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[[File:Caonima.jpg|150px|right|thumb|''I'm a [[grass-mud horse]].'']]The Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon is a glossary of memes, nicknames, and neologisms created by Chinese netizens and encountered in online political discussions. The project is named in honor of the [[grass-mud horse]] (''cǎonímǎ'' 草泥马), whose name sounds nearly the same in Mandarin as a vile curse and has become the ''de facto'' mascot of Chinese Internet users. [[netizen|Netizens]] use coded language to avoid outright censorship, and to allude to their desire for freedom of information and expression. They possess boundless creativity and ingenuity in the face of stifling government restrictions on online speech. By systematically documenting and interpreting the dynamics of [http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~sophia.lay/infoviz_chinese_keywords/ censorship], domination, and resistance in Chinese communication and information networks, the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the Internet's cultural, social, and political impact. Jump to [[#About the Lexicon]] to learn more.

You can [[#Browse by Category]] below, or look up specific terms in the [[Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon: Pinyin Index|Pinyin Index]]. Check out our [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/07/decoding-the-chinese-internet-ebook-2015-edition/ ebook] of essential grass-mud horse language, available in PDF for pay-what-you-want (all proceeds support CDT).

=COVID-19=
''We're adding entries on propaganda and resistance discourse during the novel coronavirus ([[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]]) pandemic. Some of our favorites are listed here.''
*[[Personal Emperor]]
*[[bureaucravirus]]
*[[digital disobedience]]
*[[I can't, I don't understand]]
*[[everything is fake]]
*'''[[:Category:COVID-19|More...]]'''

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=Word of the Week=
Featured entry, updated every Thursday to [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/word-of-the-week/ CDT]. Latest entries:
 
*{DATE}: [{PERMALINK} {TITLE}] 
 
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=Browse by Category=
Browse a selection of lexicon entries by category.

==Grass-Mud Horse Ecosystem==
''A menagerie of netizens' imagination, created to skirt censorship and decry injustice.''
*[[grass-mud horse]]
*[[river crab]]
*[[yax lizard]]
*'''[[:Category:Grass-Mud Horse Ecosystem|More...]]'''

==Party and State==
''Leaders, government agencies, and corrupt cadres.''
*[[Crotch Central Committee]]
*[[professional grandchild]]
*[[Watch Brother]]
*'''[[:Category:Party and State|More...]]'''

==Censorship and Propaganda==
''State media, Internet censorship, and choice words from officials.''
*[[China Central Adult Video|China Central Adult Video (CCAV)]]
*[[Fifty Cent Party]]
*[[five times better]]
*'''[[:Category:Censorship and Propaganda|More...]]'''

==Health and Environment==
''Pollution, food safety scandals, and other health hazards.'' 
*[[APEC blue]]
*[[ditch oil]]
*[[smog the people]]
*'''[[:Category:Health and Environment|More...]]'''

==Society and Culture==
''Pop culture and everyday life.''
*[[my dad is Li Gang]]
*[[rich second generation]]
*[[you understand]]
*'''[[:Category:Society and Culture|More...]]'''

==Resistance Discourse==
''Sarcasm, circumvention, and real-world action.''
*[[chrysanthemum script]]
*[[scale the wall]]
*[[take a walk]]
*'''[[:Category:Resistance Discourse|More...]]'''

==Rule and Law==
''Encounters with the law and law enforcement.''
*[[check the water meter]]
*[[drink tea]]
*[[push-ups]]
*'''[[:Category:Rule and Law|More...]]'''

==Corruption==
''Bribery and ill-gotten gains at all levels of government.''
*[[brother-in-law (older sister's husband)|brother-in-law]]
*[[naked official]]
*[[Watch Brother]]
*'''[[:Category:Corruption|More...]]'''

==Disasters==
''Natural and man-made.''
*[[destruction experiment]]
*[[even the destruction is a blessing]]
*[[this is a miracle]]
*'''[[:Category:Disasters|More...]]'''

=Pinyin Index=
[[:Grass-Mud_Horse_Lexicon:_Browse_by_Pinyin|Complete list of entries in ''pinyin'' order.]]

=About the Lexicon=

==Origin of the Grass-Mud Horse==
In early 2009, a creature called the [[grass-mud horse]] debuted in an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKx1aenJK08&feature=youtu.be music video] that became an [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/%202009/02/music-video-the-song-%20of-the-grass-dirt-horse/ viral hit]. The "grass-mud horse" (''cǎonímǎ'' 草泥马), whose name sounds nearly the same as "fuck your mother" (''cào nǐ mā'' 肏你妈), was created to get around government censorship of vulgar content. The dopey alpaca rose to Chinese Internet stardom, its symbolism transforming along the way. Within weeks, the grass-mud horse became the [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/03/michael-wines-a-dirty-pun-tweaks-china’s-online-censors/ ''de facto'' mascot of Chinese netizens fighting for free expression], inspiring [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/tang-poem-mockery-grass-mud-horse-running-on-the-ma-le-desert/ poetry], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/03/grass-mud-horse-netizens-react-to-censors-with-photo/ photos, videos], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/08/slideshow-brush-and-ink-paintings-of-grass-mud-horses/ artwork], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/05/art-from-the-peoples-republic-of-the-grass-mud-horse/ clothing], and [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/03/reform-oriented-national-print-media-join-netizens-battle-against-censorship/ more]. As one Chinese blogger explained, "The grass-mud horse represents information and opinions that cannot be accepted by the mainstream discourse, and the 'Song of the Grass-Mud Horse' has become a metaphor of the power struggle over Internet expression."

The grass-mud horse is particularly suited to the contested space of the Chinese Internet. The government's [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/ministry-of-truth/ pervasive and intrusive censorship system] has generated equally [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/01/video-“网瘾战争-war-of-internet-addiction”/ massive resentment] among Chinese netizens. As a result, [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/10/chinese-twitterers-mr-hu-jintao-tear-down-the-great-firewall/ new forms of social resistance] and [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/04/han-han-let-the-sunshine-in/ demands for greater freedom of information and expression] are often expressed in [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2007/08/under-the-internet-polices-radar/ coded language and implicit metaphors], which allow them to avoid outright censorship. The Internet has become a [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/isaac-mao-hu-yong-liu-xiaobiao-the-internet-the-media-and-the-public-sphere-in-china/ quasi-public space] where the [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/scio-training CCP’s dominance] is being constantly [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2006/09/oº∑ho-are-chinas-top-internet-cops/ exposed], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/06/fifty-cent-party-member/ ridiculed], and [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/03/tibet-her-pain-my-shame/ criticized], often in the form of political [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/09/satire-the-sanlu-incident-is-another-poisoned-arrow-targeting-our-national-industry-from-the-imperialist-reactionaries/ satire], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/10/comic-relief-chinese-netizens-find-humor-in-the-nobel-peace-prize/ jokes], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/drawing-the-news/ drawings], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/01/music-video-“my-brother’s-at-the-bare-bottom/ videos], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2011/08/music-video-people-of-july-by-chuanzi-川子/ songs], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/poems/ popular poetry], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/01/new-drinking-songs/ jingles], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/07/internet-fiction-please-pay-my-bill/ fiction], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/08/the-olympic-dream-a-sci-fi-short-story/ sci-fi], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/08/satire-new-chinese-characters-created-by-netizens/ code words], [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2007/02/self-mockery-of-cctv-broadcasters-and-employees-cctv/ mockery], and [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/01/southern-metropolis-weekly-top-10-neologisms-of-2009-part-i/ euphemisms].

Chinese netizens have shown they possess boundless [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/06/blogger-googles-recent-troubles/ creativity] and [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2013/12/ten-question-badiucao-巴丢草/ ingenuity] in finding ways to express themselves despite [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/04/baidus-internal-monitoring-and-censorship-document-leaked/ stifling government restrictions on online speech]. Without understanding this coded but widespread "[http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china-news/translation/gmh/ grass-mud horse discourse]" through the lens of [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/river-crabbed/ censorship] and [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/word-of-the-week/ resistance], one cannot fully understand the [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2006/09/china-giant-contradictions-orville-schell/ contradictions] in Chinese society today, nor the [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/05/goddess-of-democracy-erected-in-beijing-workers-resistance-lags/ possibilities] for tomorrow.

To the uninitiated, even those who can read Chinese, this coded language can be confounding. But to Chinese netizens, the terms often resonate deeply by expressing feelings about shared experiences that millions of people can immediately relate to. Despite their subversive beginnings, [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/01/southern-metropolis-weekly-top-10-neologisms-of-2009-part-ii/ many of the terms] have already become [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/02/hong-huang-洪晃-censorship-and-political-distopian-fiction-as-marketing-concepts/ mainstream]; a few have even been added to the authoritative [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/dictionary-adds-chatroom-chinese-words-that-are-simply-niu-awesome-2074467.html Oxford Chinese Dictionary].

==Building the Lexicon==
All of the terms in the Lexicon were invented by netizens and circulated widely on websites inside China, not just by [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/12/twenty-most-influential-figures-in-chinas-cyberspace/ prominent bloggers] or [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/han-han/ opinion leaders]. For many of the terms, one cannot identify the original author or how exactly it originated. China Digital Times selects these terms from a variety of sources. We discovered many from a self-initiated online project of [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2006/11/my-experience-at-this-years-blogger-conference-yezi-ae∂a≠e/ Chinese bloggers] to select for the "words of the year in Chinese blogosphere." Others come from mainstream publications such as [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/04/southern-metropolis-daily-let-us-all-vote-for-han-han/ Southern Metropolis Daily] or even the state-run [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/02/china-academy-of-social-sciences-2009-china-internet-public-opinion-analysis-report/ Xinhua] News Service, as well as from Chinese forums, Sina Weibo, and other [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/microblogs/ microblogging platforms]. The direct participation of Chinese netizens also yielded many terms after China Digital Times' Chinese site made the call for submissions public in June 2010.

The selected terms are not a complete recording of pop culture and online terminology. Rather, the China Digital Times editors have focused exclusively on politically-charged terms which represent netizen resistance discourse. These are not necessarily [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/sensitive-words-series/ "sensitive" keywords], which have been [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/filtered-keywords/ documented elsewhere by China Digital Times] and other projects, nor are they part of the "[http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/hu-xijin/ legitimizing discourse]," used by people who [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/Frisbee_Hu actively defend and support government policy] or [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/08/the-way-art-works-an-interview-with-zhang-yimou-1/ willingly to cooperate with the regime], including [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/12/video-performance-2009-go-china/ nationalists]. At times, [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/Fang_%22always_wet%22 some of these words] may be put on individual websites' "sensitive lists" or [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/10/chinese-twitterers-mr-hu-jintao-tear-down-the-great-firewall/ blocked outright], but in general they are [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/12/netizens-force-fan-binxing-father-of-the-gfw-off-of-sina-microblog/ popular daily lingo for Chinese netizens].

The current list is by no means exhaustive, and new words are being created daily. But we hope this list will provide a glimpse into online political discourse and make it more accessible to non-Chinese readers.

==How You Can Help==
This is an ongoing open source collaborative translation program with submissions from volunteers and professional translators. What is currently published is just a seed that we hope to expand upon in coming months and years. If you are interested in participating in this project by submitting and/or translating terms, please [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/contact/ contact our editors].

China Digital Times would like to express deep gratitude for the extraordinary work of our primary translator, who wishes to remain anonymous, and to [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/team/translator-bios/ Liz Carter] for updating and expanding the entries.

==Read More About China Digital Space and China Digital Times==

* [https://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/Interview_with_Xiao_Qiang,_Editor-in-Chief_of_China_Digital_Times Interview with Xiao Qiang, The Founder and Editor-in-Chief of China Digital Times]

[[Category:Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon]]
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