Unofficial Chinese Word of 2018

A newly-created word "qiou" that means "poor-ugly" is all the rage for 2018

Netizens in China have unofficially decided on the word of the year -- and it's a made-up character.

Pronounced "qiou", possibly in the third tone, the character has the word 穷 (qiong2) on top, and 丑 (chou3) below.

One netizen created a poem using the word "qiou"

The first character 穷 means "poor", while 丑 is an adjective that means "ugly". Put qiong and chou together and you get -- qiou or "poor-ugly".

Also, the combination of the characters creates the Chinese character 土 (tu3) which means "earth", "soil" or "dust". So put the three together, they could mean "dirt poor and ugly".

Many on Weibo find this new word qiou quite apt, with housing prices so out of reach of the average individual, and the pressures of looking absolutely perfect and beautiful are getting out of hand.

"The time of our youth was a happy one," one netizen poetically writes. "Because it was not yet clear to us at the time how ugly and poor we were."

Chinese media outlet Modern Express has declared qiou as "the character of 2018".

Time to practice writing your qious

Many people use it colloquially to describe themselves in a self-deprecating way by saying, "I'm qiou" or "我qiou" or "I'm so qiou".

While you can't type out the newly-created word qiou, if it's written out, people know exactly what it means. 

n a time of staggering house prices and unrealistic beauty ideals, ‘qiou’ is a character that “suits our time,” according to many on Weibo, who say the character ‘describes their current situation.’

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n a time of staggering house prices and unrealistic beauty ideals, ‘qiou’ is a character that “suits our time,” according to many on Weibo, who say the character ‘describes their current situation.’

This is original content by What's on Weibo that requires investment. You are free to link to this article. Please identify this website or author when you base content on this source or quote from it. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com to buy additional rights. Copyright (C) https://www.whatsonweibo.com. Read more at: https://www.whatsonweibo.com/the-new-chinese-character-of-the-year-is-dirt-poor-ugly/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioschina&stream=top

n a time of staggering house prices and unrealistic beauty ideals, ‘qiou’ is a character that “suits our time,” according to many on Weibo, who say the character ‘describes their current situation.’

This is original content by What's on Weibo that requires investment. You are free to link to this article. Please identify this website or author when you base content on this source or quote from it. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com to buy additional rights. Copyright (C) https://www.whatsonweibo.com. Read more at: https://www.whatsonweibo.com/the-new-chinese-character-of-the-year-is-dirt-poor-ugly/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioschina&stream=top

Human Rights Lawyer on Trial in Beijing

Pu Zhiqiang was on trial yesterday for what he wrote on Weibo

Yesterday one of China's most outspoken human rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang defended himself in court on charges of inciting ethnic hatred or "provoked trouble" by writing microblog commentaries critical of the Communist Party.

Pu's lawyer Shang Baojun said the three-hour trial at Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ended with no verdict, though he expected one "very soon".

The trial took place 19 months after Pu was detained by police after he attended a private seminar to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Many believe his detainment and subsequent trial are a way to silence him and warn other rights advocates not to speak out.

Plainclothes police in black masks shoved supporters around

Pu is charged with "inciting ethnic hatred" and "provoking quarrels and provoking trouble" for the content of seven Weibo messages he posted online between July 2011 and May 2014.

He could face up to eight years in jail.

The online messages are mostly critical of the government's handling of an ethnic conflict in Kunming, Yunnan province last year, and sarcastic comments about two officials.

Shang, Pu's lawyer, said while Pu admitted his microblog writing style was "sharp, caustic and sometimes vulgar", "he said he didn't think he had incited ethnic hatred or provoked trouble. He had no such intention," Shang said.

Pu was not asked whether he admitted to his guilt during the trial.

Security was tight outside the courthouse and while there were many supporters, some of whom were pushed around forcefully by plainclothes police wearing black face masks while talking to foreign media.

Even foreign diplomats were roughly handled, including American diplomat Dan Biers who tried to read out a statement. It took a while before the situation calmed down before he could read it out in its entirety.

A supporter was forcefully pushed to the ground while filmed

He said the United States embassy called for Pu's release and urged "China to uphold fundamental civil rights and fair trial guarantees".

"Lawyers and civil society leaders such as Mr Pu should not be subject to continued repression but should be allowed to contribute to the building of a prosperous and stable society," Biers read out in his statement.

Some of Pu's supporters outside the courthouse chanted, "Pu Zhiqiang, not guilty!"

"He is a good lawyer who helped the underprivileged. He should never be convicted," said Zhang Jie, a petitioner from Jilin province.

Another from Henan province said: "How can he be charged just because of a few words he said?"

China law expert Eva Pils at King's College, London, said Pu's trial was "part of a crackdown on civil society [and] was clearly related to his free speech advocacy and role as a government critic".

"The authorities have made it clear that they see rights lawyers in particular as enemies of the state [and] that it treats the human rights movement as a subversive force it aims to annihilate," she said.

There are health concerns for Pu as he suffers from diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Requests for bail have been rejected by the court.

China needs people like Pu to hold the government accountable, but the authorities clearly see him as a threat. We shall see what the verdict is, but it probably won't be what we are hoping for...

China's Vision of Women's Day

Huang Leilei's original illustration to mark International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day and some websites in China decided to mark the day with some doodles.

One 23-year-old artist by the name of Huang Leilei wrote on her Weibo post that she was commissioned by a prestigious Chinese technology company to create a doodle for Women's Day.

The theme was "Be the person you'd like to be" and so she came up with an illustration featuring smiling women in various professions like police, doctor, astronaut, chef and basketball player.

Youku's mobile doodle version...

Huang worked on a team with mostly women and work was progressing well until at the last minute the bosses decided to scrap the idea completely.

So this is what appeared today -- a young woman sitting in a chair drinking tea.

While the Edinburgh-based artist and graduate of Peking University didn't explicitly say which company it was, the description matches the doodle on the video-sharing website Youku.

This mobile version says on the right: "May the world be gentle with you".

Probably not surprising was that Huang's post was shared 15,000 times in eight hours. Netizens were quick to condemn the doodle, with one saying, "The boss probably doesn't know today is International Women's Day, not international mistress day." Another commented: "Our country doesn't need creative women, it just needs pretty dolls to put in cages."

Baidu's doodle has a girl revolving in a music box

Search engine Baidu has a figurine girl revolving on top of a music box surrounded by jewellery, lipstick and a hand mirror...

We in Hong Kong are lucky that Google Hong Kong is progressive because its doodle is similar to Huang's original idea, which probably pains her even more...

Google Hong Kong's doodle for Women's Day

This just clearly illustrates how China -- Chinese men -- view women. While Mao may have said that "women hold up half the sky", he too treated them like toys to play with and discard, according to his doctor's memoir, The Private Life of Chairman Mao...

When will women achieve equality in China?

Zhang Ziyi Says Yes

Fiancee Wang Feng gets down on one knee as he proposes to Zhang Ziyi

The big entertainment news today is that actress Zhang Ziyi is finally getting hitched.

Her rocker boyfriend Wang Feng threw a birthday party for her on the weekend to celebrate turning 36 today.

To top off the festivities, a white drone carrying a basket flew into the room to Wang, 43, where he picked up a small box from it, got down on one knee and proposed to Zhang with a whopping 9.15-carat diamond ring apparently from London's Moussaieff Jewellery and a ruby-diamond bracelet.

What girl who was keen to get married wouldn't say no to that?

Zhang is in complete shock as Wang gets a ring from the drone

The handout picture to the media shows Wang taking the box from the drone and Zhang looking completely surprised, covering her face with her hands and wearing a one-shoulder red dress. It's wonderful to see her unscripted.

The actress and star of such hits as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha and The Grandmaster has had a string of relationships, and from 2008-2010 was engaged to Israeli American billionaire Vivi Nevo where she tried to learn English.

She later dated Chinese TV host Sa Beining in 2011 before moving on to Wang, who was twice married before, divorcing his second wife in 2013. He has two daughters, one from each wife.

Maybe three times lucky for Wang?

On Zhang's Weibo account, she posted a picture of fireworks with "Yes, I will [marry you]".

Wang reposted the picture and added: "Thanks for completing my life. All the hardship is past. From now we are together till we're old.

"We have experienced happy times and bitter times. I hope Ziyi will always have happy times. If we grow old, I will still be able to look after you," he tearfully proposed.

So maybe money isn't what Zhang wants -- according to gossips, she makes 20 times more than Wang.

We wish all the best for the couple -- Zhang has looked a long time for love and hopefully this is it.

Reversal of Fortune

Cameron tries to use the charm offensive in Beijing... but is it enough?

Back in the 1800s, the British plundered China with opium, draining the country of its silver and taking along with it precious antiques, paintings and jewellery.

And now over 200 years later China is like a dog, smelling fear and terrorizing British Prime Minister David Cameron into submission.

He is currently in China with the largest ever British trade mission to the country, with deals worth $5.6 billion signed so far.

However Cameron has had to suffer some humiliation to get the business the UK desperately needs at the moment.

For example, the nationalist paper the Global Times had a commentary with the headline "China won't fall for Cameron's 'sincerity'", and it said Britain should realize that it is not a major power but "just an old European country apt for travel and study".

But that wasn't the worst of it.

Just days before his China trip Cameron set up his Sina Weibo account and already had more than 230,000 followers by Wednesday. He invited netizens to ask questions, saying he would try to rely during his visit.

One of the most popular questions? It was asked by Chinese think tank the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, which is headed by former vice-premier Zeng Peiyan, and members include top government officials and leading economists.

"When will Britain return the illegally plundered artefacts?" the organization asked, referring to the 23,000 items in the British Museum that it claims were stolen by the British Army that put down the Boxer Rebellion at the end of the 19th century.

For the Chinese, the ransacking of the Summer Palace in Beijing by foreigners has always been taught in schools as the ultimate humiliation of the country and the Communist Party constantly refers to this event to prove in recent years how the Party has immensely improved the country's economic and political power in the world.

How Cameron will worm his way out of that one will definitely reveal his political skills. His answer will indicate how much Cameron kowtows to Beijing...