Mao's Banned Sign Name: Fun Facts About Chinese Sign Language

Vlog | Destiny Yarbro | 12/2/2026 | 6 min watch

Did you know that the Chinese Deaf community made up a sign name for Mao and he despised it so much he banned it?

I'll share more of that story later because today's video is on facts about Chinese Sign Language.

First fact? Chinese Sign Language...wait, isn't this the ASL sign for China?

No actually, this is China's sign for China and we borrowed it and added to ASL. So this is the correct sign for China.

Now it's important to the understand that Chinese Sign Language is not fully standardized yet, there are a lot of variations including many accents.

But in general there is a north regional dialect and a southern regional dialect and their sign languages are quite distinct.

In northern China, the main spoken language is Mandarin while in the south, the spoken language is Cantonese. So there are different spoken languages as well as different sign languages.

And they're quite different from each other, why? Well, China is a huge country so it just makes sense that the separation resulted in North and South dialects.

And because China makes up such a huge region, there are many local sign languages that have influenced each other.

But also understand that the first Deaf school set up in the north was established by who? American missionaries who used ASL. They set up a school there in 1887 so yes, northern Chinese Sign Language does have some ASL influence. Does that mean you can understand what they're signing? Probably not. It's completely different. But ASL did have a small influence on CSL.

In the south, on the otherhand, the schools were established by French missionaries and also foreign groups set up various schools when they recognized that Deaf in China needed education. As a result there were many Deaf schools in Southern China.

1:59 DOES CSL HAVE FINGERSPELLING?

Well, yes and no. It depends. Some signs are related to Chinese characters. This is their sign for "characters". Some use Latin letters and fingerspell. So these signs have our letters plus 4 additional ones.

For signs related to Chinese characters, how many Chinese characters are there? There are about 100,000. That's 100,000. A lot.

And these character signs are based on what you see, what you read. Pinyin is a system that uses Western letters and is based on what you hear.

So it's an interesting situation, you have highly complex system of characters used for reading and you have to memorize 100,000 characters, an incredibly difficult feat.

But then you have this Pinyin letter system that is based on what sound, the sound of a word.

It's truly unique that CSL has both at play.

3:05 DO MOST DEAF CHINESE UNDERSTAND STANDARDIZED CSL?

So the national Chinese Sign Language, is it understood by most people?

No, most can't understand fully. They miss a lot, only understanding a bit here and there. Some research shows that perhaps only 30% really understand standardized CSL. That's why we can't call it standardized yet.

Yes, CSL is approved, dictionaries created, websites made where you can learn standardized CSL. Yes, they have these, but the research clearly shows that most Deaf throughout China don't understand CSL fully.

But keep in mind that some Deaf want standardization, they want CSL to be standardized, some Deaf do not want this at all preferring what they call "natural sign language" meaning the local / regional sign languages.

So! Want to learn CSL? (Chinese Sign Language) You can at the link below! InterSign University has an amazing Deaf CSL teacher who is an absolute pro, a top-tier teacher.

Plus! Those of you who are interpreters and want or need to earn CEUs, you can take the class for CEUs, professional studies CEUs. Again, that's at the link in the description box below.

4:17 IS CSL THE ONLY SIGN LANGUAGE IN CHINA?

It's also important to remember that CSL is not the only sign language there. There are other sign languages used there including these: Tibetan, Mongolian, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong Sign Languages. And many more sign languages are used China, not just standardized CSL.

Is sign language found in Chinese historical records?

When looking through Chinese historical records, you can find a few mentions of sign language.

First, in the Tang dynasty, they briefly mention just one sign, the sign for mirror is mentioned in a record. That was around 600 AD.

Second, another record, this one from the Song dynasty, briefly mentions a sign language community. We don't know if it was a Deaf or hearing community but it was one that used a sign language to communicate.

Third, in a record from the Ming dynasty they record a play and in that there was something about a Deaf character who signed. So these three mentions are in Chinese history.

But really the first time in recorded history that services were provided for the Deaf community was in 1887 when the first Deaf school was established.

5:37 WHAT'S ONE LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASL AND CSL?

You know how ASL has this sign for "brother"? CSL has different signs for "brother" depending on if someone is an older brother or a younger brother. Other Asian sign languages are similar, they have different signs depending on where someone is in the family hierarchy.

6:01 MAO'S SIGN NAME

Did you know that the Deaf community came up with a sign name for Mao, you know the Chinese communist leader? Sadly I don't know what the sign itself was but it's funny because it was related to his prominent mole. And what did Mao's government do? They banned it from being used. Obviously they had rules for everything, including the Deaf community.

Now are you feeling excited to see what CSL looks like? Check out this video! Also check out my video here where we talk about the standardization of sign languages, is it good or bad? Pros and cons.

My Videos

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