| Tongzhi | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 同志 | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | 'same will', 'same purpose', 'comrade' | ||||||||||||||
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Tongzhi is a form of style used in China that taken on different meanings in the 20th century depending on context. It was first introduced into vernacular Chinese by Sun Yat-sen as a way of describing his followers. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC), tongzhi was used to mean "comrade" in a communist sense: it was used to address almost everyone, male and female, young and old. In recent years, however, this meaning of the term has fallen out of common usage, except within Chinese Communist Party (CCP) discourse and among people of older generations.[1]
In contemporary Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong, the term mainly refers to LGBT people instead of the traditional political usage.[2]