Zhao family (Internet slang)
The Zhao family (Chinese: 赵家人) refers to dignitaries in China, such as the top bureaucrat, the rich, leaders in-system and their offspring. The phrase originates from Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q". In December 2015, an article in Wechat public account described dignitaries as the Zhao family. Immediately, the phrase "the Zhao family" became an Internet meme.[1] Soon after, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China prohibited the use of such words as "the Zhao family". Medias which have used such words got punished.[2] Accordingly, such words as "the Zhao family" are no longer visible from main websites in China.
| the Zhao family | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 趙家人 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 赵家人 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | the Zhao family | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Sources
The phrase "the Zhao family" has its origins in Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q," published in 1921. In the story, old Grandpa Zhao (Chinese: 赵太爷) spits out, when Ah Q (who shares the same surname) dares to cheer along with the Zhaos: "You think you're worthy of the surname Zhao?" (Chinese: 你也配姓赵？)[3]
On December 19, 2015, a public account in Wechat published an article titled "The argument between Vanke and Baoneng: Barbarians in the front, and the Zhao family in the shadow" (Chinese: 万科宝能之争：门口的野蛮人，背后的赵家人) which divided the hierarchical China capital market into 4 ranks: retail investor, banker, plutocrat and the Zhao family. The Zhao family is in the highest rank which refer to dignitaries. The barbarians refer to people who are rich but powerless.[4] This article made the word "Zhao family" attract extensive attention.[5]
Derived usages
As the word spreading widely, there have come up derived usages such as "the Zhao family empire", "the Zhao king". Here are some examples:[6]
| Original words | Words after deconstruction | Chinese (Simp/Trad) |
|---|---|---|
| People's Republic of China, Communist Party of China | the Zhao family empire, the Zhao family | 赵国/趙國 and 赵家/趙家 |
| Paramount leader. General Secretary of the Communist Party | the Zhao king | 赵王/趙王 |
| People's Liberation Army | the Zhaos' army | 赵家军/趙家軍 |
| People's Police | the Zhaos' police | 赵家警察/趙家警察 |
| People's Court, People's Procuratorate | the Zhaos' court, the Zhaos' procuratorate | 赵家法院/趙家法院 and 赵家检察院/趙家檢察院 |
| People's Government | the Zhaos' government | 赵家政府/趙家政府 |
| Serve the people | serve the Zhao family | 为赵家服务/爲趙家服務 |
| People's Daily | the Zhaos' Daily | 赵家日报/趙家日報 |
| National sovereignty | the Zhaos' sovereignty | 赵家主权/趙家主權 |
| National Security Law | the Zhaos' Security Law | 赵家安全法/趙家安全法 |
| Inciting subversion of state power | Inciting subversion of the Zhaos' power | 煽动颠覆赵家政权罪/煽動顛覆趙家政權罪 |
| Chinese people's old friends | the Zhaos' old friends | 中国赵家的老朋友/中國趙家的老朋友 |
| 50 Cent Party | the Zhaos' spiritual members (not a part of the Zhaos) | 精赵/精趙 |
| Oppression in the name of national stability | the Zhaos' nuke/missile | 赵弹/趙彈 |
While having words with 50 Cent Party, some people used "You think you're worthy of the surname Zhao?" as a taunt and response.[6]
Comments
- Qiao Mu, associate professor in Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that "the word 'the Zhao family' is a subversive deconstruction in Internet era. We called officials 'People's public servant' whereas in fact they are still dignitaries. There are just princelings in China. It's sensitive to say so frankly, thus people use words like 'the Zhao family' as a taunt."[5]
- Hong Kong Oriental Daily News noted the word expresses both resistance of fake patriotism propagandize and dissatisfied with the fact.[5]
- Hu Ping, the honorary editor of Chinese magazine Beijing Spring, believed that princelings, represented by Party general secretary Xi Jinping, were now gathering politics and economy resources without restriction, which obviously contradicted with the claim of right in civilians.[7]
References
- 李文隆 (2015-12-26). ""赵家人"突然爆红 中国怎么了？". 看中国.
- "中國大陸網路新詞「趙家人」突然竄紅". 蘋果日報. 中央廣播電臺. 2016-01-19.
- Wei Pu (2016-01-08). "Why China Really is The 'Zhao Family' Empire". RFA.
- 至道书院. "细思极恐的万科宝能之争：门口的野蛮人，背后的赵家人".
- Kiki Zhao (2016-01-05). ""赵家人"：中共权贵阶层的新称号". 纽约时报中文网.
- "赵家人". 中国数字时代.
- "中共权贵阶层独揽天下 被网民冠以"赵家人"称号". 自由亞洲電臺. 2016-01-05.