Photoshopping Dissent: Circumventing China’s Censors With Internet Memes

Indeed, netizen participation in China is extra significant considering the country’s reliance on “soft” censorship: A blend of algorithms, firewalls and private business cooperation that allows Internet access but polices content deemed threatening to social stability. The sometimes-goofy, sometimes-incensory meme, a product of photo-editing, moxie and the poetic wordplay characteristic of Mandarin Chinese, effectually slips through the netting of keywords that Chinese censors employ as a last line of defense.