SARFT to ban Internet slang on screen and ads

Use of Internet slang and non-standardized Chinese on media programs and advertisements will be banned.

According to a notice issued by State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, use of words, terms and proverbs and other phrases must follow standardized rules in the Chinese language. Arbitrary changes to character, structures and meanings of Chinese terms, addition of Internet slang or foreign language in existing Chinese proverbs, and mimicking Chinese proverbs using Internet slang or similar-sounding characters will be prohibited.

According to the notice, use of the Chinese language in media and advertisements is deviating from the norm and does not comply with National Common Language Law of the People's Republic of China and Regulations on Broadcasting. Characters in terms and proverbs are often changed with similar-sounding ones to create different meanings. These types of slang are often popularized through the Internet and pose a risk to the essence of traditional Chinese culture.

Such phenomenon, which may mislead the public, especially youth, must be rectified, the notice said.

Radio and television broadcasting institutions are asked to inspect the subtitles, images and voice-overs in their programs thoroughly. Content not complying with the norm of Chinese language will not be approved for broadcast in the future.

In experts' eyes

Huang Anjing, executive editor of Yaowen-Jiaozi, a magazine that specialized in correcting typos and misuse of words by artists and writers, said not all Internet slang should be accepted but also said not all should be destroyed with one go.

Many examples of Internet slang in China are abbreviations of longer sentences. Although abbreviations do exist in Chinese, as some of the commonly used terms are actually abbreviated from longer proverbs, standardized rules apply and the intended meanings of abbreviations are clear at first glance.

On the contrary, most Internet slang doesn't usually comply with the structure of proverbs and the imposed meanings of their abbreviations are often vague.

"It is necessary to impose some rules on these terms," Huang said. "But, it is also true that this slang enriched our lives. Some are very innovative, proactive and meaningful."

Chen Zhongyi, director of the Institute of Foreign Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is another expert in linguistics that stresses the importance of protecting culture.

"We must realize the importance of language, and regulatory departments need to realize this too. We cannot let actions that hurt language become 'fashionable.'

"Language is the cornerstone of culture, and our language is facing a big challenge. It is hybridizing and vulgarizing. If we lose language, we will also lose tradition."

Other experts are holding a more optimistic attitude.

"Advertising is a form of art, so play on words should be allowed," the former dean of the School of Mass Media of Huadong Normal University, Wang Xiaoyu, said.

"We must protect our language, but we don't necessarily have to use a stiff and over-conservative attitude to limit and deny the evolution of language," Wang said.

What Internet users say

Weibo user JianguoHuisong: I don't agree with this. Many proverbs came to be from how things were put by the public. Today's popular terms may become mainstream tomorrow, and besides, many of them are meaningful. But of course, they need to stand the test of time. Suppressing the formation of something is forcefully controlling the development of culture.

Weibo user Qianqian: I agree. It'd be disastrous if these terms made their way into our dictionary.

Weibo user YiQianLingChan: Culture filters itself. What's filtering culture is those who live in it. They will decide what stays and what goes.

Weibo user Yanzi360: It doesn't need to be this extreme. It'll depend on the type of program. I think it's fine to use them for entertainment. The world should be diverse.