make a tough decision
* in town
* this is a miracle
* Whether you believe it or not, it’s up to you, but I do anyway.

[CDT would like to thank our talented and witty translator, who wishes to remain anonymous, for his work putting this quiz together and translating the definitions.]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: GMH Lexicon, GMH quiz, grass-mud horse, Li Gang, online culture, river crabs
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I once tried to post online a literary essay of mine. Though it made no reference whatsoever to politics, an error message kept popping up. Innocently, I assumed I must have miswritten a character or two, and marveled that technology could detect typos so easily. But after careful proofreading and revision of the odd phrase here and there, that frosty error message continued to appear. Finally I realized that the text had violated several taboos. Though widely scattered in different paragraphs, the offending words left the automated censors with little doubt that I was indulging in political dissent.

We have no way of knowing how many words have been blacklisted, or which once-banned words can now be used. Sometimes you can manage to avoid all the taboos and post your opinion, but if it is couched in too explicit an idiom, it will get deleted almost right away.

So we adapt. With the Chinese government so bent on promoting a “harmonious society,” Internet users slyly tailor the phrase for their own purposes. If someone writes, “Be careful you don’t get harmonized,” what they mean is “Be careful you don’t get shut down” or “Be careful you don’t get arrested.” Harmonize has to be the word most thoroughly imbued with the May 35th spirit. Officials are aware, of course, of its barbed meaning on the Internet, but they can hardly ban it, because to do so would be to outlaw the “harmonious society” they are plugging. Harmony has been hijacked by the public.

Such is China’s Internet politics. Practically everyone has mastered the art of May 35th expression, and I myself am no slouch.

About 200 examples of such terminology are compiled and explained in CDT’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon.

Read more by and about Yu Hua via CDT.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: freedom of expression, GMH Lexicon, grass-mud horse, online protest, yu hua
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“THE Travelogue of Dr Brain Damages”, a show of Kenneth “Tin-Kin” Hung’s artwork, opened recently in Manhattan. Mr Hung’s garish and busy large paintings feature images of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese leaders juxtaposed with icons of Western culture, such as Marilyn Monroe and the Mario Brothers (of Nintendo fame). These pieces are arresting, and I wish Mr Hung success, but most Western viewers will fail to understand some of the games the artist is playing. His work depends heavily on Chinese puns about internet censorship.

The Chinese have played with homophones and near homophones (usually differing only by a tone) for a long time. (They’re a staple at the Chinese New Year.) More recently, this feature of Chinese has been particularly useful for evading the censors. When the authorities banned the phrase cào n? m?, or “fuck your mother”, from the Chinese internet, in the name of combating vulgarity, the Chinese were quick to coin an internet hero, the Grass Mud Horse, whose name is a near homophone: C?o Ní M?. Maorilyn Maoroe can be seen with him above. He is an opponent of the River Crab, a pun on “harmonious”, the official description of the society censorship is meant to promote.

The Grass Mud Horse is just one of ten mythical creatures all designed to talk about naughty stuff through puns. Mr Hung includes a painting of another of them, the great French-Croatian Squid, whose Chinese name requires a little English to get the pun. He is F? Kè Yóu, and wears a Mao jacket while blowing an inflationary bubble with chewing gum.

For more background and a glossary of about 200 similar terms created by Chinese netizens, please browse CDT’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: contemporary art, GMH Lexicon, grass-mud horse, online culture
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But as fast as the government blocks words, phrases, websites and servers, Chinese Internet users figure out how to share information and opinions in ways unthinkable before the Internet took off in the country.

To confound Beijing’s bowdlerizers, users have been known to post images of text rather than text itself, to jumble Chinese characters so they appear vertically, or to substitute sensitive terms with similar-sounding characters.

Soon after Mr. Ai’s name was blocked, for example, supporters began sending messages referring to him using the Chinese characters for “love the future,” pronounced ai weilai in Mandarin—until that, too, was blocked. Since then, people have been using the Roman letters AVV or the Chinese characters for “fatty” as code for the portly artist. Mr. Ai was detained April 3 by Beijing authorities as he tried to leave for Hong Kong, and is under investigation for “economic crimes.”

When Chinese censors blocked the name of Egypt’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, during the height of that country’s turmoil earlier this year, users substituted different characters for his name, too.

The censors’ dilemma was highlighted in February when online appeals for Jasmine Revolution protests in China suggested people refer to them using the code lianghui, or “the two meetings.” Lianghui is the term given to the simultaneous meetings of China’s legislature and its advisory body in March, so censors would have had to block all discussion of those meetings or wade through reams of official material online to weed out the protest appeals.

For a glossary of almost 200 such terms created by netizens, see CDT’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: grass-mud horse, Internet censorship, online public opinion
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Songshinan (Chat host): You were just named by ?Southern Wind? magazine as the 2009 Man of Public Interest. You deserve it.

In 2009, you and your team found at least 5000 names of children who died during the Sichaun earthquake. Your action warmed thousands of families, moved inumerous conscientious Chinese and made them feel angry and inspired, and also cornered the stupid Sichuan government.

In your own unique way, you have challenged the authoritarian windmill, used courage to press the cowardice of the authorities, used playfulness to highlight the authorities’ stupidity, used persistence to reveal the authorities’ crudeness, used your action to prove authorities’ falseness.

In my heart, you are more than the man of 2009; you are the largest Grass-Mud Horse in China this year.

Questions from forum members:

fatherofmissingfish: Hi Old Ai. 2009 was a hard year.  There was Huang Qi, then Tan Zuoren [inprisoned]. The government repression of rights defenders has been extremely harsh. What do you think about the future of the human rights movement?

Ai Weiwei: The government is protecting their power; citizens are defending their rights. No matter how hard defending rights is, this is the only way.

ririxishou?Hi teacher Ai. [In Chinese, "teacher" is a term of respect] I want to ask one question.  Which dimension of change do you think is most important for today’s China: Is it immediate demands for freedom? Or raising citizen consciousness first, then talking about freedom?

Ai Weiwei: For the question of freedom, there is no bargain, no strategy. You are either free or not free.

Kaidijianeng: Teacher Ai, please share your thoughts on “freedom” and “citizenship” in today’s society. What are your expectations for government and for citizens?

Ai Weiwei: Today the government’s wisdom is to play dead; citizen’s wisdom is to kick [the government's] ass, regardless if it’s playing dead or really dead.

vahine: Grandpa Ai [In Chinese, "grandpa" is an informal term of high respect], is there any space to compromise between us and authorities? Is there still a possibility of constructive interaction?

Ai Weiwei: I think we have a 100% bastard government, but only less then 5% of citizens demand democracy, equality and justice. So there is a lot of space.

jencoxu: Do you still have any hope for China? Do you think the next round of reforms will be top down or bottom up?

Ai Weiwei: I never had any hope for China. I am only resisting the hopelessness China is imposing on me.

Zhangyang: Dearest Grandpa Ai, my question is: What factors in Chinese culture are preventing the establishment of civil society? How can we address that?

Ai Weiwei: We always talk about Chinese culture this and Chinese culture that.  As a matter of fact, Chinese culture has no damn business here. Forget about Chinese culture; this is the shortcut to civil society.

wtdd: How big is the possibility of organizing an opposition party, for example through Twitter?

Ai Weiwei: The order should be, organizing people on Twitter first, then organizing a party.

zyl1989?Are you ready for prison? Or put it this way, the government has not yet put you into a prison cell. Is it because they do not think you are threatening enough?

Ai Weiwei: I don’t think so. It is because the prison cell is not big enough.

pigselbow: In an intervew about the 1980s generation,  Chen Danqing [an artist] commented that you are a lefty artist. What do you think about his comment?

Ai Weiwei: Left or right, that’s a scholar’s business. As a citizen, there is only one position: Grass-Mud Horse.

louy0427: Master Ai, I salute you and pay my respect here.  I want to ask what kind of strength sustains you on the current road? After all, your fame and influence can open any country’s door for you. Please tell us, when more and more elites emigrate to foreign countries because they are disappointed in the ruling powerful of this land, why have you chosen a road full of danger and unknowns? After all, you are facing a ruthless government which has a powerful propaganda apparatus and violent force! Thank you!

Ai Weiwei: If I give up the country I am in, then I have lost my reason to choose any other country. If I denied my current road, there is no other road in front of me.

li198558: Please Mr. Ai tell us why you investigate the names of students who died in the earthquake? Tell us the truth!

Ai Weiwei: I don’t believe the parents of these kids did not name them.

Ricebowl: Facing such a bastard society, is Teacher Ai ever depressed? How can you keep full of energy?

Ai Weiwei: Mixing bastardness with depression you will for sure be full of energy, this is a secret recipe from our ancestors.

runnakedisanotherkindofbeauty: Teacher Ai, if you had 10,000 soldiers, would you rebel?

Ai Weiwei: I would command all of them to run naked.

Openthemouth: Please let us know your thoughts. In the current situation, the government’s political propaganda and influence has reached every cell of society, and [the government] purposely weakens citizen education. How can we effectively raise the consciousness of citizens? Facing the powerful propaganda machine, how can we maximize the voices of dissent?

Ai Weiwei: In the lengthy life time, you just need to express yourself simultaneously with others one time, and the world will be changed.

maoxihua: For the group who demands democracy, equality and justice but makes up less then 5% of the population, what should these people do?

Ai Weiwei: Reach 6% ASAP.

(...)
Read the rest of Ai Weiwei (艾未未) on Citizenship and Freedom (265 words)

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1984bbs, Ai Weiwei, grass-mud horse, huang qi, Tan Zuoren
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Coded language is common in Chinese cyberspace, not just to reduce the risk of official retribution, but also to show off creativity in the fight for free expression, says Xiao Qiang, a China Internet expert at the University of California-Berkeley.

The imaginary “grass mud horse,” which sounds in Chinese like a strong expletive, was part of a viral video hit last year that has spawned more than 40 other mythical beasts whose names derive from news items and jokes popularized online. The grass mud horse is a symbol of frustration with the government’s censorship of the Internet.

“Most jokes have relatively safe targets,” not China’s top leaders, Xiao says. “But they express deep frustration and anger at social injustice. People need a way to express themselves. No comedians are political enough to express that, so the political critiques are spread online and are becoming a mainstream activity,” he says.

Zhang Xiaozhe, a journalist at a Chinese financial newspaper, says he’s a big fan: “I read political jokes online every day and sometimes laugh out loud and share them with friends or save them. The Internet is freer than television or newspapers. It’s quick, interactive, with more wisdom of the masses.”

For more on coded language online, see CDT’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: GMH Lexicon, grass-mud horse, humor, online activism, political satire
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This project is part of our effort to contribute to a deeper understanding of the Internet’s cultural, social, and political impact by moving beyond anecdotal evidence and systematically documenting and interpreting political discourse created by Chinese netizens. By creating this lexicon, we hope to map out the dynamics of “domination and resistance” in Chinese communication and information networks. The aim is to vividly illustrate the increasingly dynamic and sometimes surprising presence of an alternative political discourse: images, frames, metaphors and narratives that have been generated from Internet memes. This “resistance discourse” steadily undermines the values and ideology that reproduce compliance with the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian regime, and, as such, force an opening for free expression and civil society in China.

Ultimately, we hope this project will contribute to the ongoing debate: Is the Internet acting as a “safety valve” to prolong the life of the Chinese authoritarian regime; or are new forms of networked communication enhancing opportunities for social change and helping to move China toward the “threshold” for political transformation?

Origins of the Grass-Mud Horse

In early 2009, a creature named the “Grass-Mud Horse” appeared in an online video which became an immediate viral hit. The term grass-mud horse, which sounds nearly the same in Chinese as “f*** your mother” (cáo n? m?), was originally created as a way to get around, and also poke fun at, government censorship of vulgar content. After netizens created an online video depicting the grass-mud horse at war with and eventually defeating the river crab, a homonym for “harmony,” a propaganda catchword, the idea caught fire instantly and the symbolic meaning of this term has been completely transformed. Within weeks, the “grass-mud horse” became the de facto mascot of netizens in China fighting for free expression, inspiring poetry, photos and videos, artwork, lines of clothing, and more. As one Chinese blogger explained, “The grass-mud horse (???) represents information and opinions that cannot be accepted by the mainstream discourse, and “the Song of the Grass-Mud Horse” has become a metaphor of the power struggle over Internet expression”

The grass-mud horse was particularly suited to the contested space of the Chinese Internet. The government’s pervasive and intrusive censorship system has generated equally massive resentment among Chinese netizens. As a result, new forms of social resistance and demands for greater freedom of information and expression are often expressed in coded language and implicit metaphors, which allow them to avoid outright censorship. The Internet has became a quasi-public space where the CCP’s dominance is being constantly exposed, ridiculed, and criticized, often in the form of political satire,jokes, videos, songs, popular poetry, jingles, fiction, Sci-Fi, code words, mockery, and euphemisms.

In recent years, Chinese netizens have shown they possess boundless creativity and ingenuity in finding such ways to express themselves despite stifling government restrictions on online speech. To the uninitiated, even those who can read Chinese, their coded language can be confounding. But to Chinese Internet users, the terms often resonate deeply by expressing feelings about shared experiences that millions of people can immediately relate to. Despite their subversive beginnings, many of the terms have already become mainstream in Chinese society; a few were even added to the Oxford Chinese dictionary this year.

How have these Terms Been Submitted and Selected?

The terms in our lexicon are all created by netizens and circulated on websites inside China, not just by prominent bloggers or opinion leaders. For many of the terms, one cannot identify the original author or how exactly it originated. China Digital Times selected these terms from a variety of sources. We discovered many from a self-initiated online project of Chinese bloggers to select for the “words of the year in Chinese blogosphere.” Others come from countless online articles, blog posts, articles from mainstream publications such as Southern Metropolis Daily or even Xinhua, and from Chinese BBS. The direct participation of Chinese netizens also yielded many terms after China Digital Times’s Chinese version made the call for submissions public in June 2010.

The selected terms are not a complete recording of pop culture online terminology. Rather, China Digital Times editors have focused exclusively on politically-charged terms which represent the netizens’ “resistance discourse.” These are not “censored” keywords, which have been documented elsewhere by CDT and other projects, nor are they part of the “legitimizing discourse,” used by people who actively defend and support government policy, including nationalists. At times, some of these words may be put on individual websites’ “sensitive lists” or outright blocked, but in general they are popular daily lingo for Chinese netizens.

The current list, chosen by China Digital Times editors, is by no means exhaustive and new words are being created daily. But we hope this list will provide a glimpse into online political discourse and make it more accessible to non-Chinese readers.

Help Us Build the Lexicon

This is an ongoing open source collaborative translation program with submissions from volunteers and professional translators. What is currently published is just a seed that we hope to expand upon in coming months and years. If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please contact the GMH Lexicon editors at cdt [at] chinadigitaltimes [dot] net.

China Digital Times would like to express deep gratitude for the extraordinary work of our primary translator, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Read the current entries in the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon here.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: GMH Lexicon, grass-mud horse, Internet censorship
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Twitter, the Symbolic Association of Grass Mud Horses (1)

May 5, 2010, 11:41 AM

I have to thank my country. (2) Yesterday grass mud horses in both the north and the south held banquets. In the north, the Twitter tour arrived in Beijing and people gathered to eat dinner together and discuss the case of the three Fujian netizens who were accused on false charges. (3) However, the pandas (4) accused those present of “illegal gathering, eating and drinking.” They ordered the restaurant to cut off power and electricity and also expelled [the grass mud horses]—so in the end, the event was not a total success. In the south, Ai Weiwei rushed down to Hangzhou and invited people to dinner. Even though one would have expected a somber atmosphere after more than thirty twitterers had been “invited to teas” (5), there were still nearly two-hundred twitterers in attendance. And even though the pandas monitored the entire event, the atmosphere was still extremely lively and the proceedings were brought to a successful close.

These two banquets gave birth to a new word, “illegal eating and drinking.”?6?Twitterers have eagerly shown a desire to continue the glorious tradition of “illegal eating and drinking” and to host more of these meal-drunk [pun for “criminal”] communal dinners.

Look, Twitter Always Touches People Like This

One day in April at around 5:00 in the afternoon, someone posted a tweet on Twitter, “Oh Twitter god, tell me are there any twitterers in Dali?” By 7:00 I was already sitting down to do some “illegal eating and drinking” with Anzhu (7) at a Guizhou mutton restaurant. This twitterer brought along his elderly father and a Taiwanese friend. During dinner, the Taiwanese friend could not really understand why Anzhu and I hit it off so well. She said that in Taiwan, Twitter is just an internet service. I told her that Twitter means something completely different in the mainland than what it means in Taiwan. That is why when Twitterers in the mainland run into each other they always have a special kindred spirit type of feeling.

Many years ago when I commented on controversy surrounding Peking University’s ranking of “The Ten Most Uncivilized Behaviors” (8) I wrote the following: “Human bodies will forever keep the dictators awake at night with a mixture of love and hatred. Fleshy human bodies are the vessels of ingratiation but are also the tools of sedition. Without these bodies the rulers would have nothing to rule over. However, what fills them with silent dread are associations amongst these human bodies. From the perspective of an autocracy, “excessive closeness” between two human bodies is not permitted because it may set off a sort of avalanche effect—it may cause “excessive closeness” between even more and more human bodies which will set off “excessive closeness” between innumerable human bodies. Dictators despise this sort of outcome. Associations between human bodies are the source of their paranoia and will forever keep them worrying awake at night.

This is the autocracy’s Achilles’ heel; they are delighted when with the wave of a hand they can control gatherings of people such as reviews of the troops or patriotic assemblies. What they fear the most are gatherings of people that they cannot control with the wave of a hand, such as any manner of protests, such as twitterers’ scrutiny of the case of the three Fujian netizens who were wrongly accused, or such as the two grass mud horse banquets that were held last evening.

I call Twitter the “symbolic association of grass mud horses.” It is just like Michael Anti (9) said, Twitter is the first uncensored, public, free speech zone in China’s autocratic history. Besides Twitter, no other domestic microblog can say the same. According to somewhat incomplete statistics, there are approximately 150 thousand Chinese Twitter accounts, of which about 80 thousand are active. This small bunch of people from varying backgrounds each find their own way over the Great Firewall of China (GFW) to gather together on this small Twitter platform. There, they speak unrestrainedly, no topic is off limits. What a harmonious scene of free speech! This is what I told Anzhu’s Taiwanese friend: because people in Taiwan have free speech, they look at Twitter as just a kind of internet service; however, we do not have free speech, that is why this small group of “free speech pioneers” naturally have this special kindred spirit feeling amongst themselves.

These meetings together in real life of twitterers who harbor basically the same demands has emerged as a kind of symbolic “association.” Even though this is just a symbolic “association” it is enough to distress the dictators’ delicate hearts. It has caused them to tighten things up as they face imaginary foes whom they treat as formidable enemies. Perhaps that’s because they know that revolution is all about inviting friends to dinner parties. (10)

Translator’s note:
1 The grass mud horse, which sounds nearly the same in Chinese as “f*** your mother,” was originally created as a response to government censorship of obscene content. It has since developed an additional meaning than its homonym; one who is a “grass mud horse” is someone who is web-savvy and critical of government attempts at censorship.
2 The phrase, “I have to thank my country” is a sarcastic phrase used after mentioning an action taken by the state with only minor benefits and substantial losses or costs. For example, “The world should really thank the country for spending USD 58 billion on such a great World Expo,” or “Kim Jung-Il should really thank the country for showing him such a good time while he’s in China.” It can also be used when the government takes small measures to address a problem the government is accused of being responsible for. For example, “I have to thank my country for ending the cultural revolution,” or, “I have to thank the country for punishing the two people who were responsible in the tainted milk scandal.”
3 The three Fujian netizens, “Fan Yanqiong (???), Wu Huaying (???), and You Jingyou (???) were convicted of ‘slander’ for posting articles and video online urging government officials to investigate the alleged rape and murder of a young woman.” From http://chrdnet.org/2010/04/16/three-fujian-digital-activists-convicted-as-thousands-gather-in-landmark-protest/
4 The panda is one of China’s national treasures (guobao). Incidentally, “national treasure” sounds the same in Chinese as the Domestic Security Department, or DSD. The DSD??????????is a branch of the police force within the Ministry of Public Security, specializing in collecting intelligence, infiltrating and dealing with political dissidents, human rights activists, petitioners, religious groups as well as “subversive” activities in the cultural, educational and economics domains.
5 Drinking Tea” (??) is now a common vocabulary in online political discourse. It refers to the widespread practices by DSD police or other authorities to harass, intimidate and conduct information-gathering on citizens for their political activities. For an account of one of these “teas” see CDT’s post here.
6 The phrase ”Illegally doing something” originated from an event in which a group of netizens went to Google’s China office to dedicate flowers when they heard that Google wass pulling out China, and the building security guards told them that their action was the “illegal laying of flowers.” After that, “illegally laying flowers” became a hot phrase online, especially among Chinese twitterers.
7 Anzhu (literally “peaceful pig) is a netizen’s screen name.
8 In 2005 Peking University ranked the Ten Most Uncivilized Behaviors. There was some discussion about the fact that “excessive closeness amongst lovers” made the list. The other nine uncivilized behaviors were; being late to or skipping class, carelessly spitting phlegm, stepping on the lawns, disturbing others’ rest in the dormitories, littering, cheating on exams, reserving seats in the library for excessive amounts of time, destroying public property, and not turning off cell phones in the classroom or library.
9 Michael Anti is a Chinese journalist and blogger. His Chinese blog can be found here.
10 This is a parody of a famous quote by Mao Zedong in which he said, “Revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ai Weiwei, grass-mud horse, Twitter, Xu Hui
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© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: GFW, grass-mud horse, videos
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