Shanghai Shenhua’s Wen Jiabao – the left back whose name China’s football fans dare not speak
- Shanghai Shenhua signing Wen Jiabao’s name shares the same characters as China’s sixth premier forcing fans to be creative
- Censorship on Chinese social media is widespread and well documented with Winnie the Pooh and Peppa Pig banned in recent years
What’s in a name? For Shanghai Shenhua full back Wen Jiabao, it is a source of consternation for supporters of the Chinese Super League side on social media.
Wen shares the same characters as China’s sixth premier Wen Jiabao, who was second in command to Hu Jintao from 2002 to 2012. The similarity to the politician, who was regarded as “the people’s premier” during his time in office, has forced football fans to find a way around falling foul of the censors when discussing the new signing.
“A good indication of where China is at these days – Shenhua's recent signing Wen Jiabao shares exact same name as China's former premier 温家宝 – fans discussing the left back are using various euphemisms to refer to him to avoid attracting attention from any censors,” Wild East Football editor Cameron Wilson tweeted.
Among other names. fans have referred to the player as “Wen Xiaojiang” – the latter term meaning “little general”, a term often handed to young players.
