bamboo curtain

American  

[bam-boo kur-tn] / ˈbæmˌbu ˈkɜr tn /

Or Bamboo Curtain

noun

1. the political and ideological barrier that impeded relations between Communist Asia, especially China, and the West from 1949 to 1972.

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bamboo curtain British  

noun

1. (esp in the 1950s and 1960s) the political and military barrier to communications around the People's Republic of China

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Etymology

Origin of bamboo curtain

First recorded in 1949; modeled on iron curtain ( def. )

Example Sentences

Such is the harsh reality of life behind the bamboo curtain.

From The Guardian • Apr. 3, 2017

At a candlelit table, behind a bamboo curtain, just before the monkfish liver pâté arrived, Mr. Hannah proposed, Ms. Pastore accepted, and the servers quietly congratulated them.

From New York Times • Nov. 14, 2014

"We have no bamboo curtain, but some people are spreading a smoke-screen between us."

From Time Magazine Archive

Sun, 49, with impeccable English and a press-the-flesh attitude, represents a new crop of Chinese leaders who are different from the previous, Soviet-trained generation, which issued edicts from behind a bamboo curtain.

From Time Magazine Archive

She would come and sit cross-legged just beyond the bamboo curtain and silently watch him at work.

From The Ragged Edge by MacGrath, Harold