The Jordan Harbinger Show

1299: Laowhy86 | Decoding the Secret Slang of China's Censored Internet

March 17, 2026

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  • Censorship on the Chinese internet forces speech to evolve into a constantly mutating, high-stakes 'survival code' involving puns, mythical creatures, and numerical codes to discuss sensitive topics. 
  • The Chinese internet ecosystem is highly centralized, primarily through all-in-one apps like WeChat, which allows the government unprecedented control over communication, commerce, and social monitoring, tying into a de facto social credit system. 
  • Censorship in China has evolved from playful evasion (like the 'Grass Mud Horse' meme) to a severe, AI-driven crackdown (like the 'Clear and Bright' campaign), where even the coded language used to bypass filters is quickly identified and banned, escalating the risk for citizens. 
  • Protestors in China have adopted symbolic, non-verbal acts like the 'white paper protest' to express dissent when explicit speech is censored, demonstrating the state's fear of even blank expression. 
  • The Chinese government actively works to erase evidence of dissent and control the historical narrative by removing clips and suppressing information about events like the white paper protests and the Zhengzhou floods. 
  • Circumventing the Great Firewall via VPNs carries severe, potentially life-altering risks for Chinese citizens, contrasting with the common misconception that access is easily available simply by using the tool. 

Segments

Chinese Internet Ecosystem Overview
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(00:04:59)
  • Key Takeaway: The Chinese internet functions as a centralized intranet dominated by all-in-one apps like WeChat, which integrates payments, communication, and daily services.
  • Summary: The Chinese internet ecosystem requires centralized government control, leading to the dominance of WeChat, which handles payments, communication, and daily tasks. This centralization allows the government to monitor citizens both inside and outside of China, as Western apps are largely blocked. Users are effectively confined to this government-controlled system unless they utilize tools like a VPN.
Censorship Evasion Language
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(00:09:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Chinese citizens employ a secret language of puns and code words to circumvent censorship, facing severe prison sentences for spreading rumors or inciting subversion.
  • Summary: Online expression in China is heavily restricted, with punishments ranging up to 15 years for inciting subversion, forcing users to rely on coded language. Early examples of this linguistic evasion included using mythical creatures like the ‘Grass Mud Horse’ (zao nima) as a phonetic stand-in for a banned swear word. The term ‘river crab’ (hushie) became synonymous with censorship because it sounded like the official term for content removal, ’to harmonize’.
Evolution of Coded Protest
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(00:16:26)
  • Key Takeaway: The use of coded language has shifted from playful subversion to desperate, high-risk protest language as government control tightens.
  • Summary: The era of fun, playful censorship language has ended, replaced by coded language used by oppressed people due to increased government scrutiny under the current leadership. Discussions about sensitive historical events, like the Tiananmen Square massacre, evolved from using the name to using the date code ‘8964’, which was subsequently banned. During COVID lockdowns, citizens used sarcasm, such as saying ‘I want a COVID test,’ as a protest slogan against harsh restrictions.
Police Visits and Tea Metaphor
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(00:31:21)
  • Key Takeaway: Being ‘invited to drink tea’ or having one’s ‘water meter inspected’ are euphemisms for being visited and interrogated by police regarding online activity.
  • Summary: The tradition of offering hot water or tea in any Chinese building has led to the euphemism ‘invited to drink tea’ to describe police visits for investigation. This phrase, along with ‘inspect my water meter,’ signifies that a person is being questioned about their online conversations. The importance of hot water in Chinese culture is highlighted by the fact that it is often prioritized over plumbing or electricity in basic facilities.
Political Euphemisms and Taiwan Conflict
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(00:34:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Criticizing the leader, Xi Jinping, is the most dangerous online activity, leading Taiwanese users to exploit Chinese live-streaming platforms to force streamers to utter forbidden names.
  • Summary: Talking about the Chinese leader is strictly forbidden, carrying the highest risk of disappearance or long prison sentences, contrasting with earlier hopes that he would liberalize the country. The term ‘Shi Baozi’ (steamed bun) was an early, cute nickname for Xi Jinping that later became a slanderous term. Taiwanese users exploit the Chinese version of TikTok (Douyin) by donating to streamers, forcing them to shout out political phrases like the leader’s name or ‘Jinping, sit down and shut up,’ leading to stream shutdowns.
White Paper Protests and Material Bans
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(00:49:19)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘white paper protest’ emerged during Shanghai lockdowns where citizens held blank A4 sheets to protest censorship, leading authorities to ban the sale of blank paper.
  • Summary: During severe COVID lockdowns in Shanghai, protests quickly turned anti-government, with demonstrators holding up blank white pieces of paper to circumvent banner censorship. This act became known as the ‘white paper protest,’ symbolizing a demand for democracy and the relinquishing of authoritarian control. The government responded by banning the sale of A4 paper in affected areas to prevent further use of this symbolic protest tool.
White Paper Protest Tactics
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(00:49:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Blank A4 paper became a potent symbol of democracy resistance in China, leading authorities to ban its sale in protest areas.
  • Summary: During protests, citizens held up blank pieces of paper, known as the ‘white paper protest,’ as an illegal-proof way to demonstrate against authoritarian control. The Chinese government responded by banning the sale of A4 paper in affected areas to prevent this form of demonstration. This tactic mirrors historical, possibly apocryphal, protests in the Soviet Union where blank papers were also used to embarrass state security agents.
Government Narrative Control
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(00:52:53)
  • Key Takeaway: The Chinese government actively works to erase memories of significant dissent, such as the white paper protests or the Zhengzhou floods, by removing evidence from the internet.
  • Summary: The government attempts to turn powerful protest events into urban legends, similar to alleged Soviet incidents, by systematically removing clips and evidence through takedown requests and server manipulation. This effort aims to eliminate shared memories of resistance, such as the events surrounding the Zhengzhou floods where official death tolls were disputed. The goal is to ensure that powerful moments of dissent disappear from public memory.
VPN Legality and Usage
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(00:55:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Using a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall is explicitly illegal in China, with severe consequences, especially for Chinese citizens posting critical content.
  • Summary: While foreigners might face less scrutiny using VPNs, Chinese citizens face arrest for jumping the firewall, particularly if they post content critical of the CCP. People often use the euphemism ‘hopping the wall’ (Fanchiang) instead of saying VPN to avoid character blocking. The government actively hunts down dissidents who use VPNs, even pursuing them internationally for past posts made while inside China.
LGBT Slang Evasion
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(00:57:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Due to societal conservatism and online crackdowns, terms for LGBT topics, like ‘boy love fiction’ (BL), evolve into coded slang such as ‘chicken oil’ or ‘comrade’ to evade censorship.
  • Summary: LGBT topics are heavily frowned upon, leading to a culture of public silence and non-acceptance, though it is often characterized by ignoring the issue rather than overt violence seen elsewhere. Slang terms are constantly changing to discuss homosexuality, such as using ‘comrade’ or ‘short sleeves,’ because direct terms are blocked online. The largest audience for ‘boy love’ novels in China is reportedly heterosexual women.
Economic vs. Political Censorship
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(01:01:54)
  • Key Takeaway: Discussions about domestic suffering (like economic downturns) are heavily censored, whereas criticism of foreign adversaries, like the US, is often encouraged as state propaganda.
  • Summary: Topics that foster camaraderie based on shared suffering under government oppression, such as economic downturns or life conditions, are strictly off-limits. Conversely, discussions about tariffs or criticizing countries like America are often allowed or even promoted through state-controlled platforms like Douyin (TikTok) to dissuade citizens from viewing the West as a beacon of hope. The government’s goal is to control the narrative and prevent internal solidarity against oppression.
50 Cent Army Evolution
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(01:04:16)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘50 Cent Army’ (Wumao) has evolved from low-paid commentators to include massive, likely bot-driven, troll farms dedicated to spreading nationalist rhetoric and defending the CCP online.
  • Summary: Originally, the Wumao were rumored to be paid 0.5 RMB per comment to steer online conversations toward pro-government narratives, sometimes using prison labor. The term now broadly encompasses anyone spreading the government’s message, including self-motivated supporters (‘Zugang Wu Mao’) and large troll farms, often utilizing bots. Their activities include disparaging dissidents and fighting critics in international comment sections like YouTube.
Foreign Influence Campaigns
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(01:07:46)
  • Key Takeaway: The Chinese government engages in aggressive, coordinated foreign influence campaigns, including buying control of influential Western social media accounts and deploying scripted propaganda narratives.
  • Summary: There is evidence of coordinated bot activity and financial incentives used to manipulate platforms like Reddit (e.g., the overnight shift in the r/China subreddit sentiment) and YouTube. These campaigns involve paying Western key opinion leaders to parrot verbatim government talking points, such as describing Chongqing as an ‘8D city,’ which is specific Chinese marketing jargon. This effort is part of a current leadership goal to control global narratives, contrasting with previous eras where foreign opinion was less prioritized.
Lay Flat Movement & Broken Contract
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(01:16:54)
  • Key Takeaway: The ’lay flat’ movement reflects a broken social contract where citizens gave up rights expecting economic prosperity, but now face oppression without the promised financial reward.
  • Summary: The lay flat movement involves apathy and refusing to work, which is problematic for China’s manufacturing economy but temporarily useful for authoritarian control. The unwritten contract—giving up rights for wealth—is being breached as economic conditions worsen, evidenced by factory workers setting fires after months or years without pay. This economic failure is manifesting in rising crime rates, including vehicle attacks and kindergarten stabbings, as alternatives to gun violence.