ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY FOR CHINA WATCHERS (1st edn)

1) Describe What China Is (esp. political system & government)

Autocracy, autocratic
Authoritarian
Beijing regime
Big Brother
Communist China (Cold War term; now back in
vogue)
Corrupt, corruption
Despot, despotic

Dictator(ship), dictatorial
Dystopian
Empire
Fascist
Frankenstein
Genocidal
Iron-fist (rule)
Mouthpiece
Nazi
Opaque
Oppression
Orwellian
Police state
Regime
Repressive
Rogue state
Rubber stamp
Secrecy, secretive
Surveillance state
True colour
Totalitarian
Tyranny, tyrannical

2) Describe Things Chinese or in China

Automaton
Controversial
Cheap
Creepy
Dark
Dirty
Drab
Enigmatic
Fake
Faulty
Filthy
Inscrutable
Low quality
Loud
Noisy
Poor safety record
Potemkin village
Robotic
Shoddy
Show-trial
State-run
Suspicious
Wet market
Wooden

3) Describe What China Does and How (Chinese action and policy)

Abrasive
Absurd
Abuse
Afflict
Aggressive, aggressively
Assertive, assertiveness
Belligerent, belligerence
Blackmail
Bluster
Brainwash(ing)
Brazen
Boycott diplomacy
Break promise
Brutal, brutality
Bully, Bullying

Buy up
Censor, censorship, self-censorship
Cheat, cheating
Chilling (effect)
Chinese influence
Coercion, coercive
Concentration camp
Concerning
Conspiracy theory
Controversial
Covert
Coverup
Crackdown
Dark
Debt trap diplomacy
Deliberately
Detention
Disinformation (campaign)

Disturbing
Draconian
Egregious
Escalate
Farcical
Ferocious
Flagrant
Flood with
Forced (labor, confession)
Gaslighting
Genocide, cultural
Gobble up
Gone rogue
Grey zone coercion/strategy
Harass, harassment
Harrowing
Havest (organs, DNA)
Honey trap
Hoodwink
Hostage diplomacy

Ill-conceived
Impose
Industrial-scale
Infiltrate, infiltration
Influence
Intimidate, intimidation
Insane
Insatiable
Insidious
Interfere, interference
Intrusive
Jingoistic
Lawfare
Lie, lying
Lock up
Malign
Malicious
Manipulate, manipulation
Massacre
Menacing
Militarisation

Misinformation
Nightmarish
Nasty
Nationalistic
Notorious
Obscene
Oppress
Orchestrated
Predatory
Prickly
Propaganda
Prosecute
Provoke, provocative, provocation
Reckless
Repress
Revisionist
Rip off
Ruthless
Sabre rattling
Sabotage
Salami slicing
Self-inflicted
Sharp power

Shocking
Shower (v., with money, largesse)
Silence (v.), silencing
Sinister
Slur
Snatch
Social credit system
Spy, spying
Staged
Statecraft
Steal
Sterilization
Strongarm
Surveillance
Sweeping
Tantrum
Tentacles (of influence)
Theft
Threat, threaten, threatening

Throw its weight around
Tighten (grip)
Torture
Troubling
Unconscionable
Undercut
Unilateral
Unprecedented
Vindictive
Violent
Virulent
Voracious
Wage war
Warfare (political warfare, information warfare, etc.)
Weaponise, weaponisation
Whim
Wolf warrior diplomacy
Worrying

4) Used on People Who Disagree with You

Appeaser
Apologist
Beijing lobby
Beijing shrill
Brainwashed
CCP agent
CCP thug
Genocide denier
Go f**k yourself
Kow-tow to Beijing
Panda hugger
Pro-Beijing
Starry-eyed
Surrender
Tankie
Tenured panda
Turn a blind eye
Show weakness
Wumao

5) Most Important Issues and Topics in/about China

AIDS
Aircraft carrier
Artificial islands
Beidaihe meeting
Belt and Road Initiative
Border dispute
CCP
CCP power struggle
Censorship
Collapse (regime, Three-Gorges Dam)
Cultural Revolution
Currency manipulation
Cyber-attack

Dalai Lama
Democratisation (now rare)
Dissident arrest
Dog-eating
Economic slowdown, hard landing, overheating
Ethnic minority
Falun Gong
Freedom of speech
Gay rights
Genocide
Global Times
Great Firewall
Hong Kong
Hong Kong National Security Law
Hu Xijin
Human rights

Illegal immigrants (now rare)
Intellectual property rights
June 4th anniversary
Labor camp
Mass incident
Migrant worker
Military spending
Minority rights
Nationalism
One-child policy (now rare)
Plague
Pollution (air, land, water)
Princeling
Pro-democracy protest
Racism

Religious freedom
Three-Gorges Dam
South China Sea
Spying
StatisticsSudan Darfur (now rare)
Sweat shop
Taiwan
Tank man
Tiananmen massacre
Tibet
Tributary system
Trade practice
Transparency
Two Sessions
Xi Jinping
Xinjiang (concentration camp, genocide)