For China’s Netizens, Political Discontent Breeds Irony – Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bgZlBQPCZw

For China #39;s Netizens, Political Discontent Breeds Irony
One of the forms of ironic dissent that has become common on Chinese social network services, such as the Twitter-like Sina Weibo, is a type of vocabulary list. But it doesn #39;t contain terms that you #39;d find in any university language course. Rather, the lists have terms that are minor tweaks on words that are commonly heard in official political discourse, "government", "freedom", "harmony", but made to convey a certain sense of, well, call it skepticism. So, web users might repost lists containing words like "Goverruption", combining government + corruption. "Freedom" becomes "freedamn". Other terms include "Smilence" which means to "Smile without saying anything", indicating the idea of self-censorship. Many of the puns on these lists have both English and Chinese versions, equally ironic in each language. While internet users have been composing such compact political commentary for years, there #39;s been a resurgence in their spread during the current leadership transition. Some political observers have noted that a new generation of Chinese youth, too young to remember previous leadership transitions, have reacted with surprise and disbelief at how out-of-touch the ongoing Communist Party Congress seems with the society with the modern, wired society China has become. For more news and videos visit #9755; ntd.tv Follow us on Twitter #9755; http Add us on Facebook #9755; on.fb.meFrom:NTDTVViews:4 0ratingsTime:01:47More inNews Politics

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For China's Netizens, Political Discontent Breeds Irony - Video