Euphemisms for Internet censorship in China

River crab (Chinese: 河かわ蟹かに; pinyin: héxiè) and harmonious/harmonize/harmonization (Chinese: 和わ谐; pinyin: héxié) are Internet slang terms created by Chinese netizens in reference to the Internet censorship, or other kinds of censorship in mainland China. In Mandarin Chinese, the word "river crab" (河かわ蟹かに), which originally means Chinese mitten crab, sounds similar to "harmonious/harmonize/harmonization" (Chinese: 和かず谐) in the word "harmonious society" (和わ谐社会かい), ex-Chinese leader Hu Jintao's signature ideology.

Terms

The 2004 Chinese Communist Party announcement of the goal of constructing a "harmonious society" has been cited by the government of China as the reason for Internet censorship. As a result, Chinese netizens began to use the word "harmonious/harmonize/harmonization" (和わ谐) as a euphemism for censorship when the word for censorship itself was censored, particularly on BBSs. Following this, the word "harmonious" itself was censored, at which point Chinese netizens began to use the word for "river crab", a near homophone for "harmonious". In a further complication of meaning, sometimes aquatic product (Chinese: 水みず产) is used in place of "river crab".

These euphemisms are also used as verbs. For example, instead of saying something has been censored, one might say "it has been harmonized" (Chinese: 被ひ和わ谐了) or "it has been river-crabbed" (Chinese: 被ひ河かわ蟹かに了りょう). The widespread use of "river crab" by Chinese netizens represents a sarcastic defiance against official discourse and censorship. Some observers, however, have warned that the practice may also reproduce domination, since it does not aim for the abolition of censorship. The sensitive words will remain silent as such, and as a result the everyday reappropriation of official language creates the conditions for the latter's perpetuation.

	Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Pinyin	English Translation	Passive voice	Note
Origin	和わ谐社しゃ会かい	和わ諧社しゃ會かい	héxié shèhuì	harmonious society	—
Internet slang	和わ谐	和わ諧	héxié	harmonious/harmonize/harmonization	被ひ和わ谐 (be harmonized)	Used as a euphemism alluding to censorship in China
Internet slang	河かわ蟹かに	河かわ蟹かに	héxiè	river crab	被ひ河かわ蟹かに (be river-crabbed)	Near-homophone of "和わ谐" (héxié, harmonious)
Internet slang	水みず产	水みず産さん	shuǐchǎn	aquatic product	被ひ水みず产 (be aquatic-produced)	allusion and a replacement of "河かわ蟹かに" (river crab)

External image
River crab society, three wearing watches (河かわ蟹かに社会しゃかい，三さん个戴表ひょう)

A well-known picture usually named River crab society, three wearing watches (河かわ蟹かに社会しゃかい，三さん个戴表ひょう) illustrates the slang "river crab". In the picture, the three wristwatches refer to the Three Represents, where the Mandarin expressions used for "represent" (Chinese: 代表だいひょう; pinyin: dàibiǎo) and "Wearing watch(es)" (simplified Chinese: 戴表; traditional Chinese: 戴錶; pinyin: dài biǎo) are homophones. The satirized homophone of the three watches might be created by Chinese writer Wang Xiaofeng (王おう小峰こみね), whose online nickname is "Wearing three watches" (戴三さん个表). An offensive term "foolish bitch" (Chinese: 呆ほけ婊; pinyin: dāi biǎo) is also used by anti-Communist Chinese people.

	Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Pinyin	English Translation	Note
Origin	三さん个代だい表ひょう	三さん個こ代だい表ひょう	sān ge dàibiǎo	Three Represents
Internet slang	戴表ひょう	戴錶	dài biǎo	wearing watch(es)	Homophone of "代表だいひょう" (dàibiǎo, represent)
Internet slang	呆ほけ婊	呆ほけ婊	dāi biǎo	foolish prostitute	Near-homophone of "代表だいひょう" (dàibiǎo, represent); Very offensive

See also

• Chinese Internet slang
• Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China
• Hexie Farm
• List of Internet phenomena in China
• Golden Shield Project
• Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures (Internet meme)
• Grass Mud Horse
• Very erotic very violent