Jump to content

Grass Mud Horse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ohconfucius (talk | contribs) at 08:20, 2 April 2009 (status is vulnerable to eradication by River crabs). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Grass Mud Horse
Chinese: 草泥马
File:Cao ni ma.jpg
Cao Ni Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Artiodactyla
Family:
Camelidae
Genus:
Vicugna
Species:
V. sinensis
Binomial name
Vulgaris sinensis
(Baidu, 2009)

The Grass Mud Horse – Cao Ni Ma (Chinese: 草泥马)– is a Chinese Internet meme widely used as symbolic defiance of the widespread Internet censorship in China. It is one of the 10 mythical creatures, and since an article about it was created on Baidu Baike, it has become a cult phenomenon on the internet in China through chat, forums. Videos, cartoons and merchandise of this animal, which apparently resembles the alpaca, and has since received world-wide press attention.

Etymology

Cao Ni Ma (Chinese: 草泥马), literally "Grass Mud Horse", was supposedly a species of alpaca. The name is derived from cào nǐ mā (Chinese: 肏你妈), which translates to "fuck your mother". Note that the comparison with the "animal" name is not an actual homophone, but rather the two terms have the same consonants and vowels with different tones, which are represented by different characters. According to the original article from Baidu Baike [1], they originate from an area known as "Ma Le Ge Bi" (Chinese: 马勒戈壁, English: Mahler Gobi) (resembles 妈了个屄, meaning "your mother's fucking vagina"), and some variants of the animal are known as 沃草泥马 (wò cǎo ní mǎ, resembling 我肏你妈, meaning I fuck your mother), which can only eat fertile grass (沃草 in Chinese), while other variants are known as 狂草泥马 (kuáng cǎo ní mǎ, 狂 meaning "violently" or "insanely"), which are dubbed as the "kings" of the Cao Ni Ma. The initial image found in the original Baidu Baike article was a zebra. This was later turned into an alpaca in subsequent revisions.

Habitat

The Grass Mud Horse is the dominant species which lives within the vast Mahler Gobi desert, and thus the alternate name for the region is called 草泥马戈壁 (Pinyin: cǎo ní mǎ gē bì, Literally "Grass Mud Horse Gobi"). They are able to adapt to harsh conditions, and typically eat grass, as there is little water available in Mahler Gobi. The animal is characterised as "lively, intelligent and tenacious".[2] However, their existence is threatened by the "river crabs" which are invading their habitat.[3]

The river crab, symbolises official censorship: the words (Chinese: 河蟹, Pinyin: héxiè, resemble 和谐 héxié meaning "harmony", in reference to the " harmonious society" which the leadership professes to aspire to; through this subversion, the term has become a euphemism for censorship.[4] while noting that river crabs are depicted wearing three wristwatches, which refer to the Three Represents, where 代表 "represent" and 戴表 "to wear a watch" are homophones).

Spin-offs

File:Cao ni ma CCTV fire.jpg
Photoshopped internet comical drawing, regarding the Beijing Television Cultural Center fire.

Music videos,[5]草泥马之歌动漫版，自备墨镜！！！！！！ - Youtube], as well as "documentaries"[6] and cartoons about "Grass Mud Horse" started appearing on Youtube and elsewhere on the internet.[7] [8] One music video, whose musical arrangement of a children's choir has been likened to It's a Small World,[9] scored some 1.4 million hits; a cartoon attracted a quarter million more views; a nature documentary on its habits received 180,000 more hits.[4]

The "Grass Mud Horse" became widely known on the English-language web following the 11 March 2009 publication of a New York times article on the phenomenon,[4] sparking widespread discussion on blogs. "Grass Mud Horse" themed merchandise, such as plush dolls are selling over the internet.[10]. One Guangzhou toy manufacturer reportedly produced its first batch of 150 Grass Mud Horse cuddly toys with official birth certificates issued by Mahler Gebi Mystical Creatures Reproductive Management Institute. The animals come in brown and white, named Mahle (马勒) and Gebi (歌碧) respectively, and sell for 40 yuan each.[11]

Censored

On 20 March 2009, the New York Times reported that a Chinese contributor to Global Voices posted a message from an Internet administrator to managers of online bulletin boards warning that "any content related with Grass-Mud Horse should not be promoted and hyped" because "the issue has been elevated to a political level ... The overseas media has exaggerated the incident as a confrontation between netizens and the government."[4]

In a press conference on 25 March, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that China's access to Youtube had been officially blocked since two days earlier. According to Reporters Without Borders, the block was an attempt to stem videos showing Chinese repression of the Tibetan population in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 10 March 1959, and to block access to the popular Grass Mud Horse video posted in early March.[12]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ 草泥马 - Baidu Baike (Past Screenshot)
  2. ^ Wen Yunchao, Les "lamas boueux" contre les censeurs du Net, France24, 13 March 2009 Template:Fr
  3. ^ Chinese bloggers protest blocking of YouTube, AsiaNews.it, 25 March 2009
  4. ^ a b c d Wines, Michael (11 March 2009). "A Dirty Pun Tweaks China's Online Censors". New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  5. ^ 童声合唱《草泥马之歌》 "The Grass Mud Horse song, by a children's choir - Youtube
  6. ^ 2009科普之--草泥马(原创整理)
  7. ^ 动物世界特别篇 马勒戈壁上的草泥马! - Youtube
  8. ^ 什么是草泥马 - Youtube
  9. ^ F*ck Your Mother Ship, F*ck Censorship, Huffington Post, March 17, 2009
  10. ^ Plush Your Mother: Grass Mud Horse Dolls In China
  11. ^ 80后开发广州版“草泥马”, Nandu Daily, 5 March 2009. “出生证”上盖着鲜红的大印，上写“马勒戈壁神兽管理局计划生育专用章”
  12. ^ Government blocks access to YouTube, Reporters Without Borders, 25 March 2009
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grass_Mud_Horse&oldid=281253722"