China cracks down on ‘uncivilised’ online puns used to discuss sensitive topics

China’s internet regulators have launched a campaign cracking down on puns and homophones, one of the last remaining ways for citizens to safely discuss sensitive subjects without recriminations or censorship.

The “clear and bright” campaign is targeting “irregular and uncivilised” language online, particularly jokes, memes, and wordplay, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the ministry of education announced this month.

“For some time, various internet jargons and memes have appeared frequently, leaving people more and more confused,” said an editorial by the Communist party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily.

“They also form a hidden erosion on the daily communication and ideological values ​​of minors, which can easily lead to adverse consequences.”

China’s online spaces are strictly monitored and censored. Some sensitive topics and terms are strictly banned, such as references to the Tiananmen massacre, or criticism of President Xi Jinping. Insulting individuals or China generally is also frowned upon.

In response, users have adapted, using funny or obscure references and in-jokes to get around the censorship. Many rely on homophones, using phrases that sound very similar in Mandarin, but were written with different Chinese characters, such as the word for “paratrooper” (sǎn bīng) instead of “idiot” (shǎ bī).

Authorities are in a near-constant race to catch new ways of describing Xi without mentioning him, which in the past have included a series of three arrows to represent the tones in his full name, or references to Winnie-the-Pooh because of suggestions Xi resembles the character.

Commenters will also often use the term “your country” to criticise Communist party (CCP) rule, instead of the CCP’s commonly used “my country”, as a protest that the CCP’s China is not their China. One Chinese academic told the Guardian that instead of openly discussing concerns about government policies, colleagues would instead share links to allegorical poems or historical references.

State media has also suggested the new campaign intends to target even benign-sounding puns, giving as an example the phrase “rainy girl without melons” (yǔ nǚ wú guā) which is often used in place of “it’s none of your business” (yǔ nǐ wú guan).

The People’s Daily noted the quick turnover for online memes, and urged authorities and social media platforms to not allow “obviously ambiguous” new words to spread quickly without “rectification”.

“A wave of bad jokes will have disappeared, and a new wave of bad jokes may be on the way,” it wrote.

Additional reporting by Chi-hui Lin