Grass-Mud Horse Discourse

In Shanghai, The Jokes Are No Longer Funny

An essay tracing the evolution of Shanghai lockdown memes from giddy jests about Shanghai culture to gallows humor and gloomy meditations on the state of society was censored last week after going viral on Weibo. The essay,...

WeChat “Bug” Turns Out To Be Obscure Insult for Xi Jinping

A group of students under the impression they had discovered a WeChat “bug” that hides the phrase “200 jin of dumplings” (roughly 220 pounds) had in fact stumbled upon an obscure insult for Xi Jinping that triggers automatic...

Ask “Why?” On Weibo And You’ll Only Be Suspended Longer

Digital censorship in China, while algorithmic, vast, and multifarious, has a human element—which means the vagaries of individual censors’ moods have the potential to impact online punishments. Screenshots of one Weibo users’...

From CDT Chinese: Top Ten Memes of 2021

Editor’s Note: As we enter 2022, CDT has compiled a special series of features for our readers, offering a look back at the people, events, controversies, memes and sensitive words that defined the past year. Some of this...

Viral Content: Laozi Says it Everywhere

Viral Content is a new CDT series introducing terms coined and used by Chinese netizens during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 outbreak. These terms include both subversive critiques and nationalistic support of government policies....

Viral Content: Personal Emperor

Viral Content is a new CDT series introducing terms coined and used by Chinese netizens during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 outbreak. These terms include both subversive critiques and nationalistic support of government policies....

Viral Content: Gratitude

Viral Content is a new CDT series introducing terms coined and used by Chinese netizens during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 outbreak. These terms include both subversive critiques of government policies and nationalistic support of...

Viral Content: Pray for Jade

Viral Content is a new CDT series introducing terms coined and used by Chinese netizens during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 outbreak. These terms include both subversive critiques of government policies and nationalistic support of...

Viral Content: COVID Through the Eyes of Chinese Netizens

Viral Content is a new CDT series introducing terms coined and used by Chinese netizens during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 outbreak. These terms include both subversive critiques of government policies and nationalistic support of...

Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon: Digital Disobedience

The following term 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...

Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon: “Everything is Fake!”

The following term 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...

Translation: Notes From the Wuhan Lockdown

Wuhan, Hubei–the epicenter of the outbreak of novel coronavirus that has now been declared a global health emergency by the WHO–has been on lockdown for nearly a week. The  “dramatic action” of quarantining a city of...

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