Paid video streaming sites are expected to become popular in China. (Photo : Reuters)
A political adviser calls for stricter control on "vulgar" Internet terms. The use of these slang terms should be better regulated, especially among the media and political figures.
Zhang Huaiqiong, a member of the 12th Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that vulgar, slang words thrown around online are polluting the Chinese language and should be regulated.
An example of this is "diao si," which is used to call someone a loser. Usually, the term is used to deprecate oneself. However, Zhang still likes to see the term banned from the Internet if possible because it is vulgar. "Diao" in Chinese means "penis," so by extension, the term "diao si" is just crude and should not be seen floating around online.
Zhang also thinks that the mainstream media are not being careful with the words they are copying online. Too many crude words are being coined online and then used by the media, which could spread to the public like wildfire and create "linguistic pollution."
Zhang specifically said: "Words that include adapted characters or have obscene meanings are linguistic pollution."
Zhang acknowledges that completely banning these words from being used can be difficult. Some people cannot help but express themselves using these words. However, for Zhang, government units and mainstream media should take it upon themselves to be a cut above the rest and avoid using these words.
"As a rule, neither the mainstream media nor government units should use words with vulgar or crude connotations just to sound up to date," Zhang said. She also believes that more regulations should be established to protect the Chinese language.
Zhang is not the only one in this advocacy. Xu Mofan, an associate professor at East China Normal University's Department of Chinese Language and Literature, agreed with her. She asks that authorities be more mindful of the words they are using and to avoid vulgar terms.
