Terms
There is an alternate official term for the Internet Commentator, as well as several unofficial terms coined by netizens for them:
| Chinese (Simp/Trad) | Pinyin | Literally in English | Commonly in English | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official name (Primary) | 网络评论员/網絡評論員 | wǎnglù pínglùn yuán | Internet commentator | Internet commentator | Abbreviation in Chinese: 网评员/網評員 (wǎng píng yuán) |
| Official name (Secondary) | 网络阅评员/網絡閱評員 | wǎnglù yuè píng yuán | Internet examiner and commentator | N/A | |
| Unofficial term | 五毛党/五毛黨 or simply 五毛 | wǔmáo dǎng or wǔmáo | 5 mao Party or 5 mao | 50 Cent Party | The most common name, pejorative. Other English translation: 50 Cent Army |
| Unofficial term | 网评猿/網評猿 | wǎng píng yuán | Ape who comments on Internet | N/A | Pronounced identically with the above Chinese wǎng píng yuán 网评员 abbreviation, punning yuán (猿 "ape; monkey") for yuán (员 "personnel, staff member"), pejorative |
| Other English terms | 红马甲/紅馬甲, 红卫兵/紅衛兵 | hóng mǎjiǎ, hóng wèibīng | Red vest; Red guard | Red vest, Red vanguard | The Chinese translation for these English terms are rarely used |
Among those names, "50 Cent Party" (五毛党) is the most common and pejorative unofficial term. It was created by Chinese netizens as a satire. Many trace the origin of the "50 cent" name to the salaries at the Publicity Department of Changsha, which according to the English version of Global Times, supplemented Internet Commentators' basic income with 50 cent ("5 mao") per post since October 2004.
The term is derogatorily applied by cynical Chinese netizens to any person who blatantly expresses pro-Communist Party thoughts online. However, there's another word "5 US cent (五美分)" used by some pro-party netizens to denigrate anti-party, pro-democracy comments, with the implication that those commentators are hired by the governments of the United States, Taiwan or other "western" countries. Zhang Shengjun, a professor of international politics at Beijing Normal University published an article Who would be afraid of the cap of "50 Cent Party"? on the Chinese version of Global Times, claiming that spread by western media outfits, "it has become a baton waved towards all Chinese patriots" to make the Chinese government a constant target of criticism.
The Hong Kong-based Apple Daily reported that although a search for "五毛党" ("50 Cent Party" in Chinese) on a search engine produces results, most were inaccessible and had been deleted.
Read more about this topic: 50 Cent Party
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