bamboo curtain
- noun
- /ˈbæmˌbuː ˈkɜːrtən/
- Archaic
:
telón de bambú
- The bamboo curtain limited access to information during the Cold War.
Examples
-
After decades behind the bamboo curtain, China began opening up to international trade in the late 20th century.
-
Many Western journalists were unable to report from inside the bamboo curtain during the height of the Cold War.
-
The country's political actions seemed designed to reinforce the bamboo curtain that cut it off from the rest of the world.
-
Many people were affected by the bamboo curtain in the 1960s.
-
For years, the bamboo curtain restricted foreign visitors from seeing the true state of life in China.
-
During the Cold War, the bamboo curtain made it difficult for families to communicate across the divide.
-
Living behind the bamboo curtain often meant limited access to cultural and educational resources.
Synonyms
112
6.1
A layer that blocks sight or hides information
2
6.8
A strong political barrier that separated Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War
1
8.9
A rule to keep people in different teams from sharing secret information to avoid conflicts of interest
Surface Forms
Morphology
The word 'curtain' readily yields a metaphorical sense of a barrier, so learners can infer that this phrase denotes some kind of separation. However, the specific geopolitical sense—that it refers to restrictions around communist China during the Cold War—depends on cultural and historical knowledge (and the association of 'bamboo' with East Asia) rather than on straightforward composition, so the meaning is not fully predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Bamboo curtain comes from the picture of a bamboo curtain, a thin screen made of bamboo that hides people and keeps them out. That's why it was used to mean a barrier that 'cut off' communist China from other countries and stopped news and travel.