Some weeks ago, in a shop selling all kinds of small accessories, my eye fell on this object:
a little cushion shaped hanger, the sort of thing kids here might attach to their cellphone, or, as in my case, attach to the key chain. It caught my eye, firstly because of it’s graphic quality, and secondly it seemed to be a Chinese character, that, at the same time, also clearly is meant to be a face.
On seeing it hanging around my neck, along with my key, my students laughed, and seemed to think it was cool (or ridiculous, I’m not quite sure which) that I was wearing it.
Being curious about this character/face I decided to see what I could find out.
Only to discover, unbeknownst to me, that I was wearing the hippest, subculture internet thingummy of the moment. It’s based on the character 囧.
Pronounced jiong in Mandarin, en gwing in Cantonese, it originally meant “bright” or ” brightness shining from window”. Starting from Taiwan, then spreading to Hong Kong and mainland China, this ancient character, out of use already for many years, gained a new lease of life, and meaning, on internet messageboards. 囧 is used to express shock, embarrasment, surprise, sadness, and stupidity.
According to this article 囧 has moved outside of the internet community and into the off-line world, becoming a valuable asset to brands trying to connect to young internet-savvy consumers.
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So it seems that 囧 is a type of Chinese emoticon. I find it intriguing that a smiley, 
, or any other emoticon, is composed of keyboard characters that are chosen for their shape, not their meaning or sound, in order to convey a sentiment.
Whereas 囧 is an existing character, made up out of radicals, each radical already representing an object, and the combination of these radicals representing the idea “brightness shining from window”. This ancient ideographic character, is then transformed into a pictographic image, with a meaning that now is determined by it’s shape: a sad, surprised face. 囧 :O
added 08 12 2009:
Wang Nan, (student from my class) spewing jiong
(photo by xin xiao yan)
