Emotionally stable

情绪稳定 (qíng xù wěn dìng): emotionally stable

This is a stock phrase used by the media to describe people affected by a disaster. This phrase has drawn scorn from netizens for its premature application to catastrophic events and for its implicit suggestion that were it not for the government's timely intervention, the victims would not be so emotionally stable. For example, in mining accidents the official account, often written just days after the accident, will read something like, “the relevant leaders rushed to the scene to comfort the families. The families are now all emotionally stable.” Or an account of an explosion might read, “The bodies have been taken care of and the families are all emotionally stable.” In the comment page of these stories, netizens will often remark sarcastically, “the deceased is now very emotionally stable” (死者情绪稳定).

The word “emotionally stable” also resonates with the government’s major emphasis on creating and enforcing social stability. When the official report suggests that people affected by the calamity are “emotionally stable,” the government is in a sense saying that social stability has prevailed when in fact it may be quite tenuous. Netizens who resent this facile application of the term “emotionally stable” speak of being “emotionally stabilized” (bei-emotional stable).

“死者情绪稳定”是网友对官方事故性通报的嘲讽。官方当然不会傻到在事故新闻通稿里使用“死者情绪稳定”的描述，完整的说法是，“死者家属情绪很稳定”。言外之意，政府的救援和善后工作做得很好。

Made-up character combining components of "emotion" (绪) and "stable" (稳).