Taken literally, TuAo means "unrefined, backwards Australia".
从字面意思来说,“土澳”指的是“落后、难登大雅之堂的澳大利亚”。
The term’s widespread use in headlines on popular WeChat platforms like Sydney Today is a window into how the hundreds of thousands of Chinese students, graduates and migrants view the country where they reside.
"I feel it refers to how close you are to nature in Australia", said Annie Zhang, a permanent resident and Sydney University graduate who migrated from Beijing.
But she says the term also refers to the "coarse" Australian accent, and the country’s perceived backwardness in everything from urban design to mobile payment technology.
"I’ve heard people say that England is America’s village, and Australia is England’s village, so it’s really rural and unrefined," she said.
她说道:“我听人说英国是美国的农村,而澳大利亚是英国的农村,因此澳大利亚真的是非常落后不发达。”
"China is so grandiose, whereas in Australia there aren’t as many magnificent tall buildings."
“中国雄伟壮丽,而澳大利亚却没几座高楼大厦。”
Each day, tens of thousands of readers of the fast-growing Australian-based Chinese WeChat platforms see clickbait-style headlines referring to TuAo.
每天,澳大利亚的中国微信平台都会发布以“土澳”为标题的内容,这些平台拥有几十万读者且还在继续增长。
Many Chinese migrants say the term is mainly affectionate.
而许多中国移民表示这个词其实表达了对澳大利亚的一往情深。
"Those students who are attracted to Australia, who are interested in facets of Australian life and like it here, they’ll say TuAo," said Josh Rong, a journalist who also studied in Sydney.
Some members of the Chinese community though see the word as representing an increasingly confident nationalism among young Chinese.
但是一些中国人则认为这个词显示了中国年轻人群体之间日益增长的自信民族主义。
"This is a phenomenon for those we call the ’little pinks’," said Feng Chongyi, a Chinese studies professor at the University of Technology, referring to slang for young patriots.
悉尼科技大学中国研究教授张重一表示:“这个现象我们称之为‘小粉红’。”“小粉红”是爱国青年的昵称。
"It’s popular among them, not among the older generations.
“这个词在他们之间很流行,但是在老一辈人中并不是如此。”
"For them, [the term] is also loaded with some political meaning to show their own nationalism — to compare the Chinese modernisation to Australia, which they call a large village."
Chinese internet slang is dynamic and often open to interpretation and regional differences.
中国网络用语的含义是变化的,经常会出现不同的解读和地区差异。
Wai Ling Yeung, a former Chinese studies professor at Curtin University, points out that many Chinese-Australians use the character for village when referring to suburbs.
中国的杨教授曾任科廷大学研究学者,据他指出许多华裔澳大利亚人用“农村”指代郊区。
"Because of that, many China-based netizens think all Australian cities are like country towns, but this is in fact not what Chinese-Australians mean," she said.作者: kobe 时间: 2017-6-14 08:11
She contrasts TuAo with humorous slang used by Chinese abroad in other countries, including FuGuo for Britain, meaning "decadent country" — a coded term believed to refer to the UK’s attitudes towards homosexuality.