promoting harmony

Creating dandelions are hardly ever done for good cause, except of course when promoting "harmony." The grass-mud horse could very well be one of the most ingenious dandelions ever created - not only has it gained widespread popularity in China, from children to intellectuals, it could also be the catalyst for an inevitable shift in Chinese power.

This mythical creature has become something of a phenomenon since it first started circulating on the web in January. The fake "grass-mud horse" was created to slip past rigid Chinese government censors since the word sounds awfully close to "f**k your mother" in Chinese, which of course is totally taboo. Now it has become a sort of icon of Chinese resistance. A video children's song, grass-mud horse dolls (see photo below), and even academic papers have sprung up to celebrate the fantastically creepy animal. Watch the video of the children's song.

The grass-mud horse - actually an alpaca - lives in the "Ma Le Ge Bi" desert, which apparently is a subtle variation on "your mother's vagina." The horses' biggest obstacle is defeating the nasty "river crabs" devouring their land. Another pun, "river crabs" sound like "harmony," which in China has become synonymous with censorship. According to the New York Times, banned bloggers often say they've been "harmonized," which pokes fun at their government's censorship as a way of promoting a harmonious society (I imagine the word "censor" might also be banned). In the end, through their "courageous, tenacious" spirit, the grass-mud horses defeat the "river crabs" (censorship) to live happily ever after in "Ma Le Ge Bi" (your mother's you know what).

Pretty clever, right? As Boing Boing says, it's "definitely best misheard lyrics since 'wrapped up like a douche bag in the middle of the night.'" Yeah, you totally know what I mean.