River crab
From China Digital Space
河蟹 (héxiè): river crab
The Chinese government often uses its goal of constructing a “harmonious society” as a justification for censorship. Chinese netizens began to use “harmony” (和谐 héxié) as a euphemism for censorship. They then imagined a troublesome creature with a name echoing “harmony,” the “river crab” (河蟹 héxiè).
Both “harmony” and “river crab” can be used as verbs. Instead of saying something has been censored, one might say it has been “harmonized” (被和谐 bèi héxié) or “river-crabbed” (被河蟹了 bèi héxiè).
A “crab” is also a bully.
In Chinese Internet mythology, the river crab threatens the habitat of the grass-mud horse, also a symbol of online deviance. A popular cartoon illustrates this struggle.
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