The Word of the Week comes from the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens and 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.
fàn zuì 饭醉: get rice-drunk
Getting rice-drunk at a same-city dinner gathering. (Source: FreeWeibo)
Discuss or engage with politically sensitive issues, usually as a group over a meal; homonymous with “commit a crime” (fàn zuì 犯罪).
The Chinese party-state is suspicious of a broad range of social activities, many of which are considered innocuous in other countries. Thus activists and government critics reclaim the sense of “committing a crime” when they “get rice-drunk” with like-minded people. The New Citizens Movement, spearheaded by Xu Zhiyong, encouraged Chinese citizens to organize “same-city dinner gatherings” (tóngchéng jùcān 同城聚餐) to discuss political and social issues; some activists call these gatherings “getting rice-drunk in the same city” (tóngchéng fàn zuì 同城饭醉).
Examples:
Mayuqingfeng (@马玉清风): Rice-drunkards, empower yourselves by “coalescing common understanding among same-city citizens”! (April 28, 2013)
饭醉分子，“同城公民，凝聚共识”雄起！[Chinese]
Beiwaiqiaomu (@北外乔木): Older Brother Yu Jianrong (@于建嵘) describes how the old proletariat novel “My Father Is a Crook” is being adapted into a film. In order to get it past the censors, show positive energy and the main theme, and to correctly guide the youth, I suggest we change the name to “My Father Is a Secretary” (according to an alternate title for the book). I’ll bring it up tonight when my friends come to the capital to get rice-drunk. (July 24, 2015)
@于建嵘 兄描写老一无（老一辈无产阶级革命家）的小说《我的父亲是流氓》正在改编拍摄电影。为了通过审查，展示正能量和主旋律，正确引导青少年，建议改名《我的父亲是书记》（根据异名小说《我的父亲是流氓》改编）。今晚友人来京，一起饭醉，我给他建议一下。[Chinese]
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