Julien Chen was getting ready for bed when he learned that one of his favorite Chinese tennis players, Peng Shuai, had made #MeToo allegations against a powerful Chinese official.
朱利安·陈听到他最喜欢的中国网球运动员之一彭帅对一名有权势的中国官员提出“#我也是”指控时,正准备上床睡觉。
A friend told him to check Ms. Peng’s social media account. “There’s a ‘huge melon’ in the tennis circle,” the friend wrote, using the Chinese metaphor for a bombshell.
一个朋友叫他去查看彭帅的社交媒体帐号。那个朋友用一个比喻出了大事的词写道:“网球界有大瓜。”
Mr. Chen couldn’t find anything. He searched the word “tennis,” but Ms. Peng — one of China’s most famous athletes — appeared in barely any results. With stunning efficiency, China’s censors had began scrubbing references to her allegations from the internet.
陈先生什么也没查到。他在网上搜“网球”一词,但检索结果中几乎没有中国最著名的运动员之一彭帅。中国的审查员们已开始以惊人的效率在国内的互联网上删除了所有与她的指控有关的内容。
“All of a sudden, it became a forbidden topic,” Mr. Chen said.
“突然间,一切都不能谈了,”陈先生说。