The Great Translation Movement originated on several Chinese-language subreddits.[7] Giving a reason for its founding, a member of the movement said in an interview that hoped that "people in more countries realize that the people of China are not 'warm, hospitable, and gentle' as the CCP's foreign propaganda declares, but instead are a collective that is proud, arrogant, vigorously in love with populism, cruel, bloodthirsty, and completely lacking in sympathy." (希望能够让更多国家的人明白，中国人并不是和中共大外宣当中的形象一样'热情，好客，温良'，而是骄傲，自大，民粹主义兴盛，残忍，嗜血，毫无同情心的集合体).[8][9][10] The person additionally said that he hopes that all those in the world with Chinese heritage can "leave behind these negative emotions, and integrate properly with the civilized world, and be ashamed of their own ignorance".[10] Participants called for commentary that supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Chinese internet to be translated and disseminated on foreign social media platforms. The movement called for monetary support for the Ukrainian people. Within the first week of its establishment, donations made publicly by the organizers on Reddit reached approximately $10,000.[11]
Reddit ban and shift to other platforms (March 2–March 8)
On March 2, one of the subreddits organizing the movement, r/ChonglangTV, was shut down by Reddit for "exposing privacy of others." One of the participants claimed the ban was in response to the doxing of a Weibo user who boasted of having blocked all money transactions via SWIFT from Shanghai to Ukraine.[12][11] A participant of the subreddit told Radio Free Asia that the Reddit ban was due to Chinese long-arm internet censorship.[11] The Great Translation Movement then moved to other platforms such as Twitter and Pincong.[citation needed] On March 19, Pincong employees were detained by the Chinese government after starting a channel for the movement on Pincong's home page.[13]
...This translation not only exposes the CCP's totalitarian ideology that poisons the Chinese people, ...it also reminds global governments and people to be wary of the infiltration and poisoning of the CCP's external propaganda, false information, false narratives, and misleading public opinion space.[14]
Also, some Chinese dissidents support the movement because it creates "a dilemma for Chinese censorship authorities."[15] Censoring extremist or disturbing content written by Chinese nationalists could alienate CCP supporters, but not censoring such content ends up constituting tacit approval.[15]
Negative
Criticisms of the movement on Chinese-language WeChat boards contend that the movement will intensify xenophobia and racism against Asian Americans.[12] Furthermore, DW also noted that misogynistic comments about Ukrainian women were not just limited to mainland China, but Taiwan as well, with some Chinese officials even accusing "Taiwanese separatists" of pretending to be mainland Chinese while posting such comments.[16]
Han Yang, a former Chinese diplomat who now supports the Great Translation Movement, has stated that he disagrees with the desire of some members of the movement to paint the Chinese people as cruel and bloodthirsty, which he believes helps Chinese state-run media discredit the movement.[17]
Chinese government and state media
Chinese state media criticized the movement and described it as "cherry picked content".[3][18] The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the People's Daily, claimed that the movement is "a farce" backed by western media such as Voice of America that is selectively translating extreme commentary from the Chinese internet.[18]
Tang Jingtai, writing at Sixth Tone, an online magazine run by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group, said that TGTM was increasing prejudice against Chinese people by positioning itself as a "hall monitor" for online speech.[19] An editorial posted on The Paper, an online newspaper also run by the Shanghai United Media Group, described the movement as Anti-Russia and Anti-China.[20]
Other
CNN noted that media experts cautioned that "the posts do not show a holistic view of public opinion in China and appear to at least partially be selected for shock value -- but could still be useful in bringing these elements of China's media sphere to light." They also noted the group's own biases, such as its comparisons of China with Nazi Germany.[3]
Experts warned against taking the translations the group publishes as representative of public opinion.[6] David Bandurski, director of the China Media Project, said that while the account has been important in highlighting state media voices, the content should not be taken as representative of the Chinese public, giving a comparison about taking ultraconservative voices in the US media as representative of the US perspective.[6]
^ abc"聲援烏克蘭Reddit中文社區 「衝浪TV」遭封殺 疑涉中共長臂審查" [In solidarity with the Ukrainian Reddit Chinese community, "Chonglang TV" was blocked, suspected of being involved in the CCP's long-arm censorship]. Radio Free Asia. 2022-03-04. Archived from the original on 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
^ ab刘文 (2022-03-12). "大翻译运动：告诉世界中国人怎么看战争" [The Great Translation Movement: Tell the world how the Chinese think about war]. Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
^"本站支持声援乌克兰的大翻译运动：抗议恶意关停冲浪TV，并呼吁中国政府尽早释放品葱团队人员" [This site supports the great translation movement in solidarity with Ukraine: protest against the malicious shutdown of Chonglang TV, and call on the Chinese government to release the members of the Pincong team as soon as possible]. pincong.rocks. Pincong. Archived from the original on 2022-04-16. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
^蔡霞 [@realcaixia] (13 March 2022). "我赞成网友自发的大翻译运动。这个翻译不仅是揭露中共极权意识形态毒害中国人，使不少中国人思想观念包括情感都有扭曲；而且更能提醒全世界各国政府和民众，高度警惕中共大外宣的渗透毒害，警惕中共大外宣的虚假信息、虚假叙事欺骗和误导公共舆论空间。这次俄罗斯侵乌战争，习当局早就开打信息战帮普京" [I agree with the Great Translation Movement that was spontaneously initiated by netizens. This translation not only exposes the CCP’s totalitarian ideology that poisons the Chinese people [nationality], and distorts many Chinese people’s [nationality] ideas, including their emotions; it also reminds governments and people around the world to be highly vigilant against the infiltration and poisoning of the CCP’s external propaganda, and to be wary of the CCP’s False information, false narratives, and misleading public opinion space. In this Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Xi authorities have long started an information war to help Putin] (Tweet) (in Chinese). Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Twitter.
^ ab"大翻译运动向全球展现中国网民言论 指中国官媒"说谎"" [The Great Translation Movement shows the world what Chinese netizens say, accusing Chinese state media of "lying"]. Radio France Internationale (in Simplified Chinese). 2022-03-28. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
