Mythical Beast Bedevils Chinese Censors

The Yake lizard is the latest creation of China’s nimble and imaginative netizens as a way to poke fun at the authorities and their bid to corral online debate and to block access to sites the censors deem inappropriate.

Internet satirists were inspired by the language used by a Uighur artist performing on the Spring Festival Gala show, the annual Chinese New Year’s Eve jamboree created and broadcast by China Central Television to entertain viewers gathered at home for the most important festival of the year. Watched by the largest television audience on Earth, it is an opportunity for wholesome family entertainment peppered with propaganda.

When the artist from the restive, mainly Muslim western Xinjiang region performed the song “The Party’s Policies are yakexi” – using the Uighur word for “good,” Chinese netizens were not convinced. After all, seven months ago angry Uighurs took to the streets, leaving nearly 200 people - mostly Han Chinese- dead after a night of rioting.

Netizens pounced on the word to ridicule the song – and the censors. They soon found a suitable pun, since Chinese is a language rich in homonyms, and the Uighur word became Yake lizard. The word “xi” in Chinese can mean lizard.

China’s most popular blogger, the youthful writer and racing driver Han Han, then set up a competition, offering 5,000 yuan to the creator of the best new lyrics for the song – although the chorus line was not to be changed.

The first verse of the official song goes: “I, Maimaiti, am full of joy, With my donkey I am going to town, Brand new bank notes on my shoulder, Filled to bursting with renminbi. What is yakexi, what is yakexi? The Party’s policies are yakexi.”

One contestant suggested a change to: “House prices are high, too-small homes are widespread, people’s lives have again become an abyss of suffering, What is yakexi, what is yakexi? The Party’s policies are yakexi.”

The censors are already trying to erase many such satirical postings. Han Han has changed the rules of his competition slightly, saying he would now be the only judge “because the word ‘yakexi’ could lead to some rather sensitive words so I won’t involve others”. His posting blog has already received half a million hits and more than 15,000 comments.

All this has helped to ensure the Yake lizard has become an internet mascot within the confines of the Great Firewall of China. Blogs and chatrooms have created certain characteristics for the legendary lizard. One noted that the creature used to flourish in the Soviet Union but was now virtually extinct there and to be found mainly in mainland China, North Korea and Cuba.

The censors are racing to keep pace.