Yax lizard

yǎkèxī 亚克蜥

The CCP’s policies are yaxshi. (Source: Nie Bozi 聂波子)

A mythical creature derived from the Uyghur-language word yaxshi (ياخشى‎), meaning “good,” and transliterated into Chinese as yǎkèxī 亚克西 . The word rose to fame after the CCTV 2010 Spring Festival Gala segment “The Party’s Policies are Yaxshi,” in which dancers in traditional Uyghur dress praised the Communist Party, a great irony in light of the inter-ethnic riots in Xinjiang the summer before. Netizens then began using the word to mock the absurdity of the state propaganda and to to sardonically praise policies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The yax lizard was dubbed by netizens as “the first mythical creature of 2010,” joining the grass-mud horse and the river crab in the pantheon of mythical creatures.

Note: The Uyghurs are a majority-Muslim Turkic people and the titular nationality of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Examples:

Ast丶ro ( @Ast丶ro )：Since yesterday afternoon, the famous photo-sharing software—in fact the international social media for photography—Instagram, has been blocked. Congratulations on having a new member in the social media family along with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Line and Snapchat! It's really Yakexi to live in the Celestial Empire, and how I wish I could live in the "CCTV News Simulcast!" (September 29, 2014)

从昨天(28日)下午开始，著名照片分享软件，也算是国际摄影社交圈的Instgram无法访问。祝贺Facebook、Twitter、Youtube、Line和Snapchat的社交大家庭中又添新丁！住在天朝真是亚克西啊，真想生活在《新闻联播》里！[Chinese]