New | His codename is 'thick': Xu Caihou inspires veiled online poetry after graft indictment
Bo Xilai, Xi Jinping and the first lady also included in Weibo remarks that skirt political taboos and censorship
Minutes after the Communist Party announced the expulsion of Xu Caihou, the top general and former vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission last night, eloquent puns started spreading through social media and text messaging platforms.
Publicly discussing sensitive political scandals is still a taboo in China, but mainland internet users continue to find ways to get around web censorship and express their insights in mordant sayings.
”The world is neither thick nor thin, but it is flat, and in the end, the earth is round” read one of the most widespread jokes.
Another Weibo user from Anhui province posted, “life cannot be too thin or too thick. A smooth life is much better.”
“Thick” refers to Xu Caihou, as the Chinese character for “hou” means “thick”.
“Thin” in Chinese characters reads as “Bo” and refers to Bo Xilai, the disgraced former Chongqing party chief who was sentenced to life in prison on bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power charges last year.
Both Xu and Bo were members of the powerful Politburo from 2007 to 2012, and Bo once served as the governor of Liaoning province, where Xu was born.