查看“Jingde Town”的源代码

<h3>''Jǐngdé Zhèn'' 景德镇</h3>

[[File:景德镇2.jpg‎|300px|thumb|right|''Making porcelain in Jingde. (Source: [http://scenery.cultural-china.com/en/130Scenery3135.html Cultural China])'']]Town in Jiangxi Province known as the porcelain capital of China; code name for China.  

When netizens write about China, the word "China" (''Zhōngguó'' 中国) is often picked up by sophisticated Internet filters that look for sensitive words, also known as [[sensitive porcelain]], and screen for political content. Since in English porcelain is also called "china," Jingde's name is used to get around internet censorship and keep talking about the country.  

This innocuous sounding exchange has two entirely different meanings:   
<blockquote>'''What kind of a place is Jingde?'''</blockquote>
<blockquote>'''景德镇是什么地方？'''</blockquote>  
<blockquote>It's a small town that produces cups (''bēijù'' 杯具) and dinnerware ('cānjù'' 餐具) daily.</blockquote>
<blockquote>天天生产杯具和餐具的小镇。</blockquote>

This can be read as:

<blockquote>'''What kind of a place is China?'''</blockquote>

<blockquote>It's a small town that produces tragedy (''bēijù'' 悲剧) and misfortune (''cǎnjù'' 惨剧) daily.</blockquote>


Amid a massive [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2013/09/lawyers-criticize-new-straitjacket-online-rumors/ crackdown on Internet rumors in 2013], verbal play on the word "rumor̦̦" established residency in Jingde. The word for "rumor" (''yáo'' 谣) sounds identical to "kiln" (''yáo'' 窑), an essential instrument in the porcelain-making process. As central authorities used their crackdown on rumor-mongering to gain control of online public opinion by targeting many [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/big-v/ influential online personalities], netizens drew attention to many cases where public officials were responsible for spreading untruths. This underlined [http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/10/how-to-say-truthiness-in-chinese/ two types of rumors]: "people's rumors" (''mínyáo'' 民谣) and "official rumors" (''guānyáo'' 官谣):

<blockquote>The kilns of '''Jingde Town''' produce [[sensitive porcelain]]. Some comes from people's kilns, and some comes from official kilns.</blockquote>
<blockquote> '''景德镇'''民窑出敏感瓷，有的出自民窑 ，有的出自官窑。</blockquote>

"Official kilns" are a reference to the state-owned kilns of China's dynastic period, many of which [http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g303749-d1855219-Reviews-Jingdezhen_Official_Kiln_Museum-Jingdezhen_Jiangxi.html can be seen today at heritage sights in Jingde]. By replacing the character for "kiln" with the homophonic character for "rumor," the sentence could be interpreted to mean "the rumor mills of Jingde Town make [[sensitive porcelain]]. Some come from rumors spread by the people, and some come from rumors spread by officials."

[[分类:Lexicon]]