Failed system, lazy officials
A migrant worker in Beijing is let down by the system
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Rice (饭 fàn) or grain (粮 liáng) in Chinese can be metaphors for income, work, a job, money or public funds.
The phrases, ‘eating the public rice bowl’ (吃公家饭 chī gōngjiā fàn) and ‘eating public grain’ (吃公粮 chī gōngliáng), refer to public servants who don’t do their job properly, but live off tax payers’ money. They are lazy officials.
The recent story of a migrant worker in Beijing who had come to the capital to look for his son (来北京找儿子), and who was let down by the system, led to widespread criticism about how the system in China, and the people working within it, had failed one of society’s most vulnerable.
Officials had lived off tax payers’ money but not done their job properly…
吃着公粮，能不能对老百姓负责一点 - Living on tax payers’ money, can’t they do even a little to improve the lives of the people?
The interview with the migrant worker, and social media reactions to it, are the theme of this week’s newsletter:
Conversations worth consuming: interview with Beijing’s busiest migrant worker
Words of the Week: social media comments about the interview
1. CONVERSATIONS WORTH CONSUMING
Interview with Beijing’s hardest working man
Authorities in Beijing last week released the activity logs of an asymptomatic covid carrier, surnamed Yuè 岳. The 44-year-old migrant worker had visited nearly 30 different construction sites across the city in the first 18 days of January.
In an interview with China News Weekly (中国新闻周刊 zhōngguó xīnwén zhōukān) published last Thursday, Yuè tells his story of how he came to Beijing (in Chinese) in search of his missing son, who disappeared from Róngchéng city (荣成市) in Shandong province in 2020. Yue shares how he has to make enough money each month to fund the search for his son, and feed six family members by labouring on building sites across Beijing.
The whole interview is worth a read for an advanced language learner. It’s not too long and the vocab isn’t too challenging. This paragraph captures the essence, and why it had such a big impact online:
我也不觉得自己可怜。我只是好好干活，我不偷不抢，靠自己的力气，靠自己的双手，挣点钱，挣了钱找孩子。就是为了生活，为了照顾这个家 - I don't think I'm hard-done-by. I work hard, keep on the straight and narrow and use my hard work and my two hands to make enough money to look for my son. All I do is to put food on the table, and to support my family.
Useful Words
Here are some of the language highlights.
俺 ǎn - me (northern dialect)
俺媳妇一听俺儿死了，哭得拉不起来 - As soon as my wife heard that my son had died, she began to cry uncontrollably.
搭 dā - put or throw in more
我辛苦一点，就算把命搭到里面，也要把孩子找回来 - It’s true, I’m working really hard. Even if it means putting my life on the line, I will do it to find my son.
零工 líng gōng - part-time work
2021年春天回北京继续做零工 - In the spring of 2021, I returned to Beijing to carry on working part-time.
Related:
零工经济 línggōng jīngjì - the gig economy
零活 líng huó - part-time work
接零工 jiē línggōng - taking on part-time work
流调 liú diào - epidemiology survey
对话“流调”中最辛苦的中国人 - Interview with China’s hardest working person polled in the epidemiology survey.
Related: this is short for 流行病学调查 liúxíng bìng xué diàochá
上访 shàngfǎng - petition
我一上访，他们为了结案，就说是我的儿子 - As soon as I made a petition, they closed the case and said [the body that was found] was my son.
没准头 méizhǔn tou - no standards, irregular
干这事没准头，有时候下雨不能干，上面来检查也不能干 - The work is really unpredictable. Sometimes it rains and I can’t work. Other times, if officials come to inspect the building site, I can’t work either.
Idioms
置之不理 zhìzhī bùlǐ - ignore
当时，我老婆在派出所门口哭了两天，他们置之不理，所长说话还很难听 - At the time, my wife cried at the police station for two days. They totally ignored her, and the police chief there was really rude.
Note: this idiom also comes up a lot in MFA press conferences.
不偷不抢 bùtōu bùqiǎng - not stealing or doing anything wrong
我只是好好干活，我不偷不抢，靠自己的力气，靠自己的双手，挣点钱，挣了钱找孩子 - I work hard, keep on the straight and narrow and use my hard work and my two hands to make enough money to look for my son. All I do is to put food on the table, and to support my family.
2. WORDS OF THE WEEK
Social media reactions to the interview
One of the top comments about the interview on Weibo captures public sentiment:
这两天看《零容忍》，再看看这个人，为人民服务的人又为谁服务了 - I’ve been watching Zero Tolerance over the last two days. And then you look at this man. Who are those that are supposed to be serving the people actually serving?
Zero Tolerance (零容忍 líng róngrěn) is the recent documentary highlighting some high of the profile corruption cases in China over the last few years (See the first episode here on Youtube).
Social media comments are brimming with useful and interesting words and phrases, including this one:
朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨 zhūmén jiǔròu chòu, lù yǒu dòng sǐ gǔ - Behind the vermilion gates of the rich meat and wine go to waste, Along the road are bones of the poor who have frozen to death.
This is a line from a Du Fu poem and is one of my top phrases from 2021. In this context it can be understood as meaning, ‘the hypocrisy of the wealthy and powerful.’
The widening gap between rich and poor, and between the political classes and ‘the rest’ in China, is an emotive topic as you can sense from the rawness of some of the comments below.
Useful Words
天爷 tiān yé - God, the heavens
自古以来的戏文作品，苦到极致，也只能寄托于天爷清官来世 - In all Chinese drama and literature since ancient times, however hard life is, the only thing that can be done is to have faith that the heavens will eventually install good officials that will right the wrongs of the past.
风骨 fēng gǔ - character, spine
方方正正挣钱，只可叹他的凄苦但更崇视这位工人的风骨 - Earning money on the straight and narrow. All I can do is to sigh at just how miserable this man’s life is. And yet, I have the highest respect for his strength of character.
Related: 凄苦 qī kǔ - miserable
蛀虫 zhù chóng - worm, parasite
懒政还不负责任，社会的蛀虫都给我抓起来！ Lazy government and lazy officials that don’t take responsibility. Please remove these parasites from society!
众生相 zhòng shēng xiàng - all beings (Buddhist phrase)
每次流调信息都是一次世间众生相的写照 - Each time we learn of the details of epidemiology surveys, it’s a portrayal of the real lives of ordinary people in China.
Idioms
作恶多端 zuò'è duō duān - do much evil
对比《零容忍》那几个货…作恶多端却锦衣玉食了大半辈子，就算进去了也活的也还挺体面 - Compared to those bastards in Zero Tolerance… They spent most of their lives doing evil but living like kings. Even now they’re arrested, they are still living a comfortable life.
锦衣玉食 jǐnyī yùshí - ‘wearing brilliant clothes, and eating jade’ extravagant or opulent lifestyle
天灾人祸 tiānzāi rénhuò - natural disasters and man-made disasters
这个父亲善良到连工作人员帮他垫的退票费都不好意思要，天灾人祸却一个接着一个 - This father is a good person to the point that he feels bad for others paying for his refund fee. And yet at the same time he’s met with one disaster after another.
福祸相依 fúhuò xiāngyī - good comes out of a bad situation
也是福祸相依吧，要是没有这次感染大家也不会知道他受的苦 - Maybe there’s a positive to come out of this. If he hadn’t been infected then nobody would know about this man’s struggles.
Note: similar in meaning to ‘there’s always a silver lining’
Related: 福祸相倚 fú huò xiāng yǐ - good and bad luck together; there is good to come out of a bad situation
披星戴月 pīxīng dàiyuè - ‘wearing the stars as a shawl and the moon as a hat’ - go to work before dawn and when one comes home, the moon is up
披星戴月辗转市内31处打零工，活着真心酸 - Getting up before the crack of dawn and not getting back until after dark. Doing part-time jobs in 31 different places in the city, he’s living such a tough life.
More: 辗转 niǎnzhuǎn - tossing, floundering
碎银几两 suì yín jǐ liǎng - a few taels of silver, pennies
世人慌慌张张，不过图碎银几两，偏偏这碎银几两，能解世间万种慌张 - People hustle anxiously for just a few pennies. But it’s these few pennies that can make all the difference.
Phrases
善有善报恶有恶报 shàn yǒu shàn bào è yǒu è bào - those that do good will be rewarded, those that do harm will be punished
哪有善有善报恶有恶报，很多时候这句话更像是在自我安慰罢了- Who said that those who do good are rewarded….? A lot of the time this is just people saying it to comfort themselves.
麻绳专挑细处断，厄运总缠苦命人 má shéng zhuān tiāo xì chù duàn, èyùn zǒng chán kǔmìng rén - a hemp rope breaks at its weakest point, misfortune always to entangle the poor
麻绳专挑细处断，厄运总缠苦命人 - Misfortune always entangles the poor, just like a rope inevitably breaks at the weakest part.
吃着公家饭 chīzhe gōngjiā fàn - eating the public rice bowl; public servants who don’t do their job, while living on tax payers’ money
在隐秘的角落总有人吃着公家饭不干事的人 - In the darkest corners of the public sector there are civil servants who are costing the public money but doing nothing.
吃公粮 chī gōngliáng - eating public food reserves
吃着公粮，能不能对老百姓负责一点 - Wasting public funds - can’t these officials take a little responsibility?
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