Twitter account with cat avatar takes centre stage on China protests

（帶有貓咪虛擬化身的推特帳號在中國的抗爭活動中成為矚目焦點）

【摘要2022-12-19二.自由】◎魏國金

The unprecedented protests that swept China late last month, posing the biggest challenge to leader Xi Jinping’s authority since he came to power, had a peculiar focal point: a Chinese Twitter account with a cat avatar.

上月下旬席捲中國的空前抗議活動，對領導人習近平當局構成他掌權以來的最大挑戰，相關抗爭有個奇特的焦點：一個帶有貓虛擬形象的中國推特帳號。

As people took to the streets to call for greater freedoms and an end to zero-Covid restrictions, the account "Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher" live-tweeted the demonstrations in real-time, offering a rare window into just how quickly and widely the eruption of dissent.

隨著人們走上街頭，呼求更大的自由與結束新冠清零限制之際，帳號「李老師不是你老師」在推特上即時直播示威狀況，提供難得的窗口，讓人了解異議活動是多麼快速與廣泛地爆發。

Inside China, videos, photos and accounts of the protests were swiftly censored online. But participants, witnesses and others who knew how to scale the Great Firewall would send them to “Teacher Li,” which became a crucial source of information for people in China and beyond.

在中國境內，網路上抗爭的照片與帳號迅速遭到審查，但參與者、目擊者與其他知道如何攀越防火長城的人將它們傳送給「李老師」，他成為中國國內外民眾的關鍵消息來源。

新聞辭典

take centre stage：片語，成為焦點。例句：Economy is taking centre stage in the government’s plans.（經濟成為政府計畫的核心焦點。）

avatar：名詞，化身。例句：He regards himself as an avatar of justice.（他把自己看作是正義的化身。）

scale：動詞，攀登、爬越。例句：He scaled the barrier like a monkey.（他像猴子般爬越過柵欄。）