dazibao

Where does the word "dazibao" come from? It comes from Chinese dàzìbào, and was adopted directly into English (1960s-1970s).

Dazibao’s story begins in Chinese: dàzìbào meant “a large handwritten political wall poster.” Literally 'big-character poster', a hand-written wall poster used for public political statements. It reached English by 1960s-1970s as dazibao. Mao Zedong's own poster 'Bombard the Headquarters' of 1966 launched a wave of them. Today, dazibao means a large handwritten poster used in China for public political statements, especially during the Cultural Revolution.

1. Stage 1 · Chinese · 1950s-1960s dàzìbào "a large handwritten political wall poster", literally 'big-character poster', a hand-written wall poster used for public political statements.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1960s-1970s dazibao "a large handwritten Chinese political wall poster", Mao Zedong's own poster 'Bombard the Headquarters' of 1966 launched a wave of them.