Two influencers battle over the price of sweetcorn
Simba and Dong Yuhui accuse each other of ripping off customers
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An online spat has broken out between Simba (辛巴 xīn bā), and Dǒng Yǔhuī 董宇辉, two of China's top live-stream sellers.
Simba, whose real name is Xīn Yǒuzhì (辛有志), is a farmer's son who went on to become an online influencer selling agri products on Kuaishou, a short video-sharing social media platform which has dominated outside of China’s major cities.
Dǒng Yǔhuī 董宇辉, formerly an English teacher, shot to stardom three months ago on Oriental Select 东方甄选 (dōngfāng zhēnxuǎn), a live-stream e-commerce channel on Douyin, established by China's largest private education group, New Oriental.
Oriental Select sells high-end products, and provides additional value by sharing knowledge, cultural insights, and teaching English, while selling products to consumers. Simba, on the other hand, prides himself on bringing good products at low prices to his customers.
On 18 September, Simba criticized Oriental Select for its high prices:
Some live-stream studios are charging high prices while saying that lower prices will hurt farmers. This is simply ripping off the people.
某些直播间卖高价产品还标榜谷贱伤农，这纯属是在欺骗老百姓
He was referring to sweetcorn sold by Dong Yuhui and others at Oriental Select for 6 yuan. According to Simba, farmers sell one ear of corn at 0.7 yuan, so Oriental Select is taking huge profits.
But Simba also came in for some stick from consumers and farmers.
With the high-priced sweetcorn Dong Yuhui is selling, it’s hard to see how the additional profit is being passed back to farmers; Simba on the other hand has indirectly hurt farmers with the 0.7 yuan theory, causing many farmers in the north east of China who sell online to lose business. Some have even been bullied by Simba’s followers.
董宇辉卖的玉米价高，但多出来的溢价部分似乎无法真实落到农户身上；而辛巴的发言更是间接造成了伤农的结果，他的七毛玉米论，致使一众东北农户直播间销量下滑，甚至有农民被辛巴粉丝网暴。
Simba and Dong Yuhui accuse each other of ripping off customers, and squeezing farmers’ profits. Bigger issues of trust and transparency in China's e-commerce sector, and the changes happening in live-stream e-commerce in China, have also come into conversation:
Live-stream e-commerce is no longer the Wild West it used to be. With the change in the focus of platforms, the rise of brand self-broadcasting and mid-sized players, this has dealt a blow to the first-generation top live-streamers like Simba. Things are also gradually moving away from the style and aesthetics of Simba too. Instead, they are replaced by the rise of cultural and knowledge-based live broadcasts represented by Dong Yuhui and Oriental Select.
直播电商早已不是从前的草莽江湖。随着平台重心的变化，品牌自播和中腰部主播的崛起已经成为趋势，这本就对初代头部主播辛巴造成了打击，而辛巴擅长的直播风格，也已经逐渐偏离了大众审美，取而代之的是以董宇辉、东方甄选为代表的文化、知识直播的兴起。
So that’s what we get stuck into this week, with some excellent northern Chinese dialect words, and agricultural references.
Enjoy!
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Favourite Five
1. 老铁 lǎo tiě
old iron; mate or pal
当快手老铁遇上新东方老师会擦出怎样的火花？ - When the old incumbent of Kuaishou meets the new upstart of Oriental Select, what is going to happen?
Note: north eastern Chinese slang word, which here means something more like incumbent or top player. Similar to 哥们儿 or 大哥.
2. 碰瓷 pèng cí
bumping porcelain; a scam
这种先碰瓷后道歉的戏码，已是辛巴直播间的惯用套路 - The old trick of first falsely accusing of wrong-doing, and then apologising, is a tactic often used by Simba.
Note: we first discussed this in June last year.
Background:
碰瓷 pèng cí refers to the once elite military force - the Eight Banners Brothers (八旗子弟) - which had become ineffective and corrupt at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
By then the well-paid ‘Bannerman’ spent their time gambling and boozing, paid for through extortion of unsuspecting members of the public. One tactic was to carry a fake expensive piece of porcelain on a horse and cart and intentionally allow others - often in a rush - to bump into and smash it, claiming the full value of the original from them.
3. 狗屎运 gǒu shǐ yùn
dog shit luck; good luck out of bad
董宇辉在直播时表示，自己不是比别人厉害，可能只是捡了个狗屎运，运气好 - In his live-stream studio, Dong Yuhui said he did not think he was better than anyone else. He just had a stroke of good luck out of a bad situation.
Note: we first learned this colloquial phrase in May this year.
Background:
Dog shit luck means “to have very good luck” in Chinese. It’s a phrase with roots in ancient rural China, when farmers fertilized their crops with animal manure and human waste.
Dog excrement was also a good source of nutrients for crops, so early in the morning, some enterprising villagers would go out to collect it to sell to farmers. So finding and even treading on dog shit was a good thing because it meant making extra money.
4. 谷贱伤农 gǔ jiàn shāng nóng
low grain prices hurt farmers
地里出来的玉米7毛一穗，你一穗玉米卖6块多钱，良心呢，你来个谷贱伤农你公司利润40% - One ear of corn out of the ground costs 0.7 yuan. But you’re selling it at 6 yuan? Where is your conscience? You say how low grain prices hurt farmers, but your company’s 40% profit margin is not helping at all.
Background: this idiom first appeared in the Book of Han, a history of the Han dynasty, written more than 2,000 years ago. We explore more in The China Project Phrase of the Week.
5. 黔驴技穷 qián lǘ jì qióng
Guizhou donkey has used all its tricks; be at one’s wit’s end, exhausted all one’s tricks
没有以前的痛苦生活经历，也没读过书，可能很快就黔驴技穷，热度一过大家就忘了 - If I didn’t go through years of hardship and was not educated, I might have exhausted all my tricks very quickly and been forgotten as soon as the media hype passed.
Note: we learned this idiom in the November 21 newsletter last year.
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
怼 duì
to have a go at somebody
怼完董宇辉的次日，辛巴就道了歉 - The day after Simba had a go at Dong Yuhui, he apologised.
Note: similar to 吐槽 tǔ cáo. Both are informal and originate from north eastern Chinese dialect. Previously discussed in October last year.
捞钱 lāo qián
make loads of money
农民捞着钱了 - Farmers are raking it in.
草莽 cǎo mǎng
wild, uncultivated
直播电商早已不是从前的草莽江湖 - The live-stream e-commerce sector is not the Wild West that it used to be.
More: in combination with 江湖 jiāng hú (discussed in last week’s newsletter) it equivalent to the ‘Wild West’.
助农 zhù nóng
help farmers
东方甄选将成本7毛的玉米卖6块是在打着助农旗号牟取暴利 - Oriental Select is selling sweetcorn which costs 0.7 yuan per ear at 6 yuan. They are flying the flag of helping farmers but actually making a killing.
伤农 shāng nóng
hurt farmers
辛巴的发言更是间接造成了伤农的结果 - Moreover, Simba’s comments have indirectly hurt farmers.
Three-character phrases
丧良心 sàng liáng xīn
no conscience
打着助农的旗号赚取暴利，丧良心 - Flying the flag of helping farmers, while making huge profits, they have no conscience.
耍流氓 shuǎ liú máng
behaving like a thug
抛开品质谈价格就是耍流氓 - Talking about price without talking about quality is just ridiculous.
拉关注 lā guān zhù
grabbing attention
网友们早就厌倦了靠炒作、骂架、审丑拉关注的闹剧 - Netizens have long become wary of the farcical attention grabbing through creating media hype, criticising and judging other celebrities.
Related: 蹭热点 cèng rè diǎn - means something similar, using media hype to gain hits on social media.
Idioms
This week’s idioms offer advanced ways to express simple concepts in English.
词不达意 cí bù dá yì
inarticulate
这可能只是误会，有时候是自己说话措辞不对，词不达意 而已 - This was probably a misunderstanding. Sometimes what I say is not what I mean.
屡试不爽 lǚ shì bù shuǎng
tried and tested
网红直播带货，本是帮助农民解决销售渠道最有力的手段之一，就连央视也屡试不爽 - Online influencer selling is supposed to be an effective sales channel for farmers. Even CCTV has done it many times with success.
More: first discussed in November last year.
无可指摘 wú kě zhǐ zhāi
blameless
东方甄选的售价也并非无可指摘 - The pricing of Oriental Select is not blameless.
昭然若揭 zhāo rán ruò jiē
revealing
两相对比之下，东方甄选的溢价昭然若揭 - Comparing the two, Oriental Select has clearly upped its prices.
一席之地 yī xí zhī dì
have a place
高价玉米仍能在市场中占有一席之地 - High-priced sweetcorn still has a place in the market.
Phrases
一分钱一分货 yī fēn qián yī fēn huò
you get what you pay for
有人认为定价太贵，也有人认为一分钱一分货 - Some people believe that prices are too high. Others say you get what you pay for.
雷声大雨点小 léi shēng dà yǔ diǎn xiǎo
loud thunder, small rain; all bark no bite
辛巴斥巨资在成都召开自有品牌的新品发布会，舞台、演讲话术均对标雷军，但却是雷声大雨点小 - Simba invested heavily in the launch event for his own-branded products in Chengdu. The staging and tone of his speech were clearly inspired by Lei Jun. But it was much less impressive.
Note: the use of this phrase is a play on 雷 from Lei Jun - the founder of Xiaomi, and one of the few entrepreneurs in China who is still quite vocal and visible.
More: 斥巨资 chì jù zī - spend huge sums of money
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