CityU releases 2015 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters

“National security bill” was the hottest new word in the Pan-Chinese media, and “lead disaster”, “Hatano card”, “Olympic Blue” and “Chins-up tribe” were respectively the top new words in Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, and Shanghai, according to the 2015 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters released by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 4 February.

 

The rosters are based on the LIVAC synchronous corpus in Chinese (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIVAC_Synchronous_Corpus) created by Professor Benjamin T’sou Ka-yin, Emeritus Professor of CityU’s Department of Linguistics and Translation.

 

The rosters are based on the frequency of occurrences of new words in Chinese-language newspapers in the Pan-Chinese region. The following table shows the five most prominent new words for the Pan-Chinese area and each of the four regions:

 

 

New words provide a kind of social and cultural dynamic indicator for a society. The Pan-Chinese region witnessed an eventful 2015 with influential political and social events helping to produce many new words, according to the LIVAC team.

 

“The new words appearing in Hong Kong and Taiwan rosters are concerned with politics and people’s livelihood, while those related to people’s daily lives dominate the Beijing and Shanghai rosters,” Professor T’sou said.

 

For example, the new “National security bill” engineered by the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Shinzō Abe, drew the most media attention in the Pan-Chinese region.

 

“The realisation of the ‘Xi-Ma meeting’ following the ‘Xi-Chu meeting’ has the potential to impact cross-strait relations,” Professor T’sou said.

 

In addition, new words relating to natural disasters, which caused enormous loss of life and destruction of property, such as “Dust explosion” at the Formosa Fun Coast in Taiwan and the “Tianjin explosion”, have impacted the feelings of people across the Taiwan Strait, the rosters suggest.

 

The “drinking-water lead scare” was one of the most significant incidents in Hong Kong in 2015, causing a great deal of concern among the population and leading to the emergence of related new words such as “lead disaster” and “lead panic”, among others. Meanwhile, the “Umbrella Movement” of 2014 has continued to develop and a new group of young political figures called the “Umbrella Tribe” have started to participate in the Hong Kong district council election.

 

In the economic arena, the “rent reduction trend” in Hong Kong shops and the “one trip per week” policy initiated by the mainland government emerged. Another hot topic was the complex political issue concerning the appointment of a Vice-President at the Council of the University of Hong Kong.

 

The Taipei media emphasized the controversial “Hatano card” in 2015 after the EasyCard Corporation issued travel cards depicting Japanese pornographic actress Hatano Yui. The proposal of “One China, one definition” advanced by Taiwanese politician Ms Hung Hsiu-chu caused great controversy. Considering the profound influence of the “Xi-Ma” and “Xi-Chu” meetings, the discussion of a possible “Tsai-Xi” meeting between Ms Tsai Ing-wen, the newly elected President of Taiwan, and Mr Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, is expected to get under way. The scandal of the Apache chopper visit showed a lack of discipline in Taiwan’s military, Professor T’sou said.

 

Beijing’s successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics turned the public’s attention to the expectation of “Olympic Blue”. The “Cut-hand Party”, members of which are obsessed with online overseas shopping, broke shopping records on 11 November. The promotion of “Three Networks and One Industrialisation” and industrial cooperation between China and Africa reflects the promising overall development of new strategic Sino-Africa relations. Benefiting people’s daily life, the policy of “fee reduction, but speed increase” issued by the three biggest telecom operators and “web-based car rental” in mainland China gained popularity.

 

The emergence of “Chins-up Tribe” in Shanghai is a strong message of positive energy as opposed to “Heads-bow Tribe” whose members are addicted to looking down at smartphones. The People’s Court of Shanghai took coercive measures called “Salary Project” about cases involving unpaid wages, and guaranteed the rights of the working-class. “Internet play drama” adapted from original internet novels has gained many followers on the mainland. In addition, in recent years, with reference to air pollution, Shanghai has been affected by haze. Therefore, in anticipation of the new Disneyland in Shanghai, citizens are hoping for “Disney Blue”, as in the case of “Olympic Blue”.

 

The LIVAC New Word Rosters are based on analyses of the print media materials processed by the LIVAC (Linguistic Variations in Chinese Speech Communities) database which systematically screens and analyses words used by the press in the Pan-Chinese region including Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei.

 

Since 1993, the database has analysed over 550 million words from the major press outlets in the Pan-Chinese region and has continuously accumulated nearly 2 million words in the LIVAC dictionary.

 

The relevant meaning and background information on the new words can be found in the appendix (in Chinese only) and the website http://www.livac.org.

 

Media enquiries:

Professor Benjamin T’sou, Department of Linguistics and Translation, CityU (Tel: 886-0978-940631 or 852-23848839)

 

4 February 2016

 

Appendix: Explanations of 2015 LIVAC Pan-Chinese New Word Rosters (in Chinese only)

1.      安保法：2015年9月15日，日本強行通過新的《安保法》，解禁軍國主義，強化日本在美日同盟軍事角色，允許日本在沒被攻擊的情況下出兵海外。

 

2.      習朱會：2015年5月4日，中共中央總書記習近平在北京會見了來自台灣的中國國民黨主席朱立倫，這次會見是兩岸執政黨領導人60多年來的首次會面。

3.      津爆：2015年8月12日，天津濱海新區化學品倉庫發生大爆炸，造成重大財產損失和人命傷亡，震驚中外。

4.      塵爆：2015年6月27日，台灣新北市八仙樂園游泳池彩色派對活動發生粉塵爆炸導致火災事故，造成15死484傷，是繼1999年921大地震以來台灣受傷人數最多的意外。

 

5.      私租車：利用私家車等「社會車輛」從事出租車服務，在法例上涉嫌非法營運。

 

1.      鉛禍：2015年7月香港多座公共屋邨被驗出食水含鉛量超標，引發民眾「鉛慌」的恐慌，有關方面查找「鉛因」，安排受影響的民眾驗血，追查「鉛兇」，造成「聞鉛色變」。

 

2.      雨傘族：2014年「佔中」事件形成的「雨傘運動」促成一批年輕人參政，他們成立新組織，參與區議會選舉等，被稱為「雨傘族」、「傘族」、「傘民」、「傘兵」等。

 

3.      減租潮：2015年上半年以來，香港消費力顯著減弱，經濟環境不明朗，不少店舖倒閉，街舖、樓房、車位等相繼出現連環減租，被稱為「減租潮」。

4.      首副：香港大學校務委員會在討論任命副校長時，以「需要先聘任首席副校長(等埋首副)」為理由，推遲處理副校長聘任事宜。

5.      一周一行：2015年4月3日，大陸為打擊水貨客問題，收緊深圳居民「一簽多行」赴港簽注，改為「一周一行」。

 

1.      波多野卡：2015年9月，台灣悠遊卡公司發行以日本AV女優波多野結衣為封面的公益悠遊卡，引發搶購熱潮，也引起社會上極大爭議。

 

2.      一中同表：宣佈參與國民黨2016總統初選的立法院副院長洪秀柱提出「一中同表」處理海峽兩岸關係問題的新主張，認為兩岸皆是「整個中國」的一部份，二者在各自領域有完整的管轄權，互不隸屬，同時，二者擱置對「整個中國」的主權的爭議。

3.      蔡習會：民進黨主席蔡英文在評論「習馬會」時，提出當選總統後不排除「蔡習會」的可能性。

4.      賞機團：台灣一名陸軍中校未經核准，私自帶領藝人親朋進入陸軍601旅參觀AH-64E阿帕契攻擊直升機，嚴重侵害國防安全，引發社會爭議，被稱為「阿帕契賞機團」案。

5.      健康袋：台灣宜蘭推出「健康袋」，內裏裝有學童從小健康紀錄，鼓勵家長持「袋」到各區醫院就診，除將享有優惠，也讓院方依完整記錄更精準診斷孩子病情。

 

1.      奧林匹克藍：北京與張家口成功申辦2022年冬季奧運，有關負責人表示將落實空氣治理，稱北京屆時不僅會有「APEC藍」，還會有「奧林匹克藍」。

 

2.      剁手黨：指沉溺於網絡購物的人群，以女性居多。他們每日流連於各網絡購物站，樂於比價購物，造成大量金錢、時間的損失。

3.      三網一化：中國與非洲在高速鐵路、高速公路、區域航空網絡以及基礎設施工業化等的合作，稱為「三網一化」，以推動中非新型戰略夥伴關係全面發展。

4.      降費提速：根據2015年4月以來國務院總理李克強兩次講話，中國電信、中國移動、中國聯通三大電信運營商分別發佈數據流量業務「降費提速」具體方案。

 

5.      網約車：依托互聯網技術和道路交通基礎設施，為出行者提供交通運輸服務，本質上就是出租汽車服務。

 

1.      抬頭族：有別於沉迷於手機等電子產品線上娛樂的「低頭族」，有些人堅持線下娛樂，他們更多地在保健、養生和教育培訓上消費，或者把錢更多地花在旅遊和家電上，被稱為「抬頭族」。

 

2.      民薪工程：上海法院針對追索勞動報酬、贍養費等民生案件執行啟動的專項工程，包括提前介入、集中執行、司法救助、專門辦理、快速執行等配套機制，對一系列涉及民生案件進行集中執行，對拒不履行的「老賴」採取強制措施，稱為「民薪工程」。

3.      IP劇：指在有一定粉絲數量基礎上的原創網絡小說、遊戲、動漫為題材創作改編而成的影視劇，因其IP背後有成千上萬的熱情粉絲，而有不容小覷的消費能力。

4.      迪士尼藍：為明年上海迪士尼主題公園順利開幕，上海市政府決定仿效北京，關閉迪士尼公園周邊的百多家工廠，確保中國的迪士尼出現「迪士尼藍」的天空。

5.      坑二代：現今社會上有些條件優越的家庭，子女自小受到父母嬌縱、溺愛，享受強大的社會背景和超脫的各種特權，養成任性、放蕩不羈的個性，進而做出一些逾越道德、法律的事情，反過來連累父母的惡劣生態，稱為「坑二代」。