In the “mystical country,” government officials can absorb all the information at meetings while asleep.

神奇的国度 (shénqí de guódù): mystical country

A netizen reference to China. 神奇 shénqí can mean “mystical,” “marvelous,”“mysterious,” “magical,” or “miraculous.” It describes something that seems to defy the laws of nature.

Remarking on egregiously illogical or ironic situations, netizens often explain that China must be a mystical country. Some examples from a BBS forum [zh]:

We truly live in a mystical country; we can own our houses but the land upon which they sit forever belongs to the state!

这是一个神奇的国度！ 该国房子可以是自己的，但土地永远是国家的！)

Such a mystical country… This country is poor but also generous, always willing to pour vast sums into Africa.

有这样一个神奇的国度。。。该国很穷，却很慷慨，经常有大手笔支援非洲。

Such a mystical country… Pornographic publications are illegal, but sex shops are everywhere.

有这样一个神奇的国度。。。黄色刊物属于非法，但性用品商店到处都是。

Netizens have also given China other sarcastic nicknames, including the Celestial Empire.

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Wen Jiabao wins for “best actor.”

影帝 (yǐngdì): movie star

Former prime minister Wen Jiabao is often called a “movie star” in a nod to his many “performances” in photo opportunities with ordinary people, especially at disaster zones. His charisma and expressions of concern for the downtrodden made Wen extremely popular. However, critics perceived his words and actions as disingenuous and serving to conceal the repressive nature of the Party.

In 2010, democracy activist Yu Jie published the book China’s Best Actor: Wen Jiabao (中国影帝温家宝), more literally translated China’s Movie Star: Wen Jiabao. Yu was detained by the police before publication in Hong Kong. He fled to the U.S. in January 2012 under threat of being “buried alive” without a trace.

After the April 2013 Sichuan earthquake, Wen’s successor, Li Keqiang, was photographed eating instant noodles in a tent and viewing the damage with local officials. Now he is China’s “movie star.”

See also I’m late.

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Making porcelain in Jingde. (Cultural China)

景德镇 (Jǐngdé Zhèn): Jingde Town

The town of Jingde in Jianggxi Province is known as the “porcelain capital of China.” Online, the name of the town has also become a code word to refer to all of China.

When netizens write about China, the word “China” is often picked up by sophisticated internet filters that look for sensitive words and screen for political content. Because porcelain is often referred to as “china,” the name of this township is used to get around Internet censorship.

For example, this innocuous sounding exchange has two entirely different meanings.

What kind of a place is Jingde?
景德镇是什么地方？
It’s a small town that produces cupware and diningware daily.
天天生产杯具和餐具的小镇。

To those in the know, this can be read as:

What kind of a place is China?
It’s a small town that produces tragedy and misfortune daily.

Cupware (杯具 bēijù) sounds the same as tragedy (悲剧 bēijù); diningware (餐具 cānjù) sounds nearly the same as misfortune (惨剧 cǎnjù).

Another codeword for “China” is Celestial Empire.

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Jack Chan.

中国人需要管的。 (Zhōngguórén xūyào guǎn de.): “Chinese people need to be controlled.”

Infamous statement by movie star Jackie Chan during a discussion of censorship, movies, and society at the 2009 Boao Forum for Asia:

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now. If you’re too free, you’re like the way Hong Kong is now. It’s very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic… I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.

The comment set off a firestorm of discussion and criticism, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Even mainland newspapers felt obliged to criticize Chan. The state-run People’s Daily accused Jackie Chan of wishing to deprive the Chinese of their extensive liberties [zh] and to subject them to an oppressive regime.

Chan’s statement may be translated more mildly as“Chinese people need to be managed.” But Chan has a history of making controversial political statements. He has previously claimed that Chinese culture may not be compatible with democracy, and called for restrictions on protests in Hong Kong. In early 2013, he claimed that America was the “most corrupt country in the world.”

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Left: “My dad is a director!” Right: “My dad is a section chief!”

拼爹 (pīn diē): compare fathers

This term is a product of the growing disparity between the rich and poor in a society with limited social mobility. Instead of competing based on ability or academic accomplishments, many feel that “comparing fathers” gives a more accurate prediction of future success.

Many Chinese young people with powerful fathers are known as rich second generation. In the past few years, there have been many incidents of rich second generation youths relying on their fathers’ wealth or power to avoid taking responsibility for their wrongdoing.

Most famously, in 2010, Li Qiming drove drunk and ran over a college student, killing her. When he exited the car, he famously declared, “My father is Li Gang,” and asked who dared sue him. His declaration later became one of the year’s most viral Internet memes. More recently, Li Tianyi, the son of a general in the People’s Liberation Army, was arrested for the gang rape of his teacher; it was widely believed that the younger Li felt he could get away with such acts because of his father’s status and wealth.

Many Chinese who “compare fathers” do not do so in such a criminal way; they merely enjoy some preferential treatment and have more opportunities than those without connections. However, when young people like Li Qiming and Li Tianyi “compare fathers,” they are often described as being 坑爹 kēng diē, or “father-hurting,” a term originally used to refer more broadly to unsatisfactory circumstances.

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跨省追捕 (kuā shěng zhuībǔ): pursue across provincial lines

“You’re not allowed to post things on the Internet that tarnish my reputation!” (isso.com.cn)

The practice by local government agents of traveling to other provinces to arrest netizens for posting comments on the Internet.

In April 2009, netizen Wang Shuai was arrested in Shanghai for posting pictures that mocked the illegal seizure of land by officials in Lingbao, Henan Province. Wang’s post implied that local official took measures to ruin the land so that they could buy it at a lower price, since the required compensation is higher for cultivated land than for abandoned land.

Wang’s arrest led to a public outcry. The Henan provincial police chief eventually apologized to Wang, who was later compensated for his ordeal.

After this case and other incidents of cross-provincial arrests, the phrase “pursue across provincial lines” became a popular Internet meme. Many sensitive posts end half-jokingly, “Please don’t pursue me across provincial lines,” or, “I don’t really understand what I just wrote; I just copied it from someone else, so don’t pursue me across provincial lines.”

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Fake Time cover featuring a disgraced Guo.

郭美美baby (Guō Měiměi): Guo Meimei

Guo Meimei, or @郭美美baby on Weibo, is a wealthy Chinese woman who almost single-handedly destroyed the credibility of the Red Cross Society of China. Guo flaunts her extravagant lifestyle online, posting photos of herself reclining on her Maserati or clutching her lime green Hermes bag. In June 2011, then 20-year-old Guo claimed that she was the “General Manager of Red Cross Commerce.” Guo’s self-identified connection to the Red Cross outraged netizens, who already suspected that Red Cross donations were being misused.

Guo’s affiliation with the Red Cross was eventually discredited, but her legacy continues to plague the charity. After a 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook Sichuan Province in April 2013, Guo resurfaced in online discussions, while a sex tape allegedly featuring the young woman trended on Sina Weibo. Suffering from a lack of donations, it was reported at the end of the month that the Red Cross would reopen the investigation into Guo—a promise the organization quickly denied.

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“Grandpa Wen” famously spoke to Sichuan earthquake victims on the ground. Some saw his hands-on approach as a brilliant publicity stunt. (artist unknown)

我来晚了。 (Wǒ lái wǎn le.): I’m late.

A catchphrase of former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. He first apologized for the time of his arrival to Tongchuan, Shaanxi Province after a gas explosion in a coal mine there on November 28, 2004 killed 166 people. From then on, netizens noted Wen’s every apology for being late at the scenes of natural and man-made disasters: a southern snow storm in January 2008, the devastating Sichuan earthquake of May 8, 2008, and the site of the Wenzhou train crash stand out in the public memory. Instead of praise for “Grandpa Wen,” netizens often think Wen is feeding the people and the media a clever line. They believe he lacks real concern for the plight of the Chinese people.

See also movie star.

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帝都 (dì dū): imperial capital

Nickname for Beijing. Formerly, “imperial capital” was used in reference to the capitals of imperialist countries (zh), but as countries have ceased to proclaim themselves empires, the phrase “imperial capital” has become synonymous with a nation’s capital. Beijing’s nickname of “imperial capital” is often contrasted with an Internet nickname for Shanghai, 魔都 (mó dū), which means “devil/monster capital.”

The use of “imperial capital” to mean Beijing has increased as Internet users have come to rely more and more on code words, homonyms, and creatively indirect references to avoid and circumvent censorship. Words like grass-mud horse, river crab, and national treasure all originated in this way.

While such semantic wordplay originally served a purely pragmatic purpose, it has become an ingrained part of some forms of the written Chinese language, with even very common words sometimes replaced by close homonyms; for example, “what” 什么 (shénme) is sometimes replaced by “mystical horse” 神马 (shén mǎ). Instances of such wordplay seem innocuous, but are part of a larger practice that is semantically subversive.

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“Write ‘Thanks to the leaders’ 10,000 times… no, ’Thanks to the country!!’”

感谢国家 (gǎnxiè guójiā): thanks to the country

After Chinese speed skater Zhou Yang won the 1,500 meter event in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, she thanked her parents in a press conference. Yu Zaiqing, Deputy Director of the National Sports Bureau, criticized her for not first thanking her country. Heeding his advice, Zhou held a second news conference during which she first thanked her country, then her parents and coaches.

In Chinese Internet usage, “thanks to the country” is an ironic or sarcastic phrase implying that the thanks was either forced or not merited. It can be used after mentioning an action taken by the state with only minor benefits and substantial costs: “The world should really thank the country for spending US$60 billion on such a great World Expo,” or “Kim Jong-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 that it caused in the first place: “I have to thank my country for ending the Cultural Revolution.”

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Post tags: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, word of the week, Yu Zaiqing, Zhou Yang
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“Emotionally Stable” (Rebel Pepper)

情绪稳定 (qíngxù wěndìng): emotionally stable

Stock phrase used by state media to describe people affected by a disaster. This phrase has drawn scorn from netizens for its premature application to catastrophic events, and for suggesting that were it not for the government’s intervention, the victims would be hysterical. Official accounts of mining accidents, often written just days after the accident, will read something like, “The relevant leaders rushed to the scene to comfort the families. The families are now all emotionally stable (死者家属情绪稳定).” An account of an explosion might read, “The bodies have been taken care of and the families are all emotionally stable.” In the comment pages of these stories, netizens will often remark that “the deceased is now very emotionally stable” (死者情绪稳定).

The phrase is also applied to social unrest. For example, Foxconn factory workers in Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province protested low wages and unfair treatment in January 2013. A number of protesters were arrested. The Jiangxi Daily soon reported that the dispute had been settled, “the workers are emotionally stable, and the factory grounds have returned to order” (员工情绪稳定，厂区恢复秩序).

“Emotional stability” resonates with the government’s emphasis on [maintain stability|social stability]. When an official report suggests that people affected by the calamity are “emotionally stable,” the government saying that social stability has prevailed, when in fact it may be quite tenuous. Resentful netizens speak of being emotionally stabilized (被情绪稳定 bèi qíngxù wěndìng).

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伤害中国人民的感情 (shānghài Zhōngguórén de gǎnqíng): hurt the Chinese people’s feelings

Map of countries which have “hurt the Chinese people’s feelings.” (Arctosia)

Chinese diplomats often invoke the people’s long-suffering feelings when another country or organization takes an action which offends Chinese Communist Party officials. Meeting with the Dalai Lama is a classic way to hurt the feelings of the entire Chinese populace. For example, after President Obama met with the Dalai Lama in July 2011, the state-run newspaper People’s Daily complained, “To host the Dalai Lama at the same time China was celebrating the 60th anniversary of Tibet’s liberation hurt the feelings of all Chinese people, including the feelings of Tibetans” (中國正在隆重慶祝西藏和平解放60周年，達賴堂而皇之成為白宮座上賓，不可能不傷害包括西藏人民在內的全體中國人的感情).

In 2008, blogger FangK searched through the electronic archives of the People’s Daily between 1946 and 2006 and discovered that 19 countries and organizations had been accused of hurting the feelings of the Chinese people in its pages. Danwei later translated FangK’s study. Victor Mair considered the inverse at Language Log in 2011, comparing the frequency of hurt Chinese feelings to those of Russians, Japanese, Jews, and other national and ethnic groups.

Columnist Kai Pan considered these hurt feelings on the discontinued blog CNReview:

The very notion of an entire country’s people having their “feelings” collectively “hurt” is inherently idiotic. On one hand, there’s the idiocy of the government proactively claiming such on behalf of all the Chinese without actually consulting them. On the other hand, there’s the simple idiocy of “you hurt my feelings” being mistaken for a mature, rational response to any disagreement or criticism.

No matter how pained the Chinese people’s feelings, international relations still manage to stay intact. When democracy activist Hu Jia was awarded the EU Sakharov Prize in 2008, the Chinese ambassador to Brussels wrote, “If the European Parliament should award this prize to Hu Jia, that would inevitably hurt the Chinese people’s feelings once again and bring serious damage to China-EU relations.” To date, China-EU relations are still highly functional.

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Mourning an old friend. Photoshopped image from the time of Mao’s death.

The Word of the Week comes from China Digital Space’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and frequently 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.

中国人民的老朋友 (Zhōngguó rénmín de lǎo péngyou): old friends of the Chinese people

In official parlance, these are world leaders who have visited China and shown their support for the country. The “friends” most discussed by netizens include Muammar Qaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Bashar al-Assad. In the early days of the People’s Republic of China, the honorary description was first bestowed to Canadian James G. Endicott in 1956, for his support of the revolution. Early on, “old friends of the Chinese people” were ideological supporters, but as China’s foreign policy has become more pragmatic and economics-driven, the phrase has been used to describe trade partners and leaders of international organizations.

The description of late Cambodian ex-king Norodom Sihanouk as an old friend of the Chinese people in state-run media provoked netizen ire, as many felt he did not deserve the outpouring of official condolences. The main point of their concern was that the government lowered flags to half-mast for the foreign political figure, while failing to make any similar demonstrations of sympathy for the many Chinese who had died in natural disasters and accidents during that time period.

Despite the phrase “old friend of the Chinese people” being most commonly used to describe dictators, Xi Jinping previously used the phrase to describe the departing U.S. ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman.

China also occasionally describes its relations with other countries in terms of friendships, referring to Pakistan as an “all-weather friend”.

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“Immovable, non-complacent, free from turmoil.”

The Word of the Week comes from China Digital Space’s Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and frequently 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.

不折腾 (bù zhēteng): free from turmoil

This phrase originates from a northeastern dialect of Mandarin, and was made popular by Hu Jintao in a January 2009 speech commemorating the Communist Party.:

As long as we remain immovable, as long as we do not become complacent, as long as we are free from turmoil and steadfastly push forward reforms, and steadfastly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics—then we will certainly realize this great blueprint and win this grand struggle.

只要我们不动摇、不懈怠、不折腾，坚定不移地推进改革开放，坚定不移地走中国特色社会主义道路，就一定能够胜利实现这一宏伟蓝图和奋斗目标.

This is in line with Hu Jintao’s consistent efforts to promote harmony and social stability.

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Mo Yan (left), whose pen name means “Don’t Speak,” told reporters that he had “nothing to say” at the Congress. Another celebrity delegate, actress Song Dandan (center), explained that she “still didn’t understand” her role and was “here to learn.” When the media approached director Chen Kaige (right), he simply said, “I haven’t prepared any motions. I’m going to lunch first.”

二会 (Èr Huì): Stupid Sessions

A tongue-in-cheek reference to the 2013 National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. These annual meetings are known collectively as the “Two Sessions.” The Chinese numeral two is 二 èr, but in most contexts the word 两 liǎng is used instead. Thus the Two Sessions are 两会 Liǎng Huì, not 二会 Èr Huì. In slang, 二 is short for “stupid,” from 二百五 èr bǎi wǔ (literally “two-hundred fifty”).

Netizens view the “Stupid Sessions” as a pointless, bizarre pageant, where movie stars and other celebrities are brought to Beijing to “represent” the Chinese people and “vote” on legislation they barely understand.

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