Duo Maomao

The Chinese name for hide-and-seek (literally, “eluding the cat”) – and the official explanation of how a young Chinese man sustained fatal injuries while in police custody.

The Times of London reported:

The phrase “eluding the cat” – the Chinese name for hide-and-seek – has become one of the hottest search items on the internet in China since 24-year-old Li Qiaoming died of brain injuries four days after he was admitted to hospital on February 8.

Police in southwestern Yunnan province at first said that Mr. Li, arrested for illegally cutting down trees, was injured while playing “eluding the cat” – duo maomao – with other prisoners in a detention centre.

This official explanation of Mr. Li’s death provoked such an online frenzy (more than 35,000 comments were posted to one Web site alone) that the region’s propaganda department invited ten members of the public and three journalists to join an investigative committee.

The Wall Street Journal noted that “eluding the cat” is just the latest meme to sweep Japan: “Doing push-ups” became a popular euphemism for a ridiculous excuse after police linked a young girl’s death to her boyfriend’s exercising; and “getting some soy sauce” became a catchphrase for political apathy when a member of the public questioned by a journalist about a scandal in the news said, “It has nothing to do with me at all! I’m just out to get some soy sauce!”