{"id":191768,"date":"2016-02-25T16:33:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T00:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=191768"},"modified":"2016-02-25T16:33:29","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T00:33:29","slug":"word-of-the-week-passive-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/02\/word-of-the-week-passive-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Week: Passive Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Word of the Week<\/a>\u00a0comes from the\u00a0Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon<\/a>, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens or encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China\u2019s online \u201cresistance discourse,\u201d used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness.<\/em><\/p>\n

b\u00e8i sh\u00edd\u00e0i<\/em> \u88ab\u65f6\u4ee3<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
\""We

“We don’t want to be represented.” (Source: @LEMONed<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Time period when euphemistic labels are given to actions that belie the underlying compulsion behind those actions\u2014that is, the present.<\/p>\n

In Mandarin, the passive marker (b\u00e8i<\/em> \u88ab) typically indicates adversity or misfortune<\/a>. If your homework is eaten<\/strong> by your dog (zu\u00f2y\u00e8 b\u00e8i<\/strong> g\u01d2u ch\u012b le <\/strong>\u4f5c\u4e1a\u88ab<\/strong>\u72d7\u5403\u4e86<\/strong>), you are not looking forward to explaining this to your teacher. In the current political context, the passive voice implies that the subject is forced to perform or endure, usually by the party-state. Perry Link and Xiao Qiang call this the “involuntary passive<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Common Bei<\/em> Constructions<\/span><\/h4>\n

be employed (b\u00e8i ji\u00f9y\u00e8<\/em> \u88ab\u5c31\u4e1a)<\/strong> In 2009, universities and colleges began using contracts between recruiters and students to inflate the graduate employment rate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

be increased (b\u00e8i z\u0113ngzh\u01ceng<\/em> \u88ab\u589e\u957f)<\/strong> Coined by netizen Xia Yucai, who in 2009 expressed disbelief at a government report showing that average wages had increased<\/a>.<\/p>\n

be represented (b\u00e8i d\u00e0ibi\u01ceo<\/em> \u88ab\u4ee3\u8868)<\/strong> To have your wishes disregarded by the government while it ostensibly speaks on your behalf. In December 2009, the city of Jinan held a public hearing on water utility fees. Netizens suspected that the “representatives”<\/a> present, who supported the fee increase, were actually government plants.<\/p>\n

be suicided (b\u00e8i z\u00ecsh\u0101<\/em> \u88ab\u81ea\u6740)<\/strong> To be compelled to commit suicide; to be beaten to death<\/a> and have one’s murder covered up by the authorities.<\/p>\n

be tea-drinked (b\u00e8i h\u0113 ch\u00e1<\/em> \u88ab\u559d\u8336)<\/strong> To be interrogated by the police about political subversive activities. See drink tea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

be wall-raped (b\u00e8i qi\u00e1ngji\u0101n \u5899\u5978)<\/strong> To be blocked by the Great Firewall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ChairmanMeowIsHungry\"Can\u2019t get enough of subversive Chinese netspeak? Check out our\u00a0latest\u00a0ebook, \u201cDecoding the Chinese Internet: A Glossary of Political Slang<\/a>.\u201d Includes dozens of new terms and classic catchphrases, presented in a new, image-rich format.\u00a0Available for pay-what-you-want (including nothing). All proceeds support CDT.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Word of the Week\u00a0comes from the\u00a0Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens or encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China\u2019s online \u201cresistance discourse,\u201d used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness. b\u00e8i sh\u00edd\u00e0i \u88ab\u65f6\u4ee3 Time period when euphemistic labels are given to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":991,"featured_media":191769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[99,14748,14744,14745,14746,100,5,4202],"tags":[167,15153],"class_list":["post-191768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cdt-highlights","category-gmh","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","category-translation","tag-protests","tag-word-of-the-week","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nWord of the Week: Passive Era<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/02\/word-of-the-week-passive-era\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Word of the Week: Passive Era\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0Word of the Week\u00a0comes from the\u00a0Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon, a glossary of terms created by Chinese netizens or encountered in online political discussions. These are the words of China\u2019s online \u201cresistance discourse,\u201d used to mock and subvert the official language around censorship and political correctness. b\u00e8i sh\u00edd\u00e0i \u88ab\u65f6\u4ee3 Time period when euphemistic labels are given to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/02\/word-of-the-week-passive-era\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-26T00:33:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/\u88ab\u4ee3\u8868.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne 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