Guangzhou lockdown: Chinese are criticizing zero-Covid — in language censors don’t seem to understand

Hong Kong
CNN
—

In many countries, it’s so commonplace online to curse the government that no one notices. But that’s not an easy task on China’s heavily censored internet.

That doesn’t seem to stop Guangzhou residents from venting their frustrations after their city – a global manufacturing powerhouse of 19 million people – became the epicenter of a nationwide Covid outbreak, sending blockade measures Again.

“We had to close in April, then close again in November,” one resident posted on Weibo, China’s limited version of Twitter, on Monday – before posting profanities that reminded to the mother of the officials. “The government doesn’t subsidize – do you think my rent doesn’t cost money?”

Other users have left posts with instructions loosely translated as “go to hell”, while some authorities allege “talking nonsense” – despite the wording. less polite.

Such colorful posts are notable not only because they represent the public’s frustration is growing at China’s relentless Covid-free policy — the policy of using rapid lockdowns, mass testing, extensive contact tracing, and quarantines to stamp out infections as soon as they emerge — but because they are complete fully visible.

That’s normal harsh criticism of government policies will quickly be removed by the army of government censors, but these posts remain untouched for days. And that is, most likely, because they are written in a language few moderators can fully understand.

These posts are in Cantonese, which originated in the Guangdong province around Guangzhou and is spoken by tens of millions of people across Southern China. It can be difficult to decipher by speakers of Mandarin – China’s official language and favored by the government – especially in its written and often complex form of slang.

And this seems to be just the latest example of how the Chinese are turning to Cantonese – a vulgar language that offers plenty of satire – to express their displeasure with their government. without attracting the attention of comprehensive censorship authorities.

In September of this year, the US-based independent media watchdog, China Digital Times, noted that many disgruntled Cantonese-language posts had passed censorship in response to requests for information. mass testing of Covid in Guangdong.

“Perhaps because Weibo’s content censorship system has difficulty recognizing the spelling of Cantonese characters, many posts in cynical, bold, and blunt language persist. But if the same content is written in Mandarin, it is likely to be blocked or deleted,” indicate the organizationis affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley.

In nearby Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, anti-government protesters in 2019 often used Cantonese puns both for protest slogans and as a precaution against possible scrutiny by mainland Chinese authorities. close.

Now, Cantonese seems to be offering those fed up with China repeatedly shutting down zero-Covid shutdowns an avenue for more sophisticated displays of dissent.

Jean-François Dupré, assistant professor of political science at TÉLUQ University who has studied Hong Kong’s linguistic politics, said the Chinese government’s increasingly narrow tolerance for criticism Public criticism has prompted their critics to “innovate” in their communication.

“It appears that using non-Mandarin forms of communication could help dissidents evade online censorship, at least for a while,” says Dupré.

“This phenomenon demonstrates the regime’s lack of confidence and growing paranoia, as well as the eagerness of citizens to continue to protest despite risks and obstacles.”

Although Cantonese shares many vocabulary and writing systems with Mandarin, many of its slang terms, profanities, and everyday phrases have no equivalent of Mandarin. Its written form also sometimes relies on archaic and rarely used characters, or characters with completely different meanings in Mandarin, so Cantonese readers may find it difficult to understand Chinese sentences. Guangdong.

Compared to Mandarin, Cantonese is highly colloquial, often informal and easy to play with words – making it well suited for inventing and throwing prongs.

As Hong Kong was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019 — partly due to concerns Beijing was infringing on the city’s autonomy, freedoms and culture — these attributes of Cantonese have become the center of attention.

“Of course, Cantonese was an important means of conveying political grievances during the 2019 protests,” said Dupré, adding that the language has brought a “strong local flavor to the community.” the riots.”

He shows how completely new written characters were born spontaneously from the pro-democracy movement – ​​including one that combines “liberal” characters with a popular profanity.

Other plays of written characters illustrate Cantonese’s endless creativity, such as a stylized version of “Hong Kong” that, when read aside, becomes “extra oil” – a cries in demonstrations.

Protesters are also looking for ways to protect their communications, wary that online chat groups – where they organize protests and fight the authorities – are being spied on by mainland agents. .

For example, because Cantonese is spoken differently from Mandarin, some people have experimented with romanized Cantonese – spelling the sounds with the English alphabet – thus making it almost incomprehensible to the average person. not a native speaker.

And, while the protests subsided after the Chinese government imposed sweeping national security laws in 2020, Cantonese continues to provide city dwellers with an avenue to express themselves. their unique local identity – something residents have long feared will be lost as the city is pulled further under Beijing’s grip.

To some, the use of Cantonese to criticize the government seems particularly relevant as the central government has actively promoted Mandarin to be used nationally in education and daily life. – for example, in television broadcasts and other media – often at the expense of regional languages ​​and dialects.

These efforts became a national controversy in 2010, when government officials suggested increasing Mandarin programming on the predominantly Cantonese-language Canton Television channel – outraged residents, who participated in rare mass street protests and scuffles with police.

It’s not just Cantonese that has been affected – many ethnic minorities have voiced alarm that the decline of their native languages ​​could put an end to cultures and ways of life they see as endangered. threaten.

In 2020, students and parents in Inner Mongolia held mass boycott of schools on a new policy of replacing Mongolian with Mandarin in primary and secondary schools.

Similar fears have long existed in Hong Kong – and increased in the 2010s as more Mandarin-speaking mainlanders began living and working in the city.

“More and more Mandarin-speaking students are enrolling in schools in Hong Kong and are seen commuting between Shenzhen and Hong Kong every day,” said Dupré. “Through these encounters, the language change taking place in Cantonese became apparent to Hong Kongers.”

He added that these concerns have been compounded by local government policies that emphasize the role of Mandarin and call Cantonese a “dialect” – angering some Hong Kongers because of them. considered the term an insult and argued that it should be considered a “language”. ” instead of.

Over the past decade, schools across Hong Kong have been encouraged by the government to switch to using Mandarin in Chinese lessons, while others have switched to teaching simplified characters – the preferred form of writing. in the mainland – instead of the traditional characters used in Hong Kong. .

In 2019, the city’s education chief was even more outraged when he suggested that continuing to use Cantonese instead of Mandarin in the city’s schools could mean the loss of Hong Kong. competitive advantage in the future.

“Given Hong Kong’s rapid economic and political integration, it would not be surprising to see Hong Kong’s language regime in line with the mainland’s language regime, especially where interest is concerned,” said Dupré. the promotion of Mandarin.

This is not the first time people in the mainland have tried to circumvent censorship. Many people use emojis to represent taboo phrases, English abbreviations to represent Mandarin phrases, and images such as cartoons and digitally edited photos, making censors are harder to track.

But these methods, by their very nature, have their limits. In contrast, for the bored residents of Canton, Cantonese provided an endless linguistic landscape to serve their leaders.

It’s unclear whether these more subversive uses of Cantonese encourage greater solidarity among Cantonese speakers in Southern China – or if it may encourage politics, says Dupré. Central authority continues to control the use of local dialects.

However, up until now, many Weibo users have taken the rare opportunity to express their disappointment with China’s Covid-free policy, which has weakened the country’s economy, isolating the country from the rest of the world and disrupting people’s daily lives with the constant threat of blockades and blockades. unemployment.

“I hope people can maintain their anger,” wrote one Weibo user, noting that most of the posts related to the Guangzhou lockdown were in Cantonese.

“Watching Cantonese people scold (the government) on Weibo without getting caught,” another posted, using characters to signify laughter.

“Learn Cantonese well and surf Weibo without fear.”