British high street brand becomes collateral damage
British high street brand becomes collateral damage
Boy London boycotted after violent Tangshan attack
Welcome to RealTime Mandarin!
It’s a free weekly resource helping you learn contemporary Chinese in context, maintain and improve your Mandarin skills, and stay on top of the latest language trends in China.
Subscribe now to get the next newsletter in your inbox on Saturday.
A brutal assault on a group of young women diners at a restaurant in the northern Chinese city of Tángshān 唐山 last weekend was caught on camera and shared on social media.
The footage of this awful attack went viral and has caused uproar in China.
One of the four attackers was wearing a T-shirt by Boy London. The British fashion label later faced a severe public backlash for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Netizens are calling for it to be boycotted, associating the brand with thugs in China:
不少网友在品牌官方微博号评论处留言称其为“黑社会工作服”，还让品牌“把消费者画像拉出来，让大家避避雷”。
Many netizens are leaving comments on the brand’s official Weibo account saying it is the ‘uniform of the Chinese mafia’, and ask the company to ‘publish profiles of its customers in order to allow people to avoid trouble’.
The warnings to stay away from the stereotypical thug, or 社会大哥 shè huì dà gē, in China go on…
如果看到留着“劳改的发型”，圆头圆脑圆身子，戴着金链子、身穿BOY T恤，有纹身，系爱马仕皮带、拿着手包、手串，穿短裤或者紧身牛仔裤，以及不穿袜子的豆豆鞋这种打扮的人，一定要远离。
Steer well clear of anyone like this: they have a shaved head and are overweight, wear a gold chain and a BOY London T-shirt, are tattooed, wear a Hermes Belt, a clutch bag, a bracelet, shorts or skin-tight jeans, and they wear beanie shoes without socks.
It’s going to be hard for Boy London, whose business in China was already in decline, to recover from such a bad blow to its reputation.
While one independent fashion industry analyst Táng Xiǎotáng 唐小唐 is more hopeful:
“抵制相对来说是暂时的，有人喜欢有人不喜欢，土潮也是潮。最终也可能带来一波宣传，很难预测”。
Boycotting is relatively short-lived. Some people like the brand and some people don’t. A tacky style can also be trendy. In the end it may bring some kind of exposure. It is hard to say.
But that’s unlikely, as the article concludes:
因为唐山打人事件，BOYLONDON未来的发展前景或许又是不太明朗
Boy London’s future growth prospects in China are not too clear due to the consequences of the Tangshan attack.
So this week we explore online conversations about how an early-moving international brand in China has become collateral damage in this appalling attack.
The Favourite Five
1. 破伞 pò sǎn
break the umbrella; remove people in the system that protect criminals
唐山打人者劣迹斑斑，“扫黑破伞”除恶务尽 - The instigators of the Tanshan attack are the worse kind of people. ‘Rooting out mafia groups and those that collude with them in the system’ must be done to remove evil from society.
Related: 保护伞 bǎo hù sǎn - protective umbrella, a metaphor for low level officials within the establishment that work with and protect mafia and criminal gangs in Chinese cities.
2. 躺枪 tǎng qiāng
get shot even when lying down; collateral damage
BOY LONDON这次算是躺枪了 - Boy London has become collateral damage in this.
More: this phrase first appeared in a Hong Kong movie in the 1990’s. Read more in this week’s Phrase of the Week in SupChina.
3. 避雷 bì léi
avoid lightening; stay out of trouble
让品牌把消费者画像拉出来，让大家避避雷 - Get the brand to publish customer profiles, so that people can avoid trouble.
Note: ‘avoid lightening’ is an Internet slang word that has become popular in recent years. It normally refers to avoiding a bad product. There’s also a link and play on words with the Henan government’s response to the Tangshan attack with its Thunderstorm Special Action (雷霆风暴专项行动 léi tíng fēng bào zhuān xiàng xíng dòng) - which also ties in with the umbrella breaking theme too.
4. 社会大哥 shè huì dà gē
social big brother; thug
因为一件T恤引发了网友们关于“社会大哥”着装的探讨 - This one T-shirt has caused netizens to discuss the clothing of thugs in China.
5. 上纲上线 shàng gāng shàng xiàn
treat petty issues as a matter principle; push things too far
因为某一件负面事件而上纲上线对某款服装和某种穿搭风格做出贬低和非议 - Because of one single negative incident, people have gone way too far criticising a particular clothes brand and way of dressing.
Note: Go too far was a common idiom during the Cultural Revolution. It’s evolved to mean something similar but in an online setting - netizens going too far. First discussed in this newsletter in May 2021.
Share this idiom of the week on Twitter with your Chinese learning networks.
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
This week I’ve collated words which track the highs and subsequent lows of Boy London’s journey in China - from high fashion, to tacky trends, and finally the imminent cut price sell-off.
风靡 fēng mí
fashionable
2012年到2015年，是BOY LONDON在国内风靡的顶峰时期 - Boy London was at its peak in popularity between 2012 and 2015 in China.
Related: 风靡一时 fēng mí yī shí - very popular
潮牌 cháo pái
popular brand
BOY LONDON又是少见的主动进入中国的潮牌，特征也很鲜明，身边很多同学都在穿 - Boy London was one of the few mainstream brands to proactively enter the Chinese market. It had a distinctive style and lots of my friends were wearing it.
钟情 zhōng qíng
to love something or someone
“社会大哥”为何如此钟情BOY T恤、爱马仕H扣皮带和金链子？- Why do thugs in China love Boy London T-shirts, Hermes belts and gold chains so much?
钱味 qián wèi
to reek of money
无疑看重的是这两样单品带来的钱味，“有钱”和“有势”一样 - What they care about is that the T-shirt makes them look like they have money, and money also means power.
Related: 铜臭味 tóng chòu wèi the corrupting effect of money, first discussed last December.
土潮 tǔ cháo
tacky trends
抵制相对来说是暂时的，有人喜欢有人不喜欢，土潮也是潮 - Boycotting is relatively short-lived. Some people like it and some people don’t. A tacky style can also be trendy.
Related: 土 tǔ - vulgar, cheap or tacky.
土俗 tǔ sú
local customs; cheap local style
“你离潮人就差一件BOY LONDON”的潮牌变成了如今的“土俗”代表 - The saying that ‘you are one Boy London T-shirt away from becoming fashionable’ has become representative of tackiness in China.
Note: this normally means ‘local customs’ but here it is used ironically playing on the 土tǔ theme.
颓势 tuí shì
decline
这些举措都没能挽回BOY LONDON在国内市场的颓势 - None of these steps can help Boy London reverse its continuing decline in the China market.
被黑 bèi hēi
to be unfairly criticised
网友感叹，“这是BOY这个品牌被黑得最惨的一次。” - Netizens sigh and say: Boy London received the most unfair criticism this time.
甩卖 shuǎi mài
selling goods at cut prices
预计将在当年12月底正式关店并进行清仓甩卖 - We estimate that its online shop will officially be closed at the end of this year after a clearance sale.
Three-character phrases
Three three-character phrases to discuss the predicament that Boy London finds itself in.
山寨货 shān zhài huò
knock-off product
这件T恤来自英国品牌BOY LONDON，是正品还是山寨货就不得而知了 - The T-shirt was British brand Boy London, but whether it was a genuine item or a fake no one knows.
Note: also known as 山寨 shān zhài, first discussed in September last year.
下坡路 xià pō lù
going downhill
这个品牌在国内也避免不了走下坡路的事实了 - This brand cannot escape its decline in China.
标签化 biāo qiān huà
to be labelled as something (negative)
这个被标签化的潮流品牌，如今走至被中国消费者逐渐抛弃的窘境 - This mainstream brand has been given a negative label in China. Now it is facing the dilemma of gradually being abandoned by Chinese consumers.
Idioms
Chinese idioms can be used ironically for rhetorical effect. In the coverage of the Tangshan attack, a number of common idioms normally used in a positive context are used to make a bigger point negatively - the first three idioms below are examples of this.
恰如其分 qià rú qí fèn
appropriate
BOY LONDON这个品牌的设计理念似乎“恰如其分”地吻合了社会大哥的这些心理需求 - The Boy London brand had just the right design concept to align with the physiological needs of Chinese thugs.
More: an idiom which is traced back to the Qing Dynasty novelist, Lǐ Lǜyuán 李绿园 in the novel Lamp in the Side Street (歧路灯 qí lù dēng) which depicts 18th Century Qing Dynasty life.
如出一辙 rú chū yī zhé
the same as
有人认为这与纳粹的“纳粹鹰”如出一辙 - Some people believe the Boy London eagle is the same as the symbol of the Nazi eagle.
Note: normally used in a positive setting.
顺理成章 shùn lǐ chéng zhāng
matter of course, goes without saying
所以Boy London成为“社会大哥”标配也就顺理成章 - Boy London has naturally become the standard clothing for Chinese thugs.
And the rest of this week’s are all very negative, deployed in the usual way.
寻衅滋事 xún xìn zī shì
pick fights and cause trouble
唐山市路北区某烧烤店发生涉嫌寻衅滋事、暴力殴打他人事件 - A violent assault happened at a barbecue restaurant in Lubei District, Tangshan City.
Note: this idiom is sometimes used by China’s MFA spokespeople in relation to actions of the US.
举步维艰 jǔ bù wéi jiān
struggling
在时尚潮流发展大势下，BOY LONDON在国内市场的发展更是举步维艰 - With the recent development of the fashion industry in China, Boy London’s growth in the China market is facing real difficulties.
千篇一律 qiān piān yī lǜ
follow the same pattern, stereotyped
设计千篇一律的大LOGO让人审美疲劳 - The design is cliched, and people are tired of of this kind of big logo.
一波三折 yī bō sān zhé
twists and turns
BOY LONDON自进入中国以来便是一波三折 - Boy London has gone through a lot of twists and turns in the China market.
Phrases
I only found one phrase this week, but it’s a good one. It originally came from German and is also popular in English. It’s a good example of how Chinese grammar can capture the essence of the meaning through quite a different structure.
倒洗澡水连孩子也倒掉了 dào xǐ zǎo shuǐ lián hái zi yě dào diào le
throw the baby out with the bath water
那与“倒洗澡水连孩子也倒掉了”有何区别？- So what is the difference between this and throwing the baby out along with the bathwater?
Note: a German proverb, also becoming popular in English, and the earliest printed reference to it, in Thomas Murner's satirical work Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools), which dates from 1512.
More: want to know another German idiom that’s become absorbed into Chinese?
山和山不相遇，人和人要相逢 shān hé shān bù xiāngyù, rén hé rén yào xiāng féng - ‘mountains can never meet, but people must come together’.
We learned this in the first ever Slow Chinese newsletter published 72 Saturdays ago.
Become a member of RealTime Mandarin+
The RealTime Mandarin+ membership is a multimedia resource helping you learn contemporary Chinese in context
If you enjoyed reading the free newsletter, you’ll LOVE our paid membership: RealTime Mandarin+.
Joining Real-Time-Mandarin+, you’ll unlock loads of extra resources to help you dramatically improve your Chinese language skills.
Every week you get access to new content:
🔈Podcast - 30 min podcast every Saturday with 80% native Mandarin (including transcript)
📚 Resources and integrations - Pleco, Skritter, Hack Chinese, mylingua (new!), and PDF printouts
👩🎓 Intermediate newsfeed - One ‘real’ Chinese language news podcast and article published every Sunday, in a lesson format, pitched at an intermediate level
💬 Community - Slack community, Substack Chat, online meet-ups, in-person gatherings
🤿 Quarterly Deep Dives - One hour webinars focussing on one key challenge of intermediate learners delivered around the end of every quarter.
When you join, you’ll also have an optional 1-1 onboarding and coaching call to help orientate you.
It’s the best way to get motivated, inspired, and kick-start your Mandarin learning habit.
You can access all of these resources for less than the cost of one pint per week in a London pub.
It’s a no brainer (and much better for you)!
So, if you’ve been on the fence for a while, now is the time to confront it, invest in yourself, and commit!
Happy learning!
Andrew