Showing posts tagged sex

裤袜 (pantyhose, stockings, or tights / kùwà), literally “pants sock” in Chinese, is legwear made of nylon or spandex typically worn by women for fashion or comfort. It was popularized by skirt-wearing women in the U.S. and U.K. who were required by social conventions to not show their bare legs in public or in the office. More about female fashion in the workplace is discussed in this NPR radio piece, which discusses, among other things, the female trouser ban in the U.S. Senate.

Why it is blocked: Probably because although the image search results for 裤袜 in Chinese aren’t as lewd as those for pantyhose in English (beware, NSFW if you have safe search turned off), they still are too sexy for somebody’s taste (no nudity, but still probably NSFW).



<Quick explanations for sea cucumber, yellow, evolution, candle wax, and three-color cat and a request to please read more carefully>

Update 3/22/12: Read this Disinformation article on my concerns with people misinterpreting this site.

To those who are new to the site, please wander over to the About section to get a better sense of what this site is tracking (or better yet read this article). I am NOT uncovering words that are blocked by the Chinese government. These are words that are voluntarily self-censored by one Internet company in China. I’m a bit dismayed at the various sites which are using the words I’ve uncovered as merely punchlines to the “How crazy is China these days?” question. China is not crazy. It’s a fascinating and interesting country with flaws like any other country. 

There are usually specific reasons why a word is blocked (on this, I stress again, one site) and my goal is to provide the context for why. The generalizations that I’ve seen from people who’ve picked up this site have been scarily ignorant, and I guess I’m partly to blame for allowing my list to get so easily misinterpreted. My apologies. So as of now I’m removing my untranslated full list of blocked words (though I’ll leave up two samples which I have translated) in order to reduce the chance that someone will misinterpret my results.

Ok, on to the fun stuff. A few quick explanations for some words I’ve seen floating around:

  • Phoenix the band is not banned in China (if a Chinese person wanted to write about an American band, they’d probably just use the English word, hence, 100,000+ search results on Weibo for “Radiohead” while only 20,000+ for the Chinese name (电台司令) for the band). 火凤凰, aka, FirePhoenix is an encryption and anti-censorship software used to circumvent the Great Firewall in China, similar in a way to Ultrasurf.
  • Sea Cucumbers are not banned in China. The reason 玉足海参 is blocked is because the first two characters (玉足, literally jade foot) are some sort of reference to foot fetishism (SFW Google image search). More on foot fetishism here.
  • Evolution is not banned in China. In fact, more people believe in evolution in China than the United States. The English word “evolution” is indeed blocked on Weibo, probably not out of malice toward Darwin and his theory, but likely because the censors at Weibo messed up and meant to block “revolution” (my best guess).
    [Update 4/13/12: Bloodandtreasure notes “I think it’s probably more to do with John Foster Dulles’ concept of peaceful evolution away from Communist rule; guarding against which was offered as a justification for Tiananmen, among other things. This is still a significant part of the CPC’s outlook, though maybe not as central as it was.” Great guess, but why isn’t 和平演变 blocked? Very curious. But indeed, it is still a very significant part of the CCP’s outlook.]
  • Cande wax is not blocked in China. 滴蜡 (literally, “drip candle[wax]”) is indeed blocked, and unfortunately, Google simply translated it as candle wax. The actual intention of the censor was to block wax play, the sexual activity.
  • Cats of three colors are not indiscriminately killed in China. The term “colored cat” (any color at all) will be blocked. This is likely because it is a reference to the Deng Xiaoping saying “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice it’s good.” I explain it more clearly (with an adorable cat pic) in this post.
  • Yellow isn’t censored in China (yes, there are yellow crayons in China; you will not go to jail if you wear a yellow shirt) but rather the Chinese characters for yellow (黄色) are blocked because it can be used to describe pornography.
  • Food allergies aren’t banned, but rather a phrase (敏感, meaning “sensitive,” ie, politically sensitive or otherwise) within the word (食物敏感) is blocked.
  • “Opening a magazine” isn’t banned, but rather it’s the characters for Open Magazine (开放杂志), a magazine known for its democratic leanings, which are being blocked.

Will return with typical blog entries in the coming days. Thanks for reading!



陈希同 (Chen Xitong) was the former party secretary of Beijing from 1992-95 and mayor from 1983-93, during which time he famously asserted that only two hundred had died during the Tiananmen crackdown. He was dismissed on corruption charges in the mid-90s and was imprisoned for 8 years before being released on medical parole.

Why it is blocked: The parallels between Chen’s downfall and Bo’s are quite interesting. Both were rising stars within the CCP Politburo and mayors of prominent cities. Both were arguably undone by a mixture of arrogance (Bo for “trying to rally public opinion in favor of his now-defunct bid to join the Politburo Standing Committee”; Chen for “boasting that his power was beyond anyone’s reach”), corruption (although Chen’s was demonstrably much less than was initially reported in the mid-90s; in the end, he personally took something in the neighborhood of a $100,000 in bribes, most in the form of gifts—small potatoes considering what others in China have been punished for) and for personal/political reasons. Each of their deputy mayors (who even share the same, albeit common, surname) also played sensational roles in their falls: Wang Lijun sparked Bo’s purge with his visit to the American consulate in Chengdu while Wang Baosen committed suicide under suspicious circumstances, with some claiming his choice to die in Huairou was a sort of clue or signal. Chen’s son was sentenced to prison; Wang’s merely has to suffer the infamy of being known as not owning a Ferrari. [Chen’s block was not triggered by the Bo incident; it was blocked back in January. Status - 1/14/12: blocked; 2/5/12: unblocked; 3/12/12: blocked]

Also of note: The CCP pulled out all the stops to smear Chen, including branding him as “corrupt and decadent.” Newspapers intimated that he had a taste for “entertaining young female television presenters,” and it later came out that he cavorted about with a mistress who was 15 years old. A thinly-veiled roman à clef entitled The Wrath of Heaven about Chen was released then quickly banned in 1997.



无毛 (NSFW) (literally, without hair / wúmáo) can be used to describe any hairless thing (including animals) but is usually used to refer to a woman’s hairless pubic region (NSFW), more vulgarly known in English as a shaved pussy.

Why it is blocked: Rather than being a implicit moral judgment of one’s grooming habits, this is likely blocked because it is a term used to look for pornography, a totally separate immoral activity. Alternatively, perhaps it might be used as a homophone for the 50 cent party? [Status - 11/30/12: blocked; 3/12/12: blocked]



裸照 (nude photograph / luǒzhào) is… well, a nude photograph.

Why it is blocked: As mentioned before, sex and sexuality are still particularly sensitive topics online in China. That said, one of the most infamous events of the past decade in China involved the leaking of nude photographs of Hong Kong pop star Edison Chen with a number of other female celebrities. The media coverage in Hong Kong was overwhelming, with newspapers devoting front page headlines to the scandal. Police in both mainland China and Hong Kong tried to halt distribution of the photos, threatening to arrest people who even just downloaded the images. In the end, they were mostly powerless to stop the spread, as magazines, homemade bootleg DVDs, and online message boards all shared the photos. Even today, among the top results for 裸照 on Baidu are those photos. [Status - 3/3/12: blocked]



恋足 (foot fetish / liànzú) is a pronounced sexual interest in feet.

Why it is blocked: Sexually “perverse” words and acts are sensitive (just take a look at the words tagged under “sex” in this sample). However, Weibo seems to have realized that they were being overly cautious, and a number of these words, including foot fetish, are no longer blocked. [Status - 11/26/11: blocked; 2/5/12: unblocked]



<3 Special post-Valentine’s Day Edition Є>

性爱 (lovemaking / xìngài) is one of the terms for the act of sexual intercourse that is blocked.

Why it is blocked: For such a general term, it’s not surprising that it is no longer banned after TGWUolJ12 (The Great Weibo Unblocking of late-January 2012; however, apparently the more explicit 性交 is still blocked). [Status - 11/26/11: blocked; 2/5/12: unblocked]



<3 Special post-Valentine’s Day Edition Є>

春药 (aphrodisiac / chūnyào) is a substance that increases sexual desire. Examples of natural aphrodisiacs are ginseng, chocolate, and deer penis (at least in China today). 

Why it is blocked: Even though China has a long history of using aphrodisiacs (purportedly even emperors relied on them to satisfy their harem of concubines), certain discussions about improving one’s virility are apparently taboo (however, 伟哥, aka Viagra, is not blocked). Perhaps this is a public safety measure, what with reports of older sex pill-popping Lotharios dying after engaging in too vigorous sex (in Jin Ping Mei, one of China’s most famous novels, a character dies of an accidental overdose of aphrodisiac pills). There was also a strange rumor in 2011 that an aphrodisiac made of dead babies was being sold in China. [Status (along with 媚药) - 11/26/11: blocked; 2/5/12: blocked]



露点 (dew point / lùdiǎn) is the temperature to which a given parcel of humid air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into liquid water. 

Why it is blocked: Certainly not for its scientific meaning. An alternative meaning for 露 is “reveal” or “expose.” 点 can not only mean “point” but also “a little.” Thus, slang for “reveal a bit (of skin)”, or translated more loosely into English, something like “nipple slip” or “crotch shot.” Based on news references and Google searches (NSFW), the term can be used both for accidental cases and intentional exposures (eg risque photo shoots). But though the latter may be titillating, its generally non-nude. [Status - 2/9/12: blocked]

Note: A similar word, 暴露 (expose, reveal, or unbare / bàolù) is used in the same way as ludian. A noun form, 暴露癖 (bàolùpǐ), is equivalent to exhibitionism or flashing. This is also blocked. [Status - 1/6/12: blocked; 2/5/12: unblocked]



咪咪 (mimi) is 1) an oboe-like instrument featured in the folk music in regions like Gansu and Qinghai; 2) an onomatopoeia for a cat mewing; 3) a nickname for a cat; 4) a Western name (e.g. Mimi from La bohème); 5) slang for breasts (roughly equivalent to tits in English).

Why it is blocked: File under sex, pornography, and spiritual pollution.



性交 (xingjiao) is the act of sexual intercourse. The term is used in sex-related words, including 近親性交 (incest / jinqinxingjiao), 性交体位 (sexual positions / xingjiao tiwei), 三人性交 (threesome / sanrenxingjiao), and others, all of which are banned.

Why it is blocked: Looks like some things haven’t changed since 2005 (when xingjiao was discovered to be blocked on instant messaging programs). A cursory test shows that most of those words are still blocked, though some critics contend that doesn’t stop young folks from using the service for illicit purposes.



一夜情 (one-night stand / yiyeqing) was originally a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer(s) on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship to come out of it.

Why it is blocked: Because sex is a touchy subject in China.