The Hottest Words Online in 2009

The hostest words/phrases/sayings on Chinese internet in 2009

Please read the Chinese version here. We selected some to translate.

What I’m eating is not noodles, but solitude.

In the early of July, 2009, in a Chinese BBS forum appeared a post with a photo featuring a man eating noodles and the caption that reads, “What I’m eating is not noodles, but solitude.” Then, many other forum users replied to post by imitating this sentence structure, like “What I’am replying is not a post, but solitude.” and “What I’m looking at is not Lou Zhu (the thread starter), but solitude.” Later on July 7, a user serialized a story titled “What I’m playing is not club dance, but solitude.”, which attacked the “Brain Damage (脑残)” culture from different angles using the self-mockery writing technique.

Since then, this punchline has spread across the Chinese internet, and emerged different versions, such as “What I’m smoking is a cigarette, but solitude.”, “What I’m hitting is not keyboard, but solitude.”, etc.

70km/h

In the evening of May 7, 2009, a 25-year-old university student, Tang Zuo, was hit and killed by a modified Mitsubishi Evo Sports car, driven by Hu Bing, a 20 years old sutdent born in a rich family, when racing with two other friends in Wen Er Road, Hang Zhou City. Ironically the next day, the police authorities claimed that the speed of the car estimated was just around 70km/h. This statement arouse the public anger immediately, because the speed was in fact very fast and Tang Zou was flew high into the air upon being hit according to the witnesses, and also because Hu wasn’t arrested right away. So, 70km/h soon became a catchword online, spreading thru the Chinese BBS forums, and netizens often use it to satire the disgraceful relationship between the governments officials and rich families.

87.35%

According to Government new regulation, if there is no BBS license, any BBS forum is not allowed to be online in China. So, many websites were down because of this, including famous ones like BtChina. It has resulted in the public denouncement online. But ironically, a bureau of statistics announced that, there were 87.35% of netizens interviewed in the survey supporting shutting down BtChina. Since some netizens had deja vu upon the figure 87.35%, they searched it on the search engines and surprisingly found that this magic no. 87.35% has been widely used in the results of various official investigations. My God! As soon as this was noticed, 87.35% has become a new catchword online. Netizens often use it to satirize the official surveys.

“Who do you speak for? The Communist Party, or the people?”

On June 17, 2009, the jounalist asked the official, Lu Jun, of Zheng Zhou Urban Planning Bureau to explain the fact that the land for social welfare economic housing was used to build villas by the real estate developer. The official didn’t answer jounalist’s question; instead, he asked, “Who do you want to speak for? The Communist Party, or the common people?” As soon as this report was published, it caused public outcry and sparked the topics around the credibility and the public power of Chinese governments all along online.

“Are you a Communist Party member.”

On November 4, 2009, a newspaper in Zhengzhou city published an article, titled “‘Dog Raising Control Department’ took money from the people, but did not do anything for the people”. The journalist interviewed the official in charge of the fee, Wang Guangqi, in Zhengzhou Bureau of Finance, to question where the “dog raising” control fee (12 millions RMB) was used and went. Surprisingly, Wang didn’t answer the question. Instead, he asked, “Are you a Communist Party member?” And he added, “If you want to interview about the expenses of the fee, you must have the permission of the Party Committee and spokesman of our Bureau first. It violates the rule that you came directly to interview me.” *shocked* This shameless sentence is comparable to Lu Jun’s “Do you want to speak for the Communist Party, or for the people?”.

Don’t be infatuated with your brother. I’m only a legend.

In March, 2009, a web user named “Don’t be infatuated with your brother” posted a thread titled “Don’t be infatuated with your brother. I’m only a legend.” in a famous bbs in China: mop.com, with two yucky pictures attached. This funny line with the sense of narcissism and the two stunning pictures are doomed to be a “legend”, when they soon became the buzzword online that netizens were either using, imitating, or spoofing widely. After that, there are many other versions imitating this sentence’s structure emerged, for example: “Don’t spoof your sister, I’ll let you vomit blood.” and “Don’t be infatuated with your sister, I’m only 19 years old.”

*Note (learnt from a translation from the internet): The form (“your brother”) of avoiding the first person can be either endearing or pompous. Women are advised to change it to “your sister” for customizing.

Jia Junpeng, your mother wants you back home for dinner.

In July, 2009, a post titled “Jia Junpeng, your mother wants you back home for dinner” from a bbs forum for the online game World of Warcraft attracted more than 10,000,000 hits and 300,000 replies in only a few days, which created a miracle on Chinese language internet. This sentence sounds non-sensical and a bit bitter, but aroused the memories buried in our heart about our childhood when playing with friends in the streets.

“This cannot be told in details.”

In the early of year 2009, a TV program “Focus Interview” was reporting Tian Jing Municipality insisted collecting tolls of 55 yuan from each vehicle in the city. When being asked how is the amount of loads that Tian Jing Municipality needs to pay back each year on the construction of roads by the reporter, an official from the city’s Department of Roads, however, replied, “This cannot be told in details.” Soon this line became famous, and is widely used by netizens, even when relating to other things, to sarcasm Chinese governments evade public scrutiny.

“Money Is Not a Problem (or Money Doesn’t Matter)”

The catch line from Zhao Benshan and Xiao Shenyang’s comedy skit in 2009 CCTV Spring Festival Gala became famous on Chinese internet, and made Xiao Shenyang a household name too. This line however carries a sense of sarcasm: It seems, in today’s life, all Chinese common people are becoming phucking rich and money is not a problem anymore.

“Bribery is to boost economic development.”

On November 4, Chongqing Intermediate Court held a hearing accusing Tang Xinsheng, the former standing Deputy Mayor of Tong Nan County, of taking bribes. He was not guilty and defended that what he did is to boost economic development reflecting our cardinal principle that development is the top priority. This is another stunning excuse used by the corrupt officials that has shocked netizens a lot and spread thru the Chinese internet very fast!