"Go Hong Kong!"
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Whether in English or in Chinese (Xiānggǎng jiāyóu 香港加油!), "Go Hong Kong!" has been blocked and censored on the Chinese internet because of the massive protests against the hated extradition bill that Xi Jinping is trying to force upon the city. However, through the magic of Chinese calligraphy, there's a way to get around the ban against this cheer:
If you turn the above characters 90º counterclockwise, you get this:
Thus, in one and the same piece of calligraphy, we have "Xiānggǎng jiāyóu 香港加油!" ("Go Hong Kong!"). Needless to say, this clever circumvention of the Great Firewall is going viral among those who support the people of Hong Kong in their fight against the PRC government.
Readings
"'Add oil'" (9/13/16)
"'Add oil' is now English" (10/18/18)
"Comrades, 'hike up your skirts for a hard shag'" (7/23/17)
"Chinese language jokes" (4/3/19)
"Non-translation" (7/24/16) — in the comments
"Precious Isle Taiwan" (2/23/18) — see especially in the comments on ambigrams
[Thanks to Chau Wu]
Jim Breen said,
June 12, 2019 @ 6:20 pm
加油 is sometimes used in Japan, where it is regarded as a Chinese term and has the katakana-ized readings of ジャーユー (jãyū) and ジャーヨウ (jãyō).
JMdict entry: https://www.edrdg.org/jmdictdb/cgi-bin/entr.py?svc=jmdict&sid=&q=2770920
2012 Chiebukuro discussion: https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1382742093
Jenny Chu said,
June 13, 2019 @ 5:52 pm
It's about Hong Kong. So why isn't it "heung gong ga yau" ?
Mimi K said,
June 13, 2019 @ 7:59 pm
@Jenny Chu: Presumably because the messages are getting censored only in Mainland China.
Joshua K. said,
June 14, 2019 @ 8:33 pm
So if you rotate the image, it says "Go Hong Kong!"
What does it say if you don't rotate it?
AndOh said,
June 16, 2019 @ 9:10 am
@Joshua K.: The characters read 香港, meaning Hong Kong, in the first image. When turned on their left side, they read 加油, "go" ("add oil").