China Digital News has a report claiming that QQ, China's most popular chat software, is hard-coded to censor certain words. There is a long list of words which are a no-no on QQ. About 15% of the words are related to sex, but most are political.

Banned English words include 'bitch' and 'playboy'. The Chinese list is more comprehensive, and includes words meaning 'scrotum' and 'clitoris' as well as one of Beijing's favorite cuss words about parts of your mother's anatomy.

The word impotence does not seem to be banned, which is a good thing because an AFP report on Yahoo today says that over 50% of Chinese men suffer from impotence. Most are "too shy" to seek treatment, and one of the aims of the Internet should should surely be to remove such inhibitions, even in in a healthy socialist society.

If you are one of the 50%, don't worry. To borrow a John Kerry catch phrase: Help is on the way! Patent protection on Viagra's active ingredient was recently challenged in a Chinese court, meaning that the stuff will probably soon be available for a few yuan in every pharmacy nationwide.

- The China Digital News story is here.
- Yahoo's impotence story is here.
- Previous Danwei post about the Viagra patent issue are here and here.