Pinyin
« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »
Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí
shī shìshì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí
shī shī.
Shì shì shì shì.
So it is quite clear that there are more
characters than there are pronunciations.
And this is exactly how sporty Chinese
netizens avoid the state censorship: by
substituting the censored character with
another of the same sound, and if you
play it well, this language game often adds
a flavour of irony. And this, I believe, is
one of the enchantments of the ancient
characters: you can lose yourself in the
great haze and have irresponsible fun!
To give you a taste of the amusement
practised skilfully and fanatically by both
the government and the Chinese people,
here are 12 strangest words banned from
Weibo in 2015:
Tiger + rise to the surface
老虎+浮出水面
May the wind fill your sails
一帆风顺
Kang + Instant noodle
康+方便面
Today, tomorrow
今天，明天
Yellow Duck
黄鸭子
Mrs. Xi + iPhone 习夫人+iPhone
Toad
蛤蟆
Helicopter
直升机
God of Plague
瘟神
Da Hun Jun 大
荤君
Candles
蜡烛
Zhan Zhan Dian 占占点
Wang Xizhi ( 303 AD－361 AD) calligraphy scrollBUSINESS
Orchid Pavillion