Smile in fountains of booze

含笑酒泉 (hán xiào jiǔ quán) smile in fountains of booze

When the Shenzhou 9 successfully launched on June 16, 2012, netizens quipped “now that the Shenzhou 9 has launched successfully, our leaders can smile in fountains of booze,” (神九发射成功 领导含笑酒泉). The remark played on the idiom, “pass into the nine fountains [the afterlife] with a smile upon one’s face” (含笑九泉). This became a banned search term on Sina Weibo[zh].

A running theme in netizens complaints is the disparity in funds spent on grandiose projects and foreign aid (for example, school buses for Macedonia and massive government buildings) compared with the amount spent on social welfare programs (like schools and hospitals). Some of the forums discussing the Shenzhou 9 copied the text of a People’s Daily article from February 3, 1977 that criticizes the Russians for engaging in a space race with the Americans, stating that no number of rockets could compensate for [a shortage of] food or clothes (飞船卫星虽多，究竟不能当饭吃，当衣穿).