Memes aren't just used to spread laughs on the Internet anymore.
Ranging from the silly to just plain weird, memes -- the pastime for jokers and Photoshoppers alike to share a giggle -- have evolved into a form of social media activism for bloggers in China.
The Chinese government has an established history of censoring the Internet, especially when it comes to social media sites like Twitter and Chinese micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo.
In 2012, government-run censors blocked Chinese users from searching the Internet for terms including "June 4," "remember" and even innocuous phrases like "today" in preparation for the anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre, which took place on June 4, 1989 in Beijing.
While the Chinese government never officially released full death toll numbers, an estimated 400 to over 1,000 people were killed, detained or went missing during the Chinese military crackdown on the student protesters that day.
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As Chinese censors toughened up, bloggers have found creative ways to memorialize the 1989 protests. The iconic image of the Tiananmen Square "Tank Man" became a jumping-off point for protesters to create memes that could slip past government officials who are looking to silence online conversation. One easy trick: They dubbed the anniversary "May 35th" in place of "June 4th" to throw off censors.
#June4 is banned in China, they call it #May35, remember what happened this day in 1989 pic.twitter.com/gZUqCwV69B— Pepijn Le Heux (@LeHoax) June 4, 2013
In 2013, one of the first and most popular images to circulate was a meme that replaced the menacing tanks with oversized rubber ducks. The phrase "big yellow duck" was quickly added to the list of banned terms by the Chinese government.
China bans all internet searches for ‘big yellow duck’ as part of Tiananmen Squar… #MailOnline http://t.co/xyhAiRAs4F pic.twitter.com/pDg48CgIwZ— jun sagal (@jun_sagal) June 5, 2013
Andrés Monroy-Hernández, a researcher in FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research, explains that the memes fulfilled a meaningful role, while also giving Internet users a good laugh.
"Memes are the web culture equivalent of The Daily Show or Colbert Report. In the case of the big yellow ducks, you can imagine that for some Chinese this meme is their first exposure to the Tinanmen massacre. If this happens, this would demonstrate the power of memes," Monroy-Hernández said.
Tank memes continued to pop up in different forms, ranging from the highly political to the absurd.
One more #tiananmen #tankman meme, now that internet maintenance day is over... #june4th pic.twitter.com/4okRiP37kk— Graham Adler (@adler_graham) June 6, 2013
Subversive Legos on weibo pic.twitter.com/fk8KCVVsDH— Bill Bishop (@niubi) June 3, 2013
We were told that, finally, there's no Duck Anniversary today. It was all a lie. #china #beijing pic.twitter.com/Ef3o3wq8NR— WeLiveInBeijing (@WeLiveInBeijing) June 4, 2013
"Did you forget? Ask this cow." #june4 #hk64 #64 #may35 #tankman pic.twitter.com/dX6t64mpPW— Greg Lexiphanic (@lexiphanic) June 4, 2013
Some bloggers devised even more ingenious ways of alluding government censors by posting obscure images, referencing civil rights leaders such as the human rights activist Chen Guangcheng.
"The day the government discovers an undesirable meaning behind a phrase or an image, they can start blocking it. What is genius about some of these memes is that they make that nearly impossible. When protesting activist and lawyer, Chen Guangcheng's arrest, many Chinese netizens posted selfies of them wearing sunglasses in solidarity. Their followers knew why, but how do you censor that en masse?" said strategist and contributing writer for The Civic Beat Ben Valentine.
In addition, Internet users posted the equally obscure images referencing the day of the massacre, June 4, 1989.
高手在民间！#六四 #TAM25 #Tiananmen #8964 pic.twitter.com/fN4qyOsOni— Cheng Xin (@ecxcn) May 29, 2014
In Hong Kong, we forget to forget... (Photo: Local HK coffee shop reminds you of the #Tiananmen Square 25 years ago) pic.twitter.com/g9U0nwmm0m— George Chen (@george_chen) May 31, 2014
Of course, protestors in China use memes as only a part of their activism. Subverting the system can offer a certain amount of satisfaction, or even be considered fun, but the real message continues in remembering the hundreds of lives lost 25 years ago. Live demonstrations continue around China in commemoration of the Tiananmen Square protests every year. Thousands gathered in Hong Kong to mark the events on Wednesday.
#June4 art installations by #HongKong Federation of Students on Sai Yee Street footbridge, MK http://t.co/zBzpQAMAB9 pic.twitter.com/T3T1TSHeoS— Occupy Central 和平佔中 (@OCLPHK) June 3, 2014