Recently, Jiang Zemin, a Chinese politician, and president of China from 1993-2003 has died. Among Chinese social media, themes of toads and frogs have resurfaced in forms of memes to commemorate his death. The Chinese government heavily censors criticism about political figures, and historically, the toad was a meme used to criticize Zemin.
Here, one can see that Jiang resembles a toad because of his big sunglasses that resemble the big eyes of a toad. Although this meme lacks text, it shows how even in an environment of censorship, images can convey ideas and sentiments. This image especially surfaced during the period of the 2014 Hon Kong protests against the Chinese Communist Party. These protests were a reaction to the CCP’s reforms to Hong Kong’s policies on universal suffrage. The memes signified criticism to Jiang and his regime. There is also an element of satire and playfulness to it too that allows it to resonate with many people. In other periods of corruption or dissatisfaction, this meme and themes of a “toad” has continued to resurface online.
It is interesting because images of toads have also resurfaced upon Jiang Ze min’s death in a positive light. This interesting because it shows that memes have the ability to convey different meanings depending on the context.