Wenziyu

A Chinese phrase, meaning “to incur guilt by one’s words” (also “literary inquisition”).

According to a fascinating post on The China Media Project, the ancient Chinese meaning of wenziyu was that an individual “could incur guilt simply by virtue of inferences the emperor and his associates might make from [his or her] writings.”

However, as the modern Chinese state grapples with the revolution in communication, wenziyu “is now an increasingly popular buzzword denoting official action taken against ordinary citizens who speak their minds in spaces – like blogs, chatrooms and SMS messages – where the line between the personal and the public is blurred.”