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Decoding the Chinese Internet: A Glossary of Political Slang Kindle Edition

by China Digital Times (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
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In 2009, a strange creature emerged on the Internet from China. It was the grass-mud horse, a dopey alpaca frolicking in the Mahler Desert. It starred in a popular music video, staring buck-toothed into the camera while a chorus of children sang about the grass-mud horse’s defeat of the river crabs. It seemed innocent enough.

But the grass-mud horse was actually a subterfuge of Chinese Internet censorship.

For the past four years, China Digital Times has built a wiki dedicated to “grass-mud horse language,” inspired by an imaginary creature whose name invokes a curse word. Our Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon continues to evolve as Chinese netizens create new terms and give new meaning to older ones. This emerging “resistance discourse” steadily undermines the values and ideology that reproduce compliance with the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian regime, and force an opening for free expression and civil society in China.

This eBook distills the most time-tested and ubiquitous terms in our lexicon. Organized by broad categories, Decoding the Chinese Internet will guide readers through the colorful, raucous world of China’s online resistance discourse. Students of Mandarin will gain insight into word play and learn terms that are key to understand Chinese Internet language. But no knowledge of Chinese is needed to appreciate the creative leaps netizens make in order to keep talking.

This book is a revised and updated version of Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon: Classic Netizen Language published in August 2013.
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  1. Print length
    107 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    September 10, 2014
  4. File size
    2566 KB
  5. Page Flip
    Enabled
  6. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  7. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  8. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
7 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Lewis Baker
    5.0 out of 5 stars Getting to know the Challenges of Free Speech on the Chinese Internet
    Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    For those with an interest in free speech rights worldwide it's important to realize how repressed Chinese culture is about writing and free speech. This excellent book helps decode the complex war of words free speech advocates must master to share their truths regarding what we in the USA call first amendment rights are what most free thinkers are working toward in China and worldwide. Support free thinking Chinese writers and artists at all levels. Buy and share this book.
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  • Geezer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Trying to understand China? Buy this book.
    Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    This book is great! Published by a website (chinadigitaltimes) it provides an insight to unofficial Chinese thinking. China is a wonderfully complex and multifaceted place with active censorship and this book relates the genius of Chinese critical thinkers. With a sense of humor, and at times naughty, the use of homophonous slang skirts censorship and pokes fun at the ridiculous nature of Chinese officialdom.

    Read it. You will learn a ton.
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  • John Ross
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Informative
    Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Fun and informative, and any book that can make Chinese politics fun really deserves five stars.
    Will appeal to anyone who loves language and/or interested in understanding modern China.
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely informative
    Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent overview of Chinese online culture and online slang. Highly recommended to those with interest in modern Chinese life and society
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