China Books & Literature
Review: China Online – Netspeak & Wordplay by Chinese Internet Users
China’s Internet is a hot topic nowadays. With more and more books published on the topic, What’s on Weibo picked a recent one to review. This edition: China Online – Netspeak & Wordplay Used By Over 700 Million Chinese Internet Users by Véronique Michel, Tuttle Publishing, 2015, 159 pages
With the largest Internet population in the world, China has a unique online culture. China Online, a new book by translator and multilingual netizen Véronique Michel, offers an exploration into China’s rapidly changing society and its flourishing Internet environment, where new expressions emerge every day. Michels has created an accessible and entertaining introduction to China’s modern-day language and culture.
Michels has divided her book in two parts. The first part, ‘Portraits’, uncovers how neologisms like “Mortgage Slaves” (房奴 fang nu) or “Café Latte Tribe” (拿铁族 natie zu) identify different groups in China’s contemporary society. The drastic political and economic changes after the 1980s have led to a society where studying hard, finding a good job and spending money have become the essential strategies to survive. The “Ants Tribe” (蚁族 yizu), for example, refers to those who want to make their “wages fly” (让工资飞 rang gongzi fei) in order to set up their homes and start a family in suburban China. In the second part, ‘Word Play’, Michels gives a myriad of examples on China’s creative expressions, and what they reveal about society today.
As China’s online environment moves with incredible speed, any book on it will inescapably be outdated from the moment it is published. Popular expressions die out as quickly as they came up. But because Michels offers the cultural backgrounds to a range of expressions and catch phrases, it remains a relevant, no-nonsense and entertaining resource for anyone, amateur or expert, who wants to develop a deeper understanding of China and Chinese language today.
What’s on Weibo’s verdict: 7.5/10
Plus points: easy to read, accessible, clear overview of new & classic online expressions, explanation of origins.
Downsides: outdated soon, somewhat superficial. How could Michels fail to write more about online censorship, and how it is evaded through wordplay and puns?
By Manya Koetse
Follow @WhatsOnWeibo
This review was originally written for Bable, The Language Magazine.
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Chinese Elementary School Textbook Triggers Controversy for Being “Tragically Ugly”
This elementary schoolbook by the People’s Education Press went viral for being ugly.
The illustrations in a Chinese schoolbook series for children have triggered controversy on social media platform Weibo, where the hashtag “People’s Education Press Math Teaching Material” (#人教版数学教材#) attracted over 860 million views by Thursday afternoon, with the “People’s Education Press Mathbook Illustration Controversy” (#人教版数学教材插图引争议#) garnering over 190 million views.
The illustrations went viral after some netizens spotted that the quality of the design in one math textbook series stood out from other books in how ‘aesthetically displeasing’ it is.
The children depicted in the teaching material have small, droopy eyes and big foreheads. Some commenters think their clothing also looks weird and that the overall design is just strange and “tragically ugly.”
Some images depicting little boys also drew controversy for allegedly showing a bulge in the pants. Adding girls sticking out their tongues, boys grabbing girls, a reversed Chinese flag, and some depictions of children’s clothing in the American flag colors, many people think the books are not just ugly but also have “evil intentions.”
Besides the people who think the design of the textbook series is so ugly that it must have been purposely drawn like this, there are also those who are angry, suggesting China has thousands of talented art students who would welcome a project like this and do it much better.
Some parents are also concerned that such poor quality design will negatively influence the aesthetic appreciation of the children using the books.
Fueling the controversy is the fact that the textbook in question has been published and designed by a team of relatively influential and experienced designers and publishers.
The design was done by, among others, Lu Min (吕旻) and Zheng Wenjuan (郑文娟) of the Beijing Wuyong Design Studio (北京吴勇设计工作室). The book is published by the People’s Education Press.
The People’s Education Press (PEP) is a major publishing house directly under the leadership of the Ministry of Education. Founded in 1950, it is responsible for compiling and publishing all kinds of teaching material for elementary education.
The textbook already caught the attention of some parents in early May. One parent shared photos of the textbook illustration on Q&A site Zhihu.com, writing: “This textbook is so ugly! How did it ever pass the review?”
The ugly textbook design has made many netizens look back on their own childhood textbooks, suggesting that more traditional Chinese design is much better than what is being produced nowadays.
Old textbook design shared online for comparison.
On May 26, the People’s Education Press responded to the controversy on Weibo. In its statement, the publishing house said it would reevaluate its elementary school mathematics textbooks illustrations and improve the quality of the design. In doing so, the publishing house said it would welcome feedback from the public. The statement soon received over 600,000 likes.
Professional graphic design artist Wuheqilin also weighed in on the discussion (read more about Wuheqilin here). In a lengthy Weibo post, Wuheqilin argues it is too easy for people to share their old textbook covers and images to show how much better they used to be, blaming poor design on the quality of illustrators in modern times.
According to Wuheqilin, it is not so much a matter of illustrators who have become worse, but of publishing houses saving more money on illustrations. Publishers do not prioritize design and are still offering the same prices to illustrators as they did a decade ago.
“The market has expanded, illustrators’ prices have gone up, but the philosophy of publishing houses hasn’t kept up with the times. This has led to them not really raising their budgets. When I entered the industry some 12 years ago, publishers could still a good artist for 500-800 RMB [$75-$120] to do a fine cover illustration, but now it would be difficult to find an artist to do it for 8000 RMB [$1188]. Around 2015 I was asked by a publishing house to do the cover of a sci-fi novel series they produced, and the process of our talks all went smoothly, but when I quoted my price they looked displeased and told me that even if they would do their best to give me the highest budget possible, it would still only be one-tenth of my quoted price. The price I quoted was just the normal price for a game poster illustration at the time. I never spoke to that publisher again afterward. And this was 2015, let alone how the situation is nowadays.”
This is not the first time Chinese school textbooks trigger controversy online. In 2017, an elementary school sexual education textbook caused a stir for being “too explicit” (read here).
Read more about (controversial) Chinese children’s books here.
By Manya Koetse
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