The stench of corruption in football
Exploring the language of corruption in sport
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Chinese metaphors for corruption are similar to those in English: “filth” (脏 zāng, or 污 wū), “rotten” (腐 fǔ), "stench" (臭 chòu).
The written character for corruption (腐 fǔ) paints a vivid picture.
It's made up of ‘pay’ (付 fù) and ‘meat’ (肉 ròu), under a ‘roof’ (广 guǎng). In ancient China, corruption was closely associated with meat: Only the wealthy and powerful (and corrupt) could afford it, as Tang dynasty poet Dù Fǔ 杜甫 explains in Going from the Capital to Fengxian County:
Behind the Vermillion gates, wine and meat rot,
While frozen bodies lie dead on the street.
朱门酒肉臭，
路有冻死骨
Corruption in Chinese football is what we explore this week.
The last big anti-corruption campaign in the sport was in 2009. Fourteen years on another wave of high profile investigations are under way.
The head of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) is being investigated for corruption, according to a statement by the government’s sports agency:
Chen Xuyuan is suspected of serious misconduct and violations of law. He is currently under investigation by the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Committee of the State Sports General Administration and the Hubei Provincial Supervision Committee.
陈戌源涉嫌严重违纪违法，目前正接受中央纪委国家监委驻国家体育总局纪检监察组和湖北省监委审查调查 [2]
Chén Xūyuán 陈戌源 is the fourth CFA official to be investigated for corruption since last November. The others are:
Lǐ Tiě 李铁, former national team coach and ex-Everton player
Chén Yǒngliàng 陈永亮, Executive Deputy Secretary-General
Liú Yì 刘奕, former Secretary-General
In the media it's described as a "knockout" (狂飙 Kuángbiāo):
Corruption in the football world has been rocked by a knockout blow. The chairman of the CFA has fallen.
足坛反腐掀起“狂飙”，中国足协主席应声落马 [1]
It’s a reference to The Knockout, a 2023 TV drama series which follows the story of a police officer rooting out corruption and organised crime.
As often happens with scandals in China, the Chinese media have invented entertaining puns about how to deal with the self-inflicted misfortune of fallen CFA officials:
There is no no-go area in anti-corruption. It is necessary to strike the 'iron' as well as to trace the 'source'. No matter who is involved, you must investigate to the end. The green field cannot be tarnished, and Chinese football cannot take it.
反腐没有禁区，要打"铁"更要溯"源"，无论关联到谁都一查到底。绿茵场容不得玷污，中国足球经不起折腾 [1]
打铁 dǎ tiě - ‘strike the iron’ is a pun on the name, Lǐ Tiě 李铁,
溯源 sù yuán - ‘go to the source’ uses the character yuan from Chén Xūyuán 陈戌源
So that’s what we explore this week: The vivid, rotten and occasionally beautiful language of cheating, corruption and trouble.
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Favourite Five
1. 揽炒 lǎn chǎo
take somebody out but hurt oneself at the same time
双方撕破脸，逼得武汉方面与李铁“揽炒”，举报他操纵比赛的事 - They fell out with each other which forced Wuhan to report Li Tie’s match fixing, incriminating themselves in the process. [2]
Note: A Cantonese slang word
2. 放水 fàng shuǐ
release water; cheat in a sports match by giving the opponent an easy pass
收下800万元作报酬，承诺在比赛中放水 - He took a payment of 8 million RMB to fix the match. [2]
3. 吹黑哨 chuī hēi shào
blow a black whistle; the fix is in
安排裁判吹黑哨，安排俱乐部打协议球，这种官哨官假球，也是数不胜数 - There are countless examples of referees and clubs cheating. [2]
Note: 'Black whistle' can also be a noun meaning the person who is cheating. Zoe discusses more in the podcast.
4. 刮骨疗毒 guā gǔ liáo dú
scrape poison from the bone
正风肃纪，以刮骨之力净化足球生态；固本培元，以疗毒之效重塑足球形象 - We must improve conduct and enforce discipline to scrape the bones for a clean football ecosystem; we must go back to the fundamentals and remove the poison to rebuild the image of football. [1]
More: We explore this more in The China Project Phrase of the Week. And Zoe discusses more in the podcast.
5. 庆父不死，鲁难未已 qìng fù bù sǐ, lǔ nàn wèi yǐ
Until Prince Qing is removed, the crisis in the state of Lu will not end; There will always be trouble until the trouble maker is removed
作为足协主席，陈戌源还做了发言，其中有一段说：庆父不死，鲁难未已 - As Chair of the CFA, Chen Xuyuan gave a speech in which he said: Until Prince Qing is done away with, the crisis in the state of Lu will not be over. [2]
More: This idiom originates from the Commentary of Zuo (左传) which chronicles the Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese history (722 BC - 468 BC). Qing Fu was a prince in the State of Lu (鲁国), who assassinated two princes throwing the balance of power into chaos. Only when he was removed from power could balance be restored.
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 添堵 tiān dǔ
add congestion; create trouble
大家一直以来对中国足球的最低要求——“不添堵”，很遗憾再次落空 - What we want from the Chinese football is simply not to create unnecessary trouble. It’s a shame we have been let down once again. [2]
7. 合谋 hé móu
conspire together; conspiracy
该判决书中提到陈永亮曾与李冬生多次合谋进行贪污 - The verdict said that Chen Yongliang had conspired with Li Dongsheng many times to commit corruption. [1]
8. 赃款 zāng kuǎn
dirty money, bribes
案发后，李冬生投案自首，并退缴部分赃款 - After the incident, Li Dongsheng gave himself up, and returned part of the stolen money. [1]
9. 窝案 wō àn
nest case; a case with lots of people involved
此次足坛反腐跟上次相比，相同点是都因国家队成绩不佳，引发足协内部自查，进而查出腐败窝案 - Similar to the last anti-corruption campaign in football, it was the poor performance of the national team which triggered the internal review of the Football Association, which then uncovered the corruption case. [1]
10. 玷污 diàn wū
tarnish
足球是高尚运动，不要让金钱给玷污了，扭曲了 - Football is a noble sport. Money shouldn’t tarnish or distort it. [2]
11. 操纵 cāo zòng
manipulate; fix or rig a match
作为中间人操纵了天津泰达与广州松日的比赛，总涉案金额81万元 - As a middleman, he manipulated the match between Tianjin Teda and Guangzhou Songri, with a total amount of 810,000 yuan involved. [2]
12. 涤荡 dí dàng
wash away; clean-up
可以说那次反赌扫黑风暴涤荡了整个足球圈 - It can be said that the campaign against gambling and crime swept the entire football circle and cleaned it up. [2]
13. 雷霆 léi tíng
thunder
这雷霆之力的反赌扫黑后短短十余年，怎么中国足协再次成为腐败黑窝，高级官员相继落马 - In just over ten years after this thunderous anti-gambling crackdown, why has the Chinese Football Association once again become a den of corruption with senior officials sacked one after another? [2]
Note: Thunderstorm metaphors are used a lot in government narratives around anti-corruption. Such as 暴风雨 bào fēng yǔ and 风波 fēng bō which both translate as “storm”.
Three-character phrases
14. 默契球 mò qì qiú
an unwritten agreement to have a certain outcome
教练员之间也靠人脉互相许诺，两队打默契球，每个赛季两场比赛，双方各自在自己的主场取胜 - The coaches make promises to each other through their connections. Teams come to an agreement that in the two matches they play each season, both will win their home matche. [2]
Related: 打协议球 dǎ xié yì qiú, and 打假球 dǎ jiǎ qiú both mean to match fix which Zoe explains more in the podcast.
15. 一勺烩 yì sháo huì
cook in one pot; in one go
专案组挖出了类似问题比赛无数，更直接将中国足协高层一勺烩 - The special task force found countless similar issues with fixing matches. It further enabled them to catch the top management of the Chinese Football Association in one fell swoop. [2]
Note: Similar in meaning to 一锅端 yì guō duān
16. 不倒翁 bù dǎo wēng
someone who can’t fall
陈永亮在2002年左右就进入中国足协工作，坊间称其是“足协的传奇不倒翁” - Chen Yongliang joined the Chinese Football Association around 2002. He was known as "the legendary longest-standing man of the Football Association". [1]
Note: 坊间 fǎng jiān - A more literary way to say 民间, ‘of the people’.
Idioms
17. 漏网之鱼 lòu wǎng zhī yú
the fish that got away
他是上一波足坛反腐风暴的“漏网之鱼” - He was the fish that escaped in the last anti-corruption drive in the football world. [1]
18. 锒铛入狱 láng dāng rù yù
go to prison
一个又一个外国经理无功离去，一个又一个中国足球大员因腐败而锒铛入狱 - Foreign managers left one after another without delivering results. And Chinese football stars were imprisoned for corruption one after the next. [3]
19. 利欲熏心 lì yù xūn xīn
‘want benefit, burn heart’; greedy
打不进对方的大门，这帮人利欲熏心，竟然开始打起了本方大门的主意 - They couldn't score in the opponent’s goal. These people were so greedy that they instead started to consider scoring own-goals (to secure bribes). [2]
Note: This was a contender for one off the Favourite Five - Such a vivid idiom!
20. 堂而皇之 táng ér huáng zhī
unashamedly
如果真让你堂而皇之达到目的，领导的老脸往哪儿搁 - If you can openly achieve the hidden agenda (through bribery), how can the boss save face? [2]
21. 似曾相识 sì céng xiāng shí
seen before; deja vu
陈戌源、李铁等人的问题还没完全披露，但很多案件细节让人看起来感觉似曾相识 - The issues of Chen Xuyuan, Li Tie and others have not been fully disclosed, but many details of the case seem familiar.
Related: 如出一辙 rú chū yī zhé - look like the same
22. 贪得无厌 tān dé wú yàn
insatiable greed
如果他个人不是这么贪得无厌，足协的种种黑暗是不是还要被遮盖更长的时间呢 - If he hadn’t been so greedy, would the dark side of the Football Association have been concealed for longer? [2]
Phrases
23. 带病提拔 dài bìng tí bá
given a promotion through improper means
长时间带病提拔的原因也需要查明 - The reason for receiving multiple promotions while being corrupt also needs to be understood. [1]
24. 莫伸手，伸手必被捉 mò shēnshǒu, shēn shǒu bì bèi zhuō
don’t hold out your arm, if you do you’ll get caught; bad people always get caught in the end
要坚信“莫伸手，伸手必被捉”，今天的账，明天哪有不算的 - We must firmly believe ‘don't stretch out your hand, you will be caught if you do’. The wrongs you did today will be dealt with tomorrow. [2]
25. 庙小妖风大，池浅王八多 miào xiǎo yāo fēng dà, chí qiǎn wáng ba duō
The temple is small but evil winds blow, the pond is shallow yet turtles are plenty; comparatively more bad people in a small community
为什么说是又一次呢？因为在中国足协这个“王八池”里，不是第一次出现这种窝案 - Why do I say it’s happened again? It’s because there are plenty of crooks in the pond of the CFA. This is not its first big corruption case. [2]
26. 永无出头之日 yǒng wú chū tóu zhī rì
never see the light of day; no way out
中国足球领域腐败、黑恶问题一天不扫除，中国足球就永无出头之日 - If the problems of corruption and crime in the Chinese football are not eliminated, it will never have a bright future. [3]
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