What does this Chinese poster mean? Propaganda falls flat, withdrawn
An overwhelming majority of commenters saw the poster as a warning sign for potential criminals: break the law and you will face homosexual sexual abuse in prison.
Embarrassed judicial officials in an Inner Mongolia city have taken down a confusing propaganda poster after it was widely ridiculed by internet users, according to whom the poster seemed to hint that inmates in the city's prisons would very likely suffer sexual abuses.
The deputy propaganda chief in the city of Manzhouli on Saturday confirmed that the city’s government had withdrawn a public awareness campaign poster uring locals not to break laws.
The poster starts out: “Manzhouli People's Court reminds city residents to abide by laws, or…” Under those words, two flowers appear side by side: a blooming chrysanthemum with the caption “before prison” and a wilted sunflower labelled “after prison”. In the corner, the emblem of Manzhouli People’s Court is seen.
The simple propaganda poster apparently baffled many online, and led others to draw their own conclusions about its meaning.
Based on their online reactions, an overwhelming majority of commenters appeared to have interpreted the poster as a warning sign for potential criminals: break the law and you will face homosexual sexual abuse in prison. They reached that conclusion because in China's popular internet culture, the word "chrysanthemum" is often used as a veiled reference for "anus," with a heavy sexual connotation.
This conclusion has since lured tens of thousands of internet users and bloggers to chime in on the hot topic, with a majority of them in disbelief but convinced that sexual abuse was indeed the government's true message.