Internet censorship is a major barrier to access to information in China. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and many other social networking sites are currently blocked. Users are also required to register under real names on Chinese news websites to avoid anonymous postings that criticize government policy. Any user who searches sensitive terms can have internet access blocked to their computer for hours.
Most young Chinese know how to get around the "Great Firewall of China". But when posting on blogs and discussion forums, they have to be extra careful not to use overtly political terms. If they do, they are in danger of being deleted by the Fifty Cent Party (五毛党 wǔ máo dǎng), a group of housewives and retired folk who are supposedly paid 50 RMB cents by the government for every politically sensitive post they delete from these forums. In fact, when Propaganda Minister gave a speech at prestigious Renmin University last year, an unnamed student ran past, throwing a stack of 50 RMB cent bills into the air, to great applause.
Netizens use shorthand instead to express dissatisfaction, writing "ZF" instead of 政府 zhèngfǔ, meaning government; or "JC" instead of 警察 jǐngchá, meaning police.
They might also use homonyms, characters that sound almost the same, to represent political terms. River crab (河蟹 héxiè) is often used instead of harmony (和谐 héxié), a common term used by the government to explain any controversial policy. Taking the term to heart, dissident artist Ai Weiwei 艾未未 promised to serve 10,000 river crabs to fellow dissidents as a protest against government censorship.
Chinasmack, a blog that translates Chinese internet gossip into English, has a wonderful glossary of slang (political, funny, and just plain offensive) popular in online forums.
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