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Shanghai Bans Chinese Internet Slang Terms

Shanghai Bans Internet Slang From Classrooms, Publications, Official Documents

SHANGHAI, China Sep 23, 2005 â€â€? So long, “MM,” “PK,” and “konglong.”

The language police in Shanghai, China’s largest city, plan to ban those and other Chinese Internet slang terms from classrooms, official documents, and publications produced in the city, newspapers reported Friday.

“On the Web, Internet slang is convenient and satisfying, but the mainstream media have a responsibility to guide proper and legal language usage,” the Shanghai Morning Post quoted city official Xia Xiurong as saying.

” 在网, 互è?â€?网俗è¯?是方便和满æ„?, 但主æµ?媒介有责任引导适当和法定语言çâ€?¨æ³• ”

Internet chat and instant messaging are hugely popular with China’s increasingly computer-literate youth, who employ an ad-hoc vocabulary of invented, abbreviated and borrowed terms such as “MM,” meaning girl, “PK,” or player killer, for one’s competitor, “konglong” or dinosaur for an unattractive woman.

Despite the move, Xia said there was no reason why the terms shouldn’t be used in other settings.

“Our nation’s language needs to develop, but it also needs to be regulated,” said Xia, chair of the education, science, culture, and health committee under the Shanghai People’s Congress, the city council.

” 我们的国家的语言需è¦?并ä¸â€?显现出, 仅它需è¦?被调控 ”

Xia didn’t say how the ban, spelled out in new language regulations being drafted by the congress, would be enforced.

A random survey of Shanghai newspapers on Friday appeared to show the congress had its work cut out.

“Zhang Yaqin goes to Beijing to ‘PK’ Lee Kai-fu,” the China Business News said in a headline referring to competition between the new heads of Microsoft Corp.’s and Google Inc.’s China operations.

The Boston Globe reports:

Magic Kingdom comes to China
With an eye on huge market, Disney opens Hong Kong park

By Reuters | September 13, 2005

HONG KONG — Walt Disney Co. officially opened its new Hong Kong theme park yesterday, exporting a piece of the Magic Kingdom to China’s doorstep in a bold bid to gain a bigger foothold in the vast Chinese market.

As a blanket of smog covered the territory, Chinese lion dancers in gold and red emerged from Sleeping Beauty’s Castle to chase away evil spirits and bring good luck to the new business.

‘’China is an important area for us to move forward in and building a Hong Kong Disneyland will certainly introduce everyone to who we are,” Robert Braunstein, senior show program manager for the park, told Reuters. Both the company and the government have high hopes for the park, Disney’s first in China and its second in Asia after Japan.

more china disney story >>

There’s a certain historically-validated wisdom
in sending one’s Flag ahead of the Conquering Force.

A symbol in the right place, at the right time…

COULD DO WONDERS!

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mickey mouse

From a recent Businessweek interview with Hu Zhiguang, founder of Blogcn, one of the leading blog services in China.

Q: What do you think is the biggest difference between the blogosphere in the U.S. and in China?

A: The difference between China and the U.S. is quite large. The U.S. has many famous bloggers, and they have a big influence. In China, because of the political environment problem, it’s not possible to have that sort of thing.

So [Chinese blogs are] more lifestyle- and entertainment-oriented. But Chinese bloggers are more willing to express themselves than American bloggers. Because elsewhere in America there’s more freedom, so the methods of expression are more [varied].

Q: But, as you say, the political environment in China means there’s a lot that people can’t express in their blogs.

A: Sometimes there are people who write about Taiwanese independence and the Falun Gong.

Q: And what happens when they try to do that?

A: We set up keywords for our programs, like “Falun Gong,� and when you type in those keywords, you cannot post them. It just shows up as stars. Everybody has that.

Q: People can avoid using those words, though.

A: The problem exists, but it’s not a big one. We can immediately fix it, and it’s not a problem. Maybe there are some words that aren’t in the keywords, but if they’re published, they don’t fit the content. Then the Internet police will call us, and we will delete it within 24 hours. If it lasts on the site too long, then maybe it will make some trouble. Maybe I will have to go to the police station.

Q: How often have you had to do that?

A: That has never happened. The phone calls seldom happen -– only four or five times in two years. We have a specialist who takes care of this. These people [who post the forbidden things] are not real bloggers. They know it will be deleted.

Q: There has been a lot of talk in the past few months about the Chinese government requiring bloggers who don’t use sites like yours to register their real names and contacts if they want to keep on blogging. How difficult is it for Blogcn users to set up their blogs?

A: To set up a blog you have to give your password, e-mail address, blogger name, and choose a template. It’s very easy. We don’t need their phone number, their address, their ID number. [The environment] is much better than before. Step by step, it’s getting more open.

Suuuuuure.

Well, this may shed some light on the Sister Furong Jiejie Story.

And it helps me (an American wholly unacquainted with censorship — lol) understand what it might be like to be at ideological odds with the State.

Furong Jiejie Picture Gallery

2HP

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