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It was said that cao ni ma’s biggest enemy was the “river crab,” pronounced he xie, which is similar to the pronunciation of the Mandarin word for harmony. This was a direct parody of former president Hu Jintao’s signature ideology that called for a harmonious Chinese society. Furthermore, cao ni ma worked to defend their “grassland,” which is phonetically similar to free speech. The Grass Mud Horse has been one of the centrepieces of e’gao culture in the Chinese cybersphere. A video about Chinese-speaking regions such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Grass Mud Horse has been used as a sociopolitical tool – an online symbol utilized in offline mobilization. The July 1st, 2009 protests for democracy in Hong Kong, for example, witnessed a group of protestors distributing Hong Kong Identity Cards for cao ni ma (Figure 1), and stuffed Grass Mud Horses (most similar to alpacas or llamas) are still frequently used in protests in the special administrative region.8 Ai Weiwei has also utilized the Grass Mud Horse in contemporary art, with his performance work titled “Grass Mud Horse Covering the Middle” (Figure 2), in which he captures himself posing against a wall completely naked, with nothing but a stuffed alpaca covering his genitalia.9 The title of the piece itself is a playon-words, as “the middle” can also be phonetically altered to sound as a term for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From online viral popularity to offline mobilization in dogmatic and artistic contexts, the legacy of the Grass Mud Horse has persisted in establishing the importance of spoofing culture as a means of political criticism. The Panda Defeats a Superhero The second example of e’gao’s use in a political context comes from online spoofing in the aftermath of Chen Guangcheng’s house arrest in 2011. Chen is a blind Chinese civil rights activist and self-taught lawyer who advocated for women’s rights and land rights for the poor. He was placed under strict house arrest due to a lawsuit he filed against the government in Shandong Province for its alleged
strict adherence to the one-child policy; it was reported that city officials in Linyi forced women to undergo abortions against their will.10 The star of the Batman trilogy, Christian Bale, attempted to visit Chen but was blocked entry by the guards restricting access to Chen’s house. A video showing this incident was captured and broadcast internationally on CNN.11 Comic artist Wang Remon quickly noticed the resemblance of one of the guards—a particularly rotund man dressed in a green coat—with a panda. He distributed a poster online of a fictitious film named Batman vs. Pandaman.12 Quickly, subsequent comic strips and spoof images were created referencing the incident and disseminated online (Figure 3). The heartbreaking reality of Chen’s detention, which included reports of his wife and young daughter being abused and harassed by city officials, became a truth easier to tell through the medium of humour.13 It is critical to note that the presence of Chen’s legacy online has been carefully monitored and curtailed by the state. Not only was his name blocked from web searches, so too were phrases such as “blind man” and “CNN.”14 Thus, the sudden mass creative contributions in the form of spoofing highlighted a participatory environment that stood in solidarity with Chen. In contrast to the official stance of silence from the Chinese government, the popularity of e’gao culture allowed a substantial discussion of a controversial figure, even if done through means of humour. Indeed, the popularity of the Batman vs. Pandaman posters has showcased the impact of e’gao in ensuring political discourse is present in the minds of Chinese citizens, despite attempts by the state to block such criticism in both public and virtual spaces. Little Rabbit Be Good: Alternative History The examples of Grass Mud Horse and Batman vs. Pandaman underline that the most successful evasions of state censorship have occurred under creative circumstances wherein the CCP find it difficult to set up automatic