China last week announced that "zhen" — a term officially defined as “self-inspire” — is the Chinese character of the year. The reaction online has been less than enthusiastic.
China conducts an annual survey to choose characters and words that reflect the public’s prevailing sentiment or buzzworthy developments regarding the outgoing year. The government officially approves the final list, but not everyone on China’s highly censored internet celebrated the picks.
"Fake and empty," said one message on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
A Weibo blogger announced that his Chinese character of the year is "Hao," meaning "so," and that his words of the year are "so cold," "so poor," "so sleepy," "so tired," "so hungry," "so boring," "so cold," "so poor" and "so sleepy."
Chinese state media said in the December 20 announcement the pick of “zhen” reflects the success of China's Belt and Road Initiative, people's love of sports and low-cost tourism, and China’s resilience.
An article from China state media said, "The road ahead will be full of dangers and bumps. Whether it is a country or an individual, if you remain true to your heart when faced with challenges, persevere in the face of wind and rain, and gain every inch of joy, you will be worthy of the character 'Zhen.'"
Also "Wei," meaning "danger"
This year the official list of terms also includes the international Chinese character of the year: "Wei," meaning "danger."
"High-quality development" and "ChatGPT" were respectively selected as the domestic and international words of the year.
State media said the “danger” pick reflects events such as the Israel-Hamas conflict and Japan's discharge of nuclear wastewater. The progress of artificial intelligence technology, such as ChatGPT, has also brought uncertainty to the future.
Chinese internet users, known as netizens, called the annual exercise self-deceiving.
On Zhihu, the Chinese equivalent of Quora, a question-and-answer site, a netizen pointed out that 2023 is the first year since China's draconian pandemic controls and that problems such as instability in the real estate market, falling birth rates and unemployment among young people worsened.
"It can only be said that 'Zhen' expresses the Chinese people's hopes for the coming year, but it may not truly reflect this year's situation," the netizen wrote.
Another Weibo netizen, reflecting the country’s post-pandemic economic struggles, instead suggested "The Character of the Year: Down. The Word of the Year: a downward spiral."
China's annual characters for the past 10 years have expressed optimistic messages, such as “Meng,” “Lian,” “Xiang” and “Wen,” which respectively stand for "dream," "integrity," "enjoyment" and "stability."
Other character picks of the year
China is not the only country that selects a Chinese character for the year.
Japanese includes Chinese characters as one of three types of the language’s written characters. This year, the Japan Kanji Proficiency Test Association chose “Shui,” meaning “tax.”
In Malaysia, the domestic Character of the Year is "Gui," meaning “expensive.” According to the United Daily News, Wu Tianquan, president of the Chinese Assembly Hall of Malaysia, said, "The word people elected shows that the government must be considerate of the lower-class people and provide more subsidies and welfare funds."
In Taiwan, "Que" was selected as this year's Character of the Year; it means "lack." According to Taiwanese media reports, the elector of this word, Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng, said that rising housing prices, inflation, deadly factory fires and other social problems have made people feel insecure, so the character "Que" is the most representative.
