<p>I'm basing my answer on the article <a href="http://35vvv.com/wenda/%E6%B1%9F%E4%BF%A1%E6%B1%9F%E7%96%91%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E6%84%8F%E6%80%9D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">江信江疑是什么意思</a> which gives a reasonable explanation.</p>
<p>It's a play on words.  It begins with</p>
<blockquote>
<p>half believing, half doubting / skeptical<br />
<a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?wdqb=%E5%B0%86%E4%BF%A1%E5%B0%86%E7%96%91" rel="nofollow noreferrer">将信将疑</a><br />
<sub>jiāng​xìn​jiāng​yí</sub></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The line 将信将疑 comes from the poem <a href="https://zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E5%BC%94%E5%8F%A4%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%87" rel="nofollow noreferrer">吊古战场文</a> by Tang-dynasty poet 李华.</p>
<p>However the meme replaces 将 (​jiāng​) with the surname 江 (Jiāng) which has the same pronunciation and is the family name of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Zemin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Jiang Zemin</a> (江泽民).  Then it's added as a caption to memes where 江泽民 looks skeptical, such as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/pphwn.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/pphwn.png" alt="An image of 江泽民 looking skeptical captioned 将信将疑" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm not really sure how the meme evolved beyond that to what you see on Twitter.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-22T11:38:27.437Z
2020-10-22T11:38:27.437Z
Becky 李蓓
<p>I came across 江信江疑 in <a href="https://twitter.com/krishraghav/status/1319211079109492736" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this tweet about a meme</a>. It clearly has something to do with Jiang Zemin / 江泽民. It seems to be quite commonly used; my guess is that it's something people say on Internet that refers to politicians, or heads of government, and their trustworthiness (or lack of it). But this is just a guess.</p>
<p>What does 江信江疑 actually mean? What's its &quot;back-story&quot;? Is it just used online, or could it be used in spoken Putonghua? Perhaps a few sample sentences would be useful too.</p>

<vocabulary><culture><internet-slang>
What does 江信江疑 mean?
# What does 江信江疑 mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-10-22)

I came across 江信江疑 in [this tweet about a meme](https://twitter.com/krishraghav/status/1319211079109492736). It clearly has something to do with Jiang Zemin / 江泽民. It seems to be quite commonly used; my guess is that it's something people say on Internet that refers to politicians, or heads of government, and their trustworthiness (or lack of it). But this is just a guess.

What does 江信江疑 actually mean? What's its "back-story"? Is it just used online, or could it be used in spoken Putonghua? Perhaps a few sample sentences would be useful too.

**Tags:** vocabulary, culture, internet-slang


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-10-22. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I'm basing my answer on the article [江信江疑是什么意思](http://35vvv.com/wenda/%E6%B1%9F%E4%BF%A1%E6%B1%9F%E7%96%91%E6%98%AF%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E6%84%8F%E6%80%9D) which gives a reasonable explanation.

It's a play on words. It begins with

> half believing, half doubting / skeptical  
> [将信将疑](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?wdqb=%E5%B0%86%E4%BF%A1%E5%B0%86%E7%96%91)  
> jiāng​xìn​jiāng​yí

The line 将信将疑 comes from the poem [吊古战场文](https://zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E5%BC%94%E5%8F%A4%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%87) by Tang-dynasty poet 李华.

However the meme replaces 将 (​jiāng​) with the surname 江 (Jiāng) which has the same pronunciation and is the family name of [Jiang Zemin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Zemin) (江泽民). Then it's added as a caption to memes where 江泽民 looks skeptical, such as:

> [![An image of 江泽民 looking skeptical captioned 将信将疑](https://i.sstatic.net/pphwn.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/pphwn.png)

I'm not really sure how the meme evolved beyond that to what you see on Twitter.


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