A shaky memory: the function of unreadable signs as Chinese online activism in the case of relaying The Whistle-Giver

Abstract

Abstract On 10 March 2020, The Whistle-Giver 發哨子的人, an online report published by a Chinese state-run magazine, was deleted from WeChat and Weibo. Prior to its deletion, the report was translated, reposted, and widely circulated by Chinese netizens on Chinese social media. This ordinary (to the Western eye, at least) content sharing on social media was carried out in defiance of state censorship. The information contained in the report, which would have been erased were it not for the voluntary transmission of the message, is now part of the collective memory. This research article investigates the functions of unreadable signs in the transformation and diffusion of the original report as a tool of resistance to censorship. These signs ostensibly consist of scrambled codes as well as texts with concrete meanings. This article attempts to elucidate the interrelation between these unreadable signs, their mechanisms of action, and the particulars of this incident. These signs are the means by which the reposts circumvented censorship as they recorded, shaped, and revived memories of this incident. From the perspectives of linguistics, iconology, and rhetoric, the author argues that these signs resisted censorship by repackaging Dr Ai Fen’s individual memories, as contained in the original report. This collection of abstract images then came to constitute a collective memory. Ultimately this kind of activism means that not only the event itself, but also the whole process of transformation will eventually become inaccessible and will be of little help in future. This article aims to resolve the paradox that seems to arise when unreadable signs are intentionally used as a form of activism to resist censorship. Through this analysis, the author aims to provide greater insight into how the link between censorship and forgetting is severed. Finally, this article will demonstrate that translating and relaying, as a form of resistance and online activism, also carry an inherent risk of forgetting.