Communist bandit

"Communist bandit" (Chinese: 共匪; pinyin: gòngfěi) is an anti-communist epithet directed at the Chinese Communist Party. The term originated from the Nationalist Government in 1927. Nowadays outside mainland China, some Chinese people use the term "中共" (literally "Chinese Communist") to refer to Communist China or the Chinese Communist Party. It could also be translated to the English term "commie".[1][2]

Etymology

The characters for "Communist bandits", or gòngfěi, can be analysed in the following manner:[3]

  1. Gòng (Chinese: 共; pinyin: gòng) is a shorter writing for the term meaning "communism" (共產主義).
  2. Fěi (Chinese: 匪; pinyin: fěi) means "bandits". The term of fěi to excoriate the adversary was first used during the Warlord Era, in the form feifei, or "bandit troops".

History

The term of "Communist bandits" to describe the Communist Party of China was first heralded in the tumultuous years of the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists.[3] On July 15, 1947, the Document 0744 ordered the Communist Party and its forces to be called "Communist bandits" as a form of rectification of names, to the exclusion of all other terms, such as "Red bandits" (in Chinese 赤匪).[3] Along with the term fei, the term was used in official documents to describe the authorities established on Mainland China and their agencies, and in several slogans such as "Fight against Gongfei's Animalistic Life".[3] In the 1980s, the term was replaced by "Chinese Communist Authorities".

The term is used today as an insult against Beijing authorities, their sympathizers or just chinese mainlanders, particularly by Taiwanese independentists.[4] In 1996, Microsoft halted sales of its Windows 95 operating system in mainland China due to discoveries that it contained the term in Chinese-language input method software bundled with the operating system following police raids on computer stores.[5][6][7]

In May 2020, it became known that YouTube had been deleting any use of the term since October 2019.[8] Comments containing the phrase would disappear without a given reason shortly after being posted.[9] Alphabet, owner of YouTube, said the removal of such comments was "an error".[8]

There is a pastry shop in Chiayi, Taiwan named 共匪餅 meaning "Communist Bandit Pastries” which makes light of the KMT era propaganda term.[10]

See also

References
  1. 陳茂雄. 馬英九不該過度依賴中共. 蘋果日報. 2008年12月25日.
  2. 钟声. 中共十八大是读懂当代中国的新契机. 人民日报. 2012年10月11日.
  3. Chang, Hui-Ching; Holt, Richard (2014). "Communist bandits (共匪, gongfei) - the evil enemy". Language, Politics and Identity in Taiwan. Routledge. pp. 15–56. ISBN 9781135046354.
  4. "Visit From Chinese 'United Front' Official Sparks Fears in Taiwan". Radio Free Asia. August 25, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  5. TEMPEST, RONE (28 September 1996). "Microsoft Halts Sales of Chinese Windows 95". Los Angeles Times.
  6. "Microsoft Translates 'Oops' Into Chinese Company Software Tags Leaders 'Communist Bandits'". Spokesman.com. September 29, 1996. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  7. "Offending Software Pulled From China". The New York Times. 30 September 1996. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  8. Shead, Sam (2020-05-27). "YouTube automatically deleted comments that criticized China's Communist Party". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  9. Everington, Keoni. "YouTube automatically deletes Chinese epithet 'communist bandit'". Taiwan News. Taiwan News. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  10. Everington, Keoni. "Photo of the Day: 'Communist Bandit Pastries' spotted in Taiwan". www.taiwannews.com.tw. Taiwan News. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
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