--- title: China: Netizens Are Going Crazy Over NBC's New Drama, 'Blindspot' description: The trailer for upcoming techno-thriller Blindspot is attracting attention from an unexpected audience — Chinese social media users. canonical: https://time.com/4002710/nbc-blindspot-chinese-weibo-television-language/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-19T06:55:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:41:37.568Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Why China Is Going Crazy Over NBC's New Crime Drama og:description: 'Blindspot' stars a western woman speaking a notoriously tricky Chinese dialect. og:url: https://time.com/4002710/nbc-blindspot-chinese-weibo-television-language/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9790c0a8e299a50/69885fee196cf461d90379e1/483854810.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 483854810 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why China Is Going Crazy Over NBC's New Crime Drama twitter:description: 'Blindspot' stars a western woman speaking a notoriously tricky Chinese dialect. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9790c0a8e299a50/69885fee196cf461d90379e1/483854810.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why China Is Going Crazy Over NBC's New Crime Drama, _Blindspot_ ## Video: The Top 5 Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Masterpieces [Watch (HLS stream): The Top 5 Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Masterpieces](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xe99vdU4.m3u8) (4:45)  _Published 2010-01-11. Steven James Snyder, Techland's resident movie geek, outlines the top 5 most under-rated sci-fi movies of all time_ by [Alissa Greenberg](/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Aug 19, 2015 6:55 AM CUT  Executive producer Sarah Schechter, actors Ashley Johnson, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza , executive producer Greg Berlanti, actors Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Sullivan Stapleton, Jaimie Alexander and creator/executive producer Martin Gero speak onstage during NBC's 'Blindspot' panel discussion at the 2015 Summer TCA Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. on August 13, 2015. Executive producer Sarah Schechter, actors Ashley Johnson, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza , executive producer Greg Berlanti, actors Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Sullivan Stapleton, Jaimie Alexander and creator/executive producer Martin Gero speak onstage during NBC's 'Blindspot' panel discussion at the 2015 Summer TCA Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. on August 13, 2015.Frederick M. Brown—Getty Images by [Alissa Greenberg](/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Aug 19, 2015 6:55 AM CUT The [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biSRZM1NLDs "undefined") for upcoming tech-thriller _Blindspot_, which will premiere on NBC in September, is attracting eager attention from an unexpected audience — Chinese social media users. That’s not to say that Chinese netizens don’t appreciate a good mystery when they see one, but in this case their interest stems from one plot element in particular: the story’s hero, an unknown western woman found covered in tattoos and zipped in a duffel bag in Times Square with her memory wiped, speaks Chinese. And not just any Chinese; this Jane Doe speaks Wenzhounese, a dialect hailing from southeast China (and also spoken in parts of Queens and Brooklyn) that is so notoriously complex and opaque that it was even [used](http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/21/do-you-dare-try-the-devil-language-chinas-10-hardest-dialects/ "undefined") as the basis for military code in World War II. A popular Mandarin couplet warns, “Do not fear the Heavens, do not fear the Earth, but fear the Wenzhou man speaking Wenzhounese.” Both Chinese media and users on Twitter and Weibo seem deeply amused by the show’s treatment of what some in China [call](http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/23/what-its-like-to-live-in-china-and-speak-the-devil-language/ "undefined") the “Devil Language.” “Wenzhounese! Hahahahaha!” wrote one Twitter user, aggregating screenshots from an apparently pirated episode of the show. > [](https://twitter.com/SnHine/status/632767264886906880) “Ultimately, how hard is \[Wenzhounese\]? In _Blindspot_‘s pilot, it even manages to baffle the FBI!” _China Daily_ posted on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging service. And elsewhere on Weibo, user Huangyuanlu wrote: “_Blindspot_‘s tattooed girl can speak Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and can even understand Wenzhounese — a lot better than mine.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4002710/nbc-blindspot-chinese-weibo-television-language/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4002710/nbc-blindspot-chinese-weibo-television-language/"},"headline":"Why China Is Going Crazy Over NBC's New Crime Drama, Blindspot","datePublished":"2015-08-19T06:55:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:41:37.568Z","description":"The show features a western woman speaking a notoriously difficult Chinese dialect","url":"https://time.com/4002710/nbc-blindspot-chinese-weibo-television-language/","keywords":["Television","NBC","Chinese","language","Weibo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9790c0a8e299a50/69885fee196cf461d90379e1/483854810.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Greenberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9790c0a8e299a50/69885fee196cf461d90379e1/483854810.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"483854810","caption":"(Back L-R) Executive producer Sarah Schechter, actors Ashley Johnson, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza (Front L-R) executive producer Greg Berlanti, actors Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Sullivan Stapleton, Jaimie Alexander and creator/executive producer Martin Gero s","creditText":"Frederick M. 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