Grass-mud horse
来自China Digital Space
cǎonímǎ | 草泥马
Mascot of Chinese netizens fighting for free expression, symbolizing defiance of Internet censorship.
The grass-mud horse, whose name sounds nearly the same as "fuck your mother" (cào nǐ mā 肏你妈), was originally created to skirt government censorship of vulgar content. Film scholar Cui Weiping draws a direct connection between the launch of the "Special Campaign to Rectify Vulgar Content on the Internet" in early 2009 and the appearance of the Song of the Grass-Mud Horse in February of that year. The idea caught fire after netizens made a video depicting the grass-mud horse defeating the river crab (héxiè 河蟹), whose name is a near-homonym for the propaganda catchword "harmony" (héxié 和谐). Netizens continually expanded the lore of the grass-mud horse by composing catchy songs, photo albums of its natural habitat, and fake nature documentaries.
The Communist Party is often described as the "mother" of the people, so saying "fuck your mother" also suggests "fuck the Party."
Tanlihanchaoren (@弹力晗超人): Uh ... # ¥% & * + "$ & ...posting, getting deleted, and then reposting. I can no longer find the words to describe the number of grass-mud horses that are currently on my mind. (May 27, 2015)
呃…#¥%&*+《$&…（写了又删 删了又写，然而我已经找不到话来表述我心中草泥马的数量了） [Chinese]
The grass-mud horse is one of many mythical creatures invented by netizens in response to increasingly strict censorship measures.
China Digital Space Related Links
- About the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon
- CDS专页：草泥马
- Crotch Central Committee
- Crouching grass-mud horse
- Cui Weiping
- Elephant of truth
- Fifty Cent Party
- Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon old introduction
- Heir apparent
- Horse of deception
- Interview with Xiao Qiang, Editor-in-Chief of China Digital Times
- Jia Junpeng, your mother is calling you home for dinner
- 分类:Lexicon
- Mahler Gobi
- Martian script
- Mythical creature
- Paratrooper
- River crab
- Sensitive porcelain
- Thirty-Fifth of May
- Valley dove
- Watered weasel-ape
- Yax lizard
- 你懂的
- 你是哪个单位的？
- 你有孩子吗？
- 我能说脏话吗？
- 抄水表
- 档中央
- 破坏性实验
- 草泥马
- 蒜你狠
- 这事儿不能说太细
