I first meet "囧" ( pronounced Jiong in Chinese) was one moth ago when I talked online with a young man who is an intern in my company. He sent me a face-like symbol following a request for a permission of absence. I guessed this may be an expression of puzzlement. To my surprise, from then on, I came across this face everywhere on the internet, from MSN, QQ, blog to BBS, from flash game to everyday commodities.

I searched for it online and found this embarrassed looking face is actually an ancient Chinese hieroglyphic character, and it originally means"bright". The big outside pane indicates the house and the smaller one represents the window, where light come through. Yet because of its resemblance to a human face with two drooping eyebrows and a mouth, some Internet users have started using it as an emoticon to express embarrassment. Now, however, the character has been tweaked to represent many other feelings.

A sudden metamorphosis

Why does this uncommon ancient character get so much attention? One saying is that the 囧's prevalence based on a discussion about a Hong Kong actress Hu Xing'er in a famous BBS. People described Hu's expression in one TV series was the same as the 囧. Then other comments about her acting and her face were labeled by the 囧 character. More and more people focused on this square face and more kinds of 囧appeared on the internet.

When we talk about 囧, we cannot mention another famous internet icon—Orz. It was originally from Japan but then spread to China. It illustrates a guy facing left and kneeling on the ground, the "o" is the head, the "r" is the hands and the body while the "z" is the legs. People use this pictograph to show they failed and they are in despair or in a sad mood.

There are many alternative forms of "orz" including "or2", "on_", "OTZ", "OTL", "STO", "JTO" and so on. Inspired from the orz, people use it instead the 囧. Then the “囧rz” appeared.

Following the prevalence of 囧, a discussion about is it right to change Chinese began. Some complained that these developments are twisting the Chinese language, imposing funny, new meanings on a character with its own linguistic roots. Such "innovations" could confuse young people by distorting linguistic history, they say. Supporters, however, say this is only a harmless new cultural phenomenon, giving new life to Chinese language and culture.

A netizen named "Da Jiang"expressed his opinion. He said, though they are uncommon characters, and not used today, the 囧 is a Chinese character from a remote culture. People should give more respect to it. Changing the meaning of a character and spreading it widely on the Internet is not a healthy development.

Zhuo Xiaoyuan, an administrator of online 囧 group, has a totally different attitude on the trend. "It is a good thing," she said “The original character is archaic and almost completely out of use. This Internet revival of the character not only tells people about its history, but also gives new life to it. When people learn abuot 囧, they also interested in related information, such the time when it appeared in ancient times, and its original meaning, and so on.” Zhuo believes it is a kind of cultural transportation.

Expert Lei Hanqing of Sichuan University expressed the same opinion with Zhuo. He said we should see it as an opportunity to educate young people about the long history of the Chinese language and help our language evolve in a healthy, lively manner. For people who don’t understand China’s culture, this may stimulate their interest in Chinese characters.