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This week, we’re exploring one of this newsletter's favourite themes: food safety scandals.
Food scandals in China are particularly sensitive, and interesting, for a few reasons.
First, they almost always involve local cover-ups.
Second, they tend to occur in poorly regulated or "grey" sectors, which leaves them vulnerable to corruption and profiteering.
And third, thanks to social media, these scandals can rapidly escalate into national stories, drawing the attention of central media and government. So while they're not fully censored, the messaging is often tightly controlled.
This is always interesting from a language learning perspective!
In past episodes, we’ve discussed food safety scandals which have served up a delicious selection of contemporary Chinese idioms, slang, and even new expressions.
Take, for example, a story from June this year when The Beijing News exposed how cooking oil was transported in unwashed trucks that also carried fuel oil—transport companies were exploiting a loophole (钻空子) to cut costs.
Or last September, when parents voiced concerns over unregulated ready meals being delivered to schools by profiteering companies that were making ill-gotten gains (捞油水) while completely disregarding safety.
And, possibly one of our favourite episodes ever: the incident in Nanchang, where a school and local police tried to "point at a rat and call it a duck" (指鼠为鸭), which was our Phrase of the Year in 2023.
Another common thread among these food scandals is the use of language.
A number of phrases we learned in these earlier scandals also appear in conversations we explore this week, like:
"eyes staring, tongue tied" meaning "shocked" (瞠目结舌)
"makeshift stage troupe" meaning "unprofessional team" (草台班子)
"one eye open, one eye closed" meaning "turn a blind eye" (睁一只眼闭一只眼)
China's latest food safety scandal erupted at a private school in Kunming last week.
Since the beginning of term, parents at the Changfeng Middle School (长丰中学) in the Guandu district of the city, discovered that their children had been suffering from stomach pain, illness, and diarrhoea.
Initially, these symptoms were dismissed as a seasonal stomach bug.
But one concerned parent decided to investigate the school canteen kitchen and found rotting, foul-smelling pork, ready to be cooked for the students. The parent then shared images of the spoiled meat in a group chat with other parents, demanding an explanation from the teachers who were also in the group.
Outrage intensified following the school’s indifferent and arrogant handling of the situation.
Rather than respond to parents' concerns, the school first tried to stop the complaints, as one parent explained:
"Now someone in the group is saying that the school has files on all the parents.
Are they trying to threaten us?
We won't cause trouble, but we won't be afraid of it either!"
“现在有人在群里说学校有所有家长的档案，这是不是对我们的威胁？”
“我们不会惹事，但我们也不会怕事！” [2]
Then, when the school finally responded, a two-hour meeting was chaired by the headmaster and the chairman of the education group running the school. But instead of addressing the parents' concerns, they shifted the blame onto a low-ranking kitchen worker, who was made to stand before the parents and apologise.
As he spoke, the vice principal stood by with her arms crossed and a smug smile, while angry parents demanded accountability.
To make matters worse, the school's chairman abruptly walked out mid-meeting, hands in pockets, ignoring the parents’ pleas to address the issue, simply saying he had finished work for the day.
Parents then surrounded the headmaster, pressing for answers, and his only response was:
"I will take responsibility for what I should, and those who should be sentenced will be sentenced.
I have dedicated my whole life to education, and I don't want our school to fall, nor do I want our children to be impacted.”
“该我负责的我负责，该判刑的判刑，我把一生都奉献在教育上，不希望我们学校倒掉，不希望我们的小孩受影响。” [2]
Despite the headmaster’s beautiful words, the scandal quickly spread online and became a national news story.
State media reported that local authorities had launched an investigation on 16 October. But even the wording of this announcement fuelled more anger among parents, as it vaguely referred to the rotten meat as having an "abnormal sensory odour" (感官气味异常), suggesting a possible cover up.
The preliminary findings were released the following day.
Investigators revealed that the meat in question was not out of date, and had been slaughtered that day.
However, it had spoiled due to improper handling. Stored in plastic bags for nearly four hours and then left at room temperature for over five hours, there was no cold chain transportation or proper refrigeration of the meat.
Additionally, while the company responsible for supplying the meat and managing the canteen holds a business and food business license, its qualifications only cover pre-packaged and bulk food sales. Despite lacking the necessary credentials for catering services, the company still won the contract to manage the school canteen.
It was also revealed that the company charged an annual contracting fee of 400,000 to 500,000 yuan ($55,000 to $70,000 USD) for its services.
This revelation left parents outraged.
They questioned why a school that charges 26,000 RMB ($3,600 USD) in annual tuition fees—along with an additional 14 RMB ($2 USD) per meal—had awarded the contract to such an unqualified company. Parents were also left wondering how the school could charge such high fees and still fail to provide healthy meals for their children.
As one parent aptly put it:
“The school only wants to collect tuition fees but doesn’t want to take responsibility, so what is the point of parents sending their children here?
In this world, what stinks is never the rotten meat, but the rotten heart blinded by greed.”
学校只想收学费不想承担责任，那家长把孩子送到这里的意义是什么？这世道，臭的从来不是肉，而是“利欲熏心”。
After the findings of the investigation were announced, the local police confirmed that three officials at the school had been suspended, the principal and legal representative were dismissed, and the school was fined 100,000 yuan (around $13,700 USD). The catering contractor was closed down, with 460,000 yuan (about $63,000 USD) of illegal income confiscated, and was also fined 5.78 million yuan (around $795,000 USD).
Online commentary compared this scandal to the "pointing at a rat and calling it a duck" food scandal of 2023. In both scenarios, the school tried to silence the person who first reported it, which is one of the reasons why both situations quickly escalated, as a commentator notes:
"What’s truly frightening isn’t the problem itself, but the refusal to face and properly address it.
Instead, attempts are made to silence those who raised the issue and scapegoat those who are not in charge."
出了问题不可怕，可怕的是，不去正视问题、认真解决问题，而是解决提出问题的人，推出无关紧要的人背锅。
"Tackling those who report the problem and not the problem itself" (解决提出问题人而不是问题本身) is one of the oldest tricks in the book in the Chinese system.
So that's what we're exploring this week!
🎧 Podcast Preview: Curious about the subtle difference between 愤 and 怒, both meaning “anger”? In this week’s RTM+ Podcast, we explore the nuances of “angry” expressions, including how to use terms like “infuriate” (激怒), “provoke anger” (惹怒), “rebuke in anger” (怒斥), “retort angrily” (怒怼), and “burning with anger” (怒火中烧). Tune in at the 10-minute mark to learn how to master these expressions and communicate your emotions with confidence!
Favourite Five
1. 背锅 bēi guō
take the blame, scapegoat
学校的处理方式，是推出了一个厨师，出来背锅道歉 - The school's way of handling it was to send out a cook to take the blame and apologise. [3]
Related:
背锅侠 bēi guō xiá - scapegoat
2. 义愤填膺 yì fèn tián yīng
indignant, filled with righteous anger
家长义愤填膺：我们不怕事 - The parents were indignant: "We are not afraid of anything!" [2]
Related:
怒不可遏 nù bù kě è - unable to restrain one’s anger
勃然大怒 bó rán dà nù - to fly into a rage
3. 丧尽天良 sàng jìn tiān liáng
utterly heartless, devoid of conscience
售卖不合格的食物，我一直都觉得是一种丧尽天良的行为 - Selling substandard food has always seemed to me like an utterly heartless act. [1]
4. 利欲熏心 lì yù xūn xīn
blinded by greed
这世道，臭的从来不是肉，而是“利欲熏心” - In this world, what stinks is never the rotten meat, but the rotten heart blinded by greed. [3]
More: Read more about the grim origins of this in tomorrow's Sinica Phrase of the Week.
5. 细思极恐 xì sī jí kǒng
the more you think about it, the scarier it gets
他们将会怎么处理这些猪肉呢？这让人细思极恐 - How will they deal with this pork? The more you think about it, the scarier it becomes. [2]
Note: An internet slang phrase.
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 异味 yì wèi
unusual smell, odour
能够用鼻子闻出来的异味 - A strange odour that could be detected with the nose. [1]
Related:
异物 yì wù - foreign object
臭味 chòu wèi - bad smell, stench
7. 变质 biàn zhì
spoil, deteriorate
现在的孩子基本上没有能力分辨食物有没有污染或者变质 - Children these days are usually unable to tell if the food is contaminated or spoiled. [1]
8. 猫腻 māo nì
something fishy
如果学校领导自己采购的食材有猫腻，他肯定不会吃 - If the school officials themselves purchased food with something fishy going on, they surely wouldn’t eat it. [1]
9. 激怒 jī nù
enrage, infuriate
这下，大家就更被激怒了 - This made everyone even more furious. [2]
Related:
怒火 nù huǒ - rage, fury
怒斥 nù chì - angrily rebuke
10. 气愤 qì fèn
angry, furious
当时很气愤，发到了班级群里，然后还报警了 - I was so angry that I posted about it in the class group chat and even called the police. [2]
11. 轻蔑 qīng miè
contempt, disdain
面对家长严肃质问，满脸都是轻蔑的笑 - When faced with the parents' serious questioning, she responded with a smirk of contempt. [3]
12. 漠视 mò shì
disregard, show indifference
可他却直接漠视了，因为他到点要下班了 - But he completely disregarded it, because it was time for him to get off work. [3]
Related:
无视 wú shì - to ignore or disregard
13. 肥差 féi chāi
cushy job, lucrative position
