Chinese netizens circumvent sensitive words to talk about Zhao Ting. (Photo credit: screenshot composite)
After Zhao Ting became the first Asian-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, major international media outlets focused on her personal experience, but also on the Communist Party’s blocking of her across the Internet. Chinese netizens, on the other hand, cleverly avoided keywords and managed to communicate about this sensitive topic under heavy regulation.
The Voice of America, the New York Times, the BBC, and Deutsche Welle all discussed the Communist Party’s blocking of Zhao Ting, putting the Communist Party’s brutal bullying of the country’s speech and ideas in the spotlight.
Deutsche Welle says: Although Zhao Ting’s Oscar acceptance speech had nothing to do with politics and even mentioned her fond childhood memories in China, the Chinese media did not broadcast the Oscars, and Zhao Ting’s reports also stayed in late February during the Golden Globes. The terms “Oscar”, “Zhao Ting”, and the title “Land of the Unwanted” have all been blocked as sensitive words; on WeChat, for example, because Zhao Ting and “Land of the Unwanted” are listed as sensitive words, the WeChat public number “Houwang Movie” refers to ” Zhao Ting” was called “that girl” and “Land of the Unsupported” was changed to “The Day of the Dependable” to bypass content censorship.
It has also been noted that the page about the “93rd Oscars” on the Chinese film review website Douban was removed in early April, and a search for “Zhao Ting” and “Land of the Unwanted” on the site prompted a “Search” for “Zhao Ting” and “Land of the Unwanted”. Searching for “Zhao Ting” and “Land of the Unwanted” on the site prompted “search results not shown.
Information compiled by the China Digital Times website shows that the video of Zhao Ting’s award acceptance speech posted by “Gu Dabaihua”, a well-known talk show translator on Weibo, was deleted. Even if the text is removed and only the video is posted, it will also be deleted by the Chinese Communist Party’s webmaster.
Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, who is known as the “Chinese Communist Party’s grifter,” wrote on his Weibo account that “criticizing Zhao Ting’s inappropriate comments does not contradict congratulating her on her award,” but this comment was also blocked and deleted.
As a result, Chinese netizens created a variety of words to replace sensitive words and confront the Chinese Communist Party’s Internet police. For example, “Wu Aunt’s Brother”, “Wuyi Land” and “Wu Yi’s Enemy” were used to replace the title of the film “Land of the Unsupported”. Some people have used the reverse thinking to replace the “Land of the Unsupported” with “The Day of the Unsupported”.
Some netizens imaginatively used “Chengdu” to suggest the film, with a post paraphrasing, “Chengdu – the land of the sky (the land of the unsupported), is that what it means?”
The “hidden-head poem” technique was also introduced. One netizen used “0234556789” to refer to the film, taking its resonance – the Land of No 1.
Chinese netizen “Bomi Mi” left a comment saying, “It’s not embarrassing when you don’t win an award, it’s embarrassing when you can’t celebrate when you do.”
One Weibo user wrote: “I don’t think it’s a good thing that on such a celebratory occasion, Zhao Ting spoke out about the influence of Chinese culture on her upbringing, yet some people are still eager to disassociate themselves from her and her Chinese identity and ignore her success.” The posting also quickly disappeared.
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