|
Internet
Impotence and censorshipPosted by Jeremy Goldkorn on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 at 3:58 PM
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. |
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
From 2008
Books on China
The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
or Feedburner |




