<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19258">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<H1
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 52px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: bold 2.46em/34px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: -1px; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0.25cm; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=story-header>New Chinese dictionary in row over 'gay' omission</H1><SPAN
style="POSITION: relative; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: 16px/16px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 26px; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); OVERFLOW: auto; BORDER-TOP: black 1px dotted; WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 11px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=byline><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; COLOR: black !important; FONT-SIZE: 1.23em; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility"
class=byline-name>By Viv Marsh</SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; COLOR: black !important"
class=byline-title>BBC News</SPAN></SPAN>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: bold 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
id=story_continues_1 class=introduction>A newly published edition of one of
China's most authoritative dictionaries has already been criticised by rights
campaigners.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">They
complain that it has excluded a definition widely used by homosexuals in China
for "gay".</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">The
word is "tongzhi", whose primary meaning is "comrade", a form of address beloved
of Communists for decades.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">One
of the compilers said they did not want to draw attention to its more colloquial
meaning.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">The
newly revised sixth edition of the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary has 69,000
entries, 13,000 Chinese characters and more than 3,000 new phrases.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">They
include internet slang such as "geili" - meaning awesome - and such non-Chinese
expressions as PM2.5, which refers to a pollution indicator for particulate
matter.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">But
"tongzhi" - in colloquial Chinese the equivalent of "gay" as in "homosexual" -
is not among them.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">Linguist
Jiang Lansheng, one of the compilers of the dictionary, said in a Chinese
television interview: "We knew about the usage but we can't include it."</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"You
can use the word whichever way you like, but we won't put it into a standard
dictionary because we don't want to promote these things. We don't want to draw
attention to these things."</P><SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: bold 1.23em/16px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=cross-head>'Impartial standpoint'</SPAN>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">For
Ding Xueliang, a social sciences professor from Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology, this attitude is not surprising.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"The
use of 'tongzhi' to describe homosexuality started in Hong Kong and Taiwan to
make fun of the mainland's communist terminology because Chinese leaders address
each other using 'tongzhi' meaning 'comrade' - for instance, 'Hu Jintao tongzhi'
or 'Wen Jiabao tongzhi'," he told BBC Chinese.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"So
it's quite normal that the Chinese government doesn't want to take this new
meaning into the dictionary."</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">Some
gay rights campaigners are up in arms.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">One
of them, whose name was given as "Nan Feng", told China's official news agency
Xinhua it was unacceptable that the "gay" meaning of "tongzhi" was excluded from
the dictionary just because of the compilers' own preferences and values.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"Tongzhi
is the most commonly used, non-offensive term used by our circle to refer to
homosexuals," Nan Feng was quoted as saying.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"We
hope the compilers can view the word from an impartial standpoint."</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">The
standard word for "homosexual" in Chinese is "tongxinglian", which translates
literally as "same-sex love". But many gay Chinese are said to view it as too
clinical.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"Tongzhi"
literally means "same will".</P><SPAN
style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: block; FONT: bold 1.23em/16px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
class=cross-head>More support</SPAN>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"
id=story_continues_2>But the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary's omission was not
the first by a 21st Century lexicon.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">The
11th edition of the leading dictionary, Xinhua Zidian, published in 2010, also
excluded the meaning.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">Homosexuality
was illegal in China until 1997, and for several more years it was defined as a
mental disorder.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">Analysts
say some people see the omission of "tongzhi" as proof that Chinese morality is
not moving with the times.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">But
social sciences professor Ding Xueliang thinks the furore over the definition is
also hiding a growing tolerance of gay rights, and a new assertiveness among
Chinese people.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"There
is growing sympathy towards and even support for gay people", he says.
"Otherwise, there would not be so many people out there to protest against this
new edition.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">"But
China still has a long way to go in protecting the rights of gay people in
employment and promotion, and many other aspects of society."</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 24px; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: 13pt/24px Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><A
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18920096">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18920096</A></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Ayaz Ahmad<BR>Lecturer in English<BR>Abdul Wali
Khan University Mardan<BR>PhD Scholar<BR>Area Study Centre <BR>University of
Peshawar (Pakistan)<BR>Cell# +923348432207</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>