Hu Jintao’s writing in Qinghai, 2010. (Lan Hongguang/Xinhua)
黑板狐 (Hēibǎn Hú): Blackboard Fox
Hu Jintao, president of the People’s Republic of China 2002-2012. “Fox”(狐 hú) sounds the same as the surname Hu (胡 Hú). Hu Jintao earned this nickname in 2010 while visiting earthquake victims in Yushu County, Qinghai. Hu entered a classroom and wrote on the blackboard, “There will be new schools! There will be new homes!” (新校园，会有的！新家园，会有的！) He then led the students in a recitation of these lines. The blackboard is being preserved in the Qinghai provincial museum.
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.
