The Chinese government issued a ban on the letter after people were using it in online posts to criticize current president Xi Jinping’s plans to rule the country indefinitely, reports Business Insider. In China, the letter N is used to represent unknown numerical values in math formulas (as the letter X is used in the States). The government issued the temporary online ban on the letter after posts began appearing in joke equations that claimed to mathematically describe the president’s length of rule (such as “N = infinity”). The ban apparently lasted only a day, however, as by Tuesday morning, Chinese users found they could use the letter in online posts and text messages once again.
collections
NewsletterCourses and LearningAdvertiseCurrent IssueTech Forecast
What’s next for hardware, software, and services
Most Innovative Companies
Our annual guide to the businesses that matter the most
Most Creative People
Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways
World Changing Ideas
New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system
Innovation By Design
Celebrating the best ideas in business