Donkey people

lǘ mín 驴民

An insulting term reclaimed by netizens to deride authorities for holding the common people in low esteem. Very similar in meaning and usage to the netizen term “fart people” (pì mín 屁民), “donkey people” includes an additional descriptive layer: that the masses, like donkeys, are stubborn, stupid, and tend to overestimate their capabilities.

This term originated in the wake of the 2016-2017 Shandong “dishonored mother murder case” (辱母杀人案件). In April 2016, 23-year-old Liaocheng, Shandong resident Yu Huan was arrested for attacking a group of four loan sharks with a knife, leading to the death of one. The standoff came after Yu’s mother Su Yinxia (苏银霞) was unable to make usurious interest payments on a loan of over 1 million yuan (the principal of which had already been repaid). The loan sharks reportedly restrained and abused the two in the reception lobby of Su’s workplace, with the group’s leader Du Zhihao (杜志浩) exposing his genitals and suggesting the mother resort to prostitution if unable to return the owed money. According to reports, a passerby saw the scene through the window and notified public security officials. Security footage showed police arriving at the scene and quickly departing. After the authorities exited, Yu grabbed a kitchen knife and injured the captors. Du drove himself to the hospital and died before receiving treatment.

On February 17, 2017, the Liaocheng Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Yu Huan to life imprisonment for “intentional injury.” On March 24, the influential Southern Weekly newspaper attracted public attention to the case with an article titled “Stabbing to Death The Mother Disgracers.” The article examined Yu’s actions in context of self-defense and filial piety, and also called into question police negligence. With public opinion tilted firmly in favor of the imprisoned Yu, China’s top state prosecutor on March 26 decided to review Yu’s controversial life sentence.

Amid a heated online debate about the case, the official Weibo of the Jinan Public Security Bureau, in Shandong’s capital capital city 100 km east of Liaocheng, posted the parable of the donkey versus the bus:

Of the world’s many wonders, one is the donkey resenting the bus
Donkey: I will not accept you, let’s fight!
Bus: I will fight you a thousand times, and each time you’ll end up an injured donkey!

世界多奇葩，毛驴怼大巴
毛驴：不服来战！
大巴：容你战我千百回，受伤的驴总是你啊！ [Chinese]

The post led to wide condemnation, with many interpreting it as a castigation of the successful lobbying of public opinion that appeared to bring about a legal review of Yu’s case. In this interpretation, the “donkey” represents the common people, and the “bus” the substantially more powerful security state and police. The Jinan PSB deleted the weibo and issued a disclaimer: “This Weibo does not represent any official point of view, and was the result of staff acting without instructions. On-duty staff maintaining the account are not police officers.” Some sample responses included the newly coined “donkey people,” in context of other antagonistic official remarks that have been reclaimed by the masses:

JiushiFenlan（@就是芬兰）: Aha, so you originally thought of us as the diao people, but now realize we are actually the donkey people.

原来以为自己是刁民，现在才明白原来是驴民啊。

BingxueFeiHan (@冰雪非寒): Originally I mistook us all for netizens, and after realized we were actually fart people. Now I discover that actually we’re not fart people, we’re donkey people. Heartfelt thanks to the Jinan Public Security Bureau for telling us the truth.

原来我以为我们都是网民，后来知道了我们是屁民。再后发现自己连屁民也错了，我们是驴民。感谢济南公安给人民说了句实话。[Chinese]

Netizens also created graphic memes explicitly showing who the “donkey” represents in the above parable, depicting masses of donkeys banding in solidarity around a bus, or even toppling one over. ​