News: New Chinese words reveal annual hot topics in China
Mentioned in: People’s Daily Online (December 30, 2005)

The Language Information Sciences Research Centre (LISRC) of City University of Hong Kong released a list of popular new Chinese words that have been used in 2005 by Chinese press in the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. Top five new Chinese words on the list are: 入常, 福娃, 歐憲, 豬鏈球菌病, 連胡會. That list of popular new Chinese words revealed the hottest news topics in China throughout 2005.

Here are brief descriptions of those five new Chinese words:

1. 入常 (entering UN Security Council) – referring to Japan’s hard drive for a seat in UN Security Council;
2. 福娃 (Fuwa) – the five 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots, representing keen interest in the next Olympic;
3. 歐憲 (EU Constitution) – the controversial march from an economic body to a political is also noted in the rest of the world;
4. 豬鏈球菌病 (Streptococcus suis) – the pig pathogen affecting human health almost as threatening as avian flu; and
5. 連胡會 (Lien-Hu Meeting) – the historical meeting between Chinese Communist party chief Hu Jintao and KMT party chief Lian Chen in April this year.

The Language Information Sciences Research Center of the university has started to collect new Chinese words appearing on Chinese press in China and Chinese-spoken countries since 2004. The research results were based on the large synchronous LIVAC (Linguistic Variations in Chinese Speech Communities) Chinese language database developed by the center.

Related Links:

“New Chinese Words 2005″ from: Language Information Science Research Centre (LISRC), City University of Hong Kong.

“New Chinese words in 2005 reveal hot topics across the Straits” from: CityU NewsCentre — Reporting the latest and greatest of City University of Hong Kong.