Too little too late in Xi'An
Officials treat thew sympton not the cause
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If you’ve been learning Chinese for some time, you probably know this idiom:
全力以赴 quánlì yǐfù - do everything in one’s power, or go all out to achieve something
It’s traced back to the Qing dynasty poet and historian, Zhào Yì 赵翼, from his most famous work, Notes on the Twenty-Two Dynastic Histories (二十二史札记 Èrshí'èr shǐ zhájì).
Nowadays, it’s often translated as ‘all-in’. It’s also one of those Chinese words where people sometimes just say the English instead:
你all in吗？ Are you all-in?
我完完全全是All in的！ Abso-f-ing-lutely!
‘All-in’ connects two news stories in China this week:
Netizen reactions to the Xi’An government’s so-called ‘all-in’ approach to lock-down policy.
A speech delivered by entrepreneur, Yú Mǐnhóng 俞敏洪, the founder of New Oriental, who is still ‘all-in’ despite losing $3 billion last year.
We dig into these two stories below, with some fantastic words and phrases to share, including interesting and creative references to the Ming and Qing dynasties as metaphors for what’s going on in China now.
Enjoy!