Great Translation Movement
Date | Started February 2022 |
---|---|
Location | China |
Type | Anti-war movement, Anti-censorship Movement, Political movement |
Cause | Russian invasion of Ukraine, Propaganda in China |
The Great Translation Movement
History
Establishment on Reddit (February 24–March 2)
The Great Translation Movement originated on several Chinese-language
One of the participant subreddits, r/ChonglangTV, was known to espouse extreme anti-Chinese sentiment despite being a Chinese-language subreddit, with statements supportive of the
Reddit ban and shift to other platforms (March 2–March 8)
On March 2, one of the
Reactions
Overseas Chinese
Positive
Political scholar Cai Xia, a former professor at the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, expressed support for the movement. She made the following comment:
...This translation not only exposes the CCP's totalitarian ideology that poisons the Chinese people, ...it also reminds global governments and people to be wary of the infiltration and poisoning of the CCP's external propaganda, false information, false narratives, and misleading public opinion space.[14]
Also, some Chinese dissidents support the movement because it creates "a dilemma for Chinese censorship authorities."[15] Censoring extremist or disturbing content written by Chinese nationalists could alienate CCP supporters, but not censoring such content ends up constituting tacit approval.[15]
Negative
Criticisms of the movement on Chinese-language WeChat boards contend that the movement will intensify xenophobia and racism against Asian Americans.[12] Furthermore, DW also noted that misogynistic comments about Ukrainian women were not just limited to mainland China, but Taiwan as well, with some Chinese officials even accusing "Taiwanese separatists" of pretending to be mainland Chinese while posting such comments.[16]
Han Yang, a former Chinese diplomat who now supports the Great Translation Movement, has stated that he disagrees with the desire of some members of the movement to paint the Chinese people as cruel and bloodthirsty, which he believes helps Chinese state-run media discredit the movement.[17]
Chinese government and state media
Chinese state media criticized the movement and described it as "cherry picked content".[3][18] The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the People's Daily, claimed that the movement is "a farce" backed by western media such as Voice of America that is selectively translating extreme commentary from the Chinese internet.[18]
Tang Jingtai, writing at
Other
CNN noted that media experts cautioned that "the posts do not show a holistic view of public opinion in China and appear to at least partially be selected for shock value -- but could still be useful in bringing these elements of China's media sphere to light." They also noted the group's own biases, such as its comparisons of China with Nazi Germany.[3]
Experts warned against taking the translations the group publishes as representative of public opinion.[6] David Bandurski, director of the China Media Project, said that while the account has been important in highlighting state media voices, the content should not be taken as representative of the Chinese public, giving a comparison about taking ultraconservative voices in the US media as representative of the US perspective.[6]
According to Xiao Qiang of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the Great Translation Movement "disrupted the Chinese government's communication machine...[t]hat's why it's so upset."[2]
See also
- China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Freedom pineapples
- Jixian Wang
- Milk Tea Alliance
- Middle East Media Research Institute
- NAFO (group)
References
- ^ Hsia Hsiao-hwa (2022-03-15). "Anonymous account translates China's online discourse on Ukraine". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ from the original on 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2022-05-20.
- ^ a b c d McCarthy, Simone (April 13, 2022). "Twitter users are exposing pro-Russian sentiment in China, and Beijing is not happy". CNN. Archived from the original on 2022-04-25. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ^ Jung, Chauncey (April 5, 2022). "The Great Translation Movement Shines a Spotlight on China's Propaganda". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 2022-04-14. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ^ "China's pro-Russia propaganda exposed by online activists". The Guardian. 2022-05-10. Archived from the original on 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ a b c Sun, Weiloon. "An anonymous Twitter account built 60,000 followers translating Chinese propaganda about the Ukraine war and is setting off an international firestorm". CNN. Archived from the original on 2022-06-05. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
- ^ McLaughlin, Timothy (May 21, 2022). "The Volunteer Movement Enraging China". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
- ^ "告诉世界中国人怎么看战争: 网上兴起"大翻译运动"". Radio Free Asia (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 2022-04-25. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ "大翻译运动:告诉世界中国人怎么看战争 | DW | 12.03.2022". Deutsche Welle (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ a b 自由時報電子報 (2022-03-13). "歌頌侵略!小粉紅舔「俄爹」 「大翻譯運動」讓他們海外現形 - 國際". 自由時報電子報 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
- ^ a b c d "聲援烏克蘭Reddit中文社區 「衝浪TV」遭封殺 疑涉中共長臂審查" [In solidarity with the Ukrainian Reddit Chinese community, "Chonglang TV" was blocked, suspected of being involved in the CCP's long-arm censorship]. Radio Free Asia. 2022-03-04. Archived from the original on 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
- ^ a b 刘文 (2022-03-12). "大翻译运动:告诉世界中国人怎么看战争" [The Great Translation Movement: Tell the world how the Chinese think about war]. Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "本站支持声援乌克兰的大翻译运动:抗议恶意关停冲浪TV,并呼吁中国政府尽早释放品葱团队人员" [This site supports the great translation movement in solidarity with Ukraine: protest against the malicious shutdown of Chonglang TV, and call on the Chinese government to release the members of the Pincong team as soon as possible]. pincong.rocks. Pincong. Archived from the original on 2022-04-16. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ 蔡霞 [@realcaixia] (March 14, 2022). "我赞成网友自发的大翻译运动。这个翻译不仅是揭露中共极权意识形态毒害中国人,使不少中国人思想观念包括情感都有扭曲;而且更能提醒全世界各国政府和民众,高度警惕中共大外宣的渗透毒害,警惕中共大外宣的虚假信息、虚假叙事欺骗和误导公共舆论空间。这次俄罗斯侵乌战争,习当局早就开打信息战帮普京" [I agree with the Great Translation Movement that was spontaneously initiated by netizens. This translation not only exposes the CCP’s totalitarian ideology that poisons the Chinese people [nationality], and distorts many Chinese people’s [nationality] ideas, including their emotions; it also reminds governments and people around the world to be highly vigilant against the infiltration and poisoning of the CCP’s external propaganda, and to be wary of the CCP’s False information, false narratives, and misleading public opinion space. In this Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Xi authorities have long started an information war to help Putin] (Tweet) (in Chinese). Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b "The Chinese great translation movement: Exposing Chinese propaganda or spreading hate?". Global Voices. 2022-03-22. Archived from the original on 2022-04-03. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "兩岸「烏克蘭美女」言論惹議 專家:突顯長久問題". Deutsche Welle (in Chinese (China)). March 7, 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ Angela, Yang. "The Twitter account giving a window into China's internet". NBC News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
- ^ a b "大翻译运动向全球展现中国网民言论 指中国官媒"说谎"" [The Great Translation Movement shows the world what Chinese netizens say, accusing Chinese state media of "lying"]. Radio France Internationale (in Simplified Chinese). 2022-03-28. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ^ "When Translation Misleads". Sixth Tone. 8 September 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
- ^ Zheng Chuang (2022-04-28). "全球舆观|警惕!反华舆论战"大翻译运动"中出现的新动向". The Paper. Archived from the original on 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-09-12.