Giving politicians nicknames is a contemporary Chinese cultural phenomenon. However, unlike their counterparts in the West, such as Donald Trump calling Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe”, these nicknames are completely censored in Chinese media and banned on the Chinese Internet in general. The nicknames of Xi Jinping are rich in historical, political, and cultural context. Knowledge of Chinese history, politics, and the Chinese language is needed to understand them. This article seeks to help readers understand them in context.
Not surprisingly, if you use Baidu, a.k.a. the CCP-approved censored alternative to Google, to search for these surnames, nothing will show up. In this article, I will explain the linguistic, historical, political, and cultural context of many nicknames completely censored on the Chinese Internet. While the level of censorship may differ across different Chinese social media platforms, I believe that Baidu is representative of all Chinese media platforms when it comes to censorship.
Here is a list of 12 nicknames given to Xi Jinping. It is by no means exhaustive:
1. 那位 (nà wèi)
2. 习维尼+维尼大帝 (xí wéi ní + wéi ní dà dì)
3. 习包子+庆丰帝 (xí bāo zi + qìnɡ fēnɡ dì)
4. 小学博士 (xiǎo xué bó shì)
5. 总加速师 (zǒnɡ jiā sù shī)
6. 习禁评 (xí jìn píng)
7. 习泽东 (xí zé dōnɡ)
8. 习特勒 (xí tè lè)
9. 习奥塞斯库 (xí ào sài sī kù)
10.习武帝 (xí wǔ dì)
11. 独裁国贼 (dú cái ɡuó zéi)
12. 大撒币 (dà sǎ bì)
Before we get started, you should know the basic facts about Chinese names. Chinese names are structured as “surname + first name”. Usually, surnames have only 1 character and first names 2. In this case, Xi Jinping’s surname is 习(xí), and his first name is 近平(jìn píng). Nicknames No. 2-3 and 6-10 keep his surname and change the first name to something else, thus the format “习____”.
No. 1 is technically not a nickname. 那位 (nà wèi) literally means “that person”. The reason I added it to the list of nicknames is because it is the only expression allowed on the Chinese Internet due to its ambiguous nature. It resembles referring to Voldemort as “you-know-who” in Harry Potter.
Because it is perhaps the only reliable way to bypass Internet censorship, it is the most popular. It is also commonly used in face-to-face conversations due to distrust or engrained fear.
No. 2: 习维尼+维尼大帝 (xí wéi ní + wéi ní dà dì). This is perhaps the cutest of them all since 维尼 refers to Winnie-the-Pooh. The origin of this reference can be traced back to the meeting between Xi and Obama in 2013. A photo of them walking together was compared to the bear and his friend Tigger. Here is a comparison from BBC:
Xi tends to depict himself as a serious leader. Apparently, he does not appreciate being satirised online in this way, therefore the censorship of this pair of nicknames. The UK equivalent would be Liz Truss banning the phrase “Liz Truss lettuce”.
维尼大帝 literally translates to Winnie-the-Pooh the Great; only a few Chinese emperors are given the title 大帝, the Chinese equivalent of “the Great”. One could argue that this nickname is somewhat more flattering than the others.
No. 3: 习包子+庆丰帝 (xí bāo zi & qìnɡ fēnɡ dì). These 2 nicknames share a common origin. Back in 2013, Xi visited a restaurant in Beijing called 庆丰包子铺 (qìnɡ fēnɡ bāo zi pù), which literally translates to a shop named 庆丰 selling baozi (or just bao, i.e. steamed stuffed bun). Because it was a show to win the support of the Chinese people, the word 包子 became connected to Xi.
While I do not know for sure if the nickname 庆丰帝 (qìnɡ fēnɡ dì) came after 习包子, it is plausible that this nickname arose after it became clear that Xi is a dictator even worse than his predecessors. 帝 literally means emperor, and it is a tradition to refer to emperors of the past as ____帝.
No. 4: 小学博士 (xiǎo xué bó shì). 小学 means primary school, or in this case, someone with only primary education. 博士 means a person with a doctorate. Put together, it is saying that Xi is a doctor with only primary-school level education. If you search online, it does seem that Xi has a doctorate in law. However, it has been exposed that Xi’s educational level is equivalent to that of a primary school student.
It would usually be too harsh to laugh at a politician’s lack of educational qualifications. But that is not the case with Xi. He frequently brags about an incredible amount of books across numerous genres he has read, ranging from philosophy (like Hegel, which is crazy hard) to plays like Macbeth. Yet he mispronounces words regularly, contradicting his preferred image as a well-educated leader.
No. 5: 总加速师 (zǒnɡ jiā sù shī). 总 means general, as an adjective in front of titles like “general manager”. The phrase 加速师 is not commonly used in Chinese. 加速 literally means “to accelerate”, whereas 师 is a title assigned to a variety of professions, such as engineer (工程师) and lawyer/barrister (律师); this is probably parallel to a reference to Deng Xiaoping, the communist leader commonly referred to as the general designer (总设计师) of “reform and open up” policy.
What is accelerated here is the CCP’s scheme to exert dominance over the free world. A prominent example is the push for policies that would and have changed Hong Kong from a relatively free society to a Chinese city with loads of political censorship and suppression. Some believe that Xi’s actions will accelerate the path of self-destruction of the CCP, possibly through (but not limited to) a war with Western nations over Taiwan.
No. 6: 习禁评 (xí jìn píng). The observant reader might have noticed that the pronunciation of this nickname is identical to Xi’s real name. 禁 means “to prohibit or to ban” and 评 means “to comment” or comments. This nickname highlights how Internet censorship has become increasingly harsh and ridiculous since Xi’s rise to power in the 2010s.
No. 7: 习泽东 (xí zé dōnɡ). This is a reference to 毛泽东 (or Mao as he is known in the West), the communist dictator responsible for more deaths than both Stalin and Hitler (some say more than the two combined). Because of the similarities between Xi’s and Mao’s policies, such as distancing China from the Western world, increasing censorship, and crackdown on human rights activists, many consider Xi a political leader who aspires to be like Mao.
No. 8: 习特勒 (xí tè lè). In Chinese, Hitler is referred to as 希特勒 (xī tè lè). The character 希 is treated as a surname, and 特勒 becomes the first name used in this nickname. It draws a parallel between Xi's government and the Nazi government.
Can you think of a people allegedly being held in concentration camps in China? I know I can. But until the CCP loses control over China, Xi can always play the 'Western journalists don't know what they are talking about' game to discredit all reports detrimental to the 'China is a peace-loving country' narrative.
No. 9: 习奥塞斯库 (xí ào sài sī kù). Only some Western readers can instantly understand this reference because this is a reference to Nicolae Ceaușescu, the last communist leader of Romania who was executed in 1989. Again, the first character of 齐奥塞斯库, the transliteration of Ceaușescu, is replaced with Xi. What is meant by this nickname is self-explanatory.
No. 10: 习武帝 (xí wǔ dì). There was a famous Chinese emperor called 汉武帝(hàn wǔ dì) who greatly expanded the territory of the Han Dynasty and started numerous infrastructure projects, both at unbearable costs to the economy. A parallel can be drawn between them as Xi’s foreign policy also openly demonstrates hostility towards Western nations. The clash at the Consulate General of China, Manchester is an example. Check how a protestor was dragged onto the consulate ground to be beaten (BBC news article).
No. 11: 独裁国贼 (dú cái ɡuó zéi). 独裁 means dictatorial. 国贼 means a person with enormous political power that betrays the nation. Xi was referred to as such in October 2022 (Beijing Sitong Bridge protest) by a single protestor on a bridge in Beijing, sparking the white paper protests (or A4 revolution).
You may still remember the posters on campus around that time put up by some Chinese students and torn down by other Chinese students. The slogan above was used during that time.
No. 12: 大撒币 (dà sǎ bì). This is a wordplay. On the surface, 撒币 refers to the action of scattering money onto a surface, and 大 means the scale of the action is massive. It is a metaphor for the CCP’s policy of providing tremendous financial aid to countries like North Korea at the expense of the Chinese economy. On the other hand, its pronunciation is similar to a swear word in Chinese Mandarin, namely 大傻逼 (dà shǎ bī).
A friendly reminder: don’t use 大傻逼 (dà shǎ bī) as it sometimes demonstrates hatred and/or disgust towards the subject.
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I do not know if giving politicians a ton of derogatory nicknames is a uniquely Chinese phenomenon. However, it is plausible to argue that those nicknames bear witness to the communist rule of China. But for you guys, this is primarily trivia to be shared with friends during drinking games.
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