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Yesterday, the world rejoiced at the news of Liu Xiaobo's being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010. In China, however, the cyber police and media censors swung into frantic action to prevent word of this important event from being communicated to its 1.4 billion citizens. They cordoned off the area where Liu's wife, Liu Xia, lives, and then whisked her off to an undisclosed location so that the press and television could not interview her. Liu himself may still not know that he is the Peace Prize laureate. And anyone who celebrates the award or mentions Liu's name (certainly not approvingly) is likely to end up in prison just like him. Even Han Han, China's most formidable blogger, who seems to be able to say more than anyone else about contemporary life in China (but always most subtly and indirectly), was extremely careful about how he broached the subject: see here and here. (You must look very carefully to see what Han Han wrote).

Of course, the people of China are not stupid, nor are they fools, so they invariably find out what is going on and devise means for discussing it.

Here are some of the circumlocutions for Liu Xiaobo that have been swirling around the Chinese Internet:

Hanyu 汉语/Chinese:

Middle Sinitic 中古汉语：Lieu Hëux-pua

Wu 吴语：Leu Shiau-pu

Cantonese 粤语：Lau Hiu-bo

Minnan 闽南语：Lâu Hiáu-po

Hainan 海南话：Lao Rao-bo

Dalian 大连话：Liu Xiao-ber

Chongqing 重庆话：Liew Ciaor-bo

National Romanization 国语罗马字：Lyou Sheaubuo

Wade-Giles 威妥玛式：Liu Hsiao-Po

印欧语/Indo European:

English 英语：MINI BALL LIU or DAWN WAVE LIU

German 德语：Liu Schaubo

French 法语：Lïu Chopo

Spanish 西班牙语：Liu Giaobo

Italian 意大利语：Liu Sciopo

Romanian 罗马尼亚语：Liu Şeapo

Russian 俄语：Лю Сяобо

Czech 捷克语：Liou Siaopo

闪含语 Semitic:

Arabic 阿拉伯语：ليو قزايبو

Hebrew 希伯来语：ליו_שיאבו

汉字文化圈 other East Asian languages:

Japanese 日语：りゅう しょうは/ リュウ シャオボー

Korean 韩语：류 샤오보

Vietnamese 越南语：Lưu Hiểu Ba

Esperanto 世界语：Ljoŭ Ŝjaŭ-Bŭo

Anything to avoid writing "Liu Xiaobo," "刘晓波" (simplified), "劉曉波" (traditional), Liú Xiǎobō (Pinyin), because these would immediately be picked up by the cyber police.

Before closing, it is my duty to explain how to pronounce Liu Xiaobo's name, since I've heard it mangled by most spokesmen and commentators in recent days. Here is the "textbook" IPA transcription for the Modern Standard Mandarin pronunciation of the three syllables of Liu Xiaobo's name:

/ljou/ (tone 2, "35")

/ɕjɑu/ (tone 3, "214" or "21")

/pɔ/ (tone 1, "55")

If you don't know how to read off IPA, then here are "spellers" for the three syllables:

LEE-OWE (pronounced as one syllable); many people are confused by the final "u," which doesn't sound like a "u" at all, but rather like a long "o".

SHE-OW (pronounced as one syllable).

BO (like "boy" with the "y" lopped off)

And here are a couple of recordings. The first one is a woman from Taiwan:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The second one is a speaker from Beijing:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[Thanks to Jiahong Yuan, Zhao Lu, Jing Wen, Sophie Wei, Rebecca Fu, Brendan O'Kane, and Mi You]

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