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Chinese media mocks government's 'highly valued' clichés
Chinese state media has taken the unusual step of mocking the government's own use of language, with an embarrassing list of bureaucrat-speak.
The public shaming – hosted on the microblog of the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily – came after China's new leaders criticised the culture of long speeches and meetings and urged better governance.
"No speech is not 'important', no applause is not 'warm'," the People's Daily said on its Weibo account, as it poked fun at officialese and invited followers to share the phrases they found most irritating.
"No leader is not 'highly valued', no visit is not 'friendly', no accomplishment is not 'satisfactory', no achievements are not 'tremendous'," it continued.
Commenters ridiculed officials' tendency to give non-answers and criticised tiresome terms thrown around in meetings that dragged on.
"The most common one is 'relevant department'. When it's good news there's a specific department, when it's bad news it's a 'relevant department'," wrote a user named Suzhiqiang.
"The most annoying official-speak is, 'Next I would like to add a few words' ... then half an hour later he is still talking'," said another called Arnold.
A user named Romeo provided a template for meetings: "Vigorously do this ... Thoroughly do that ... Don't do this ... Raise high ... Speed up ... Push forward ... Persevere ... Guarantee ..."
But in turn others derided the effort to put down the officialese.
A poster using the handle "One Who Probes" pointed out: "These official phrases, clichés, empty words, lies, didn't we learn them all from certain newspapers?"
There were around 4,300 submissions as of late Thursday, and a list of comments compiled by a local newspaper was reposted by several outlets, including the state news agency Xinhua.
The publicity around the forum complemented official warnings sounded by the ruling party's new leadership under Xi Jinping, installed in November.
His first remarks as party chief – a plain-spoken 20-minute address – contained little of the Communist terminology or references to socialist figures that filled the speeches of his predecessor Hu Jintao.
A few weeks later state media reported the new top brass as urging party officials to put an end to "pointless" meetings, speeches and other time-wasting events.
Source: AFP
Chinese media mocks government's 'highly valued' clichés - Telegraph
****************************
A nice way of the Communist Party to show some feigned transparency that is meaningless.
But then, in a highly controlled society that is subjected to heavy censorship, these little meaningless things does appear has if a storm has been unleashed and the society getting democratic!
Chinese state media has taken the unusual step of mocking the government's own use of language, with an embarrassing list of bureaucrat-speak.
The public shaming – hosted on the microblog of the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily – came after China's new leaders criticised the culture of long speeches and meetings and urged better governance.
"No speech is not 'important', no applause is not 'warm'," the People's Daily said on its Weibo account, as it poked fun at officialese and invited followers to share the phrases they found most irritating.
"No leader is not 'highly valued', no visit is not 'friendly', no accomplishment is not 'satisfactory', no achievements are not 'tremendous'," it continued.
Commenters ridiculed officials' tendency to give non-answers and criticised tiresome terms thrown around in meetings that dragged on.
"The most common one is 'relevant department'. When it's good news there's a specific department, when it's bad news it's a 'relevant department'," wrote a user named Suzhiqiang.
"The most annoying official-speak is, 'Next I would like to add a few words' ... then half an hour later he is still talking'," said another called Arnold.
A user named Romeo provided a template for meetings: "Vigorously do this ... Thoroughly do that ... Don't do this ... Raise high ... Speed up ... Push forward ... Persevere ... Guarantee ..."
But in turn others derided the effort to put down the officialese.
A poster using the handle "One Who Probes" pointed out: "These official phrases, clichés, empty words, lies, didn't we learn them all from certain newspapers?"
There were around 4,300 submissions as of late Thursday, and a list of comments compiled by a local newspaper was reposted by several outlets, including the state news agency Xinhua.
The publicity around the forum complemented official warnings sounded by the ruling party's new leadership under Xi Jinping, installed in November.
His first remarks as party chief – a plain-spoken 20-minute address – contained little of the Communist terminology or references to socialist figures that filled the speeches of his predecessor Hu Jintao.
A few weeks later state media reported the new top brass as urging party officials to put an end to "pointless" meetings, speeches and other time-wasting events.
Source: AFP
Chinese media mocks government's 'highly valued' clichés - Telegraph
****************************
A nice way of the Communist Party to show some feigned transparency that is meaningless.
But then, in a highly controlled society that is subjected to heavy censorship, these little meaningless things does appear has if a storm has been unleashed and the society getting democratic!
