‘Profiteering at a time of national crisis’ — Phrase of the Week
China's COVID testing companies come under fire for profiteering from the pandemic.
Our phrase of the week is: Profiteering at a time of national crisis (发国难财 fā guónàn cái).
Context
China’s PCR testing companies have generated huge profits since the COVID pandemic started three years ago. Analysts at Soochow Securities estimated that local governments spent 174.6 billion yuan ($24.3 billion) from April to June this year. Several testing firms have gone public this year, and 10 of the largest listed virus-testing firms reported a combined net profit of 16.3 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) as of June 30.
But some companies are also coming under increasing public criticism for profiting off the country’s COVID-zero policy at a time when the public is venting anger about lockdowns through widespread protests across China.
The latest company to come under fire is Shenzhen Nucleus Gene Technology Co. (深圳市核子基因科技有限公司 shēnzhèn shì hézǐ jīyīn kējì yǒuxiàn gōngsī). A testing site in the city of Lanzhou, Gansu Province, under the firm and with a similar name, is accused of providing inconsistent test results, with thousands of people receiving incorrect positive test results.
The supervisor of the company is Zhāng Shānshān 张珊珊, who is associated with 38 other companies in China, all with the name Nucleus Gene — including the Lanzhou testing site established in August this year. Behind all these companies is the founder and largest shareholder, Zhāng Hézǐ 张核子, and the second-largest shareholder, Bā Yǐng 巴颖. They are Shanshan’s parents.
Nucleus Gene is accused of profiteering from the pandemic while running poor operations. Wherever the company goes, according to some comments in the media, so, too, does the pandemic:
Maybe it’s just a coincidence. But his testing agency has almost no misses: Wherever the company operates, the virus will make a comeback.
也许只是巧合，他的检测机构几乎弹无虚发，基本是公司开到哪里，哪里就少不了疫情反扑。
Yěxǔ zhǐshì qiǎohé, tā de jiǎncè jīgòu jīhū dànwú xūfā, jīběn shì gōngsī kāi dào nǎlǐ, nǎlǐ jiù shàobùliǎo yìqíng fǎnpū.
The People’s Daily published an article on November 29, saying that chaotic PCR testing needs stricter rules.
Chaotic practices of PCR testing companies have resulted in a public backlash. It’s time to put a stop to this!
核酸检测乱象社会公众反映强烈，已经到了非重典不能止乱的时候了！
Hésuān jiǎncè luànxiàng shèhuì gōngzhòng fǎnyìng qiángliè, yǐjīng dàole fēi zhòngdiǎn bùnéng zhǐ luàn de shíhòule!
Social media users evoked a common Chinese phrase to express their anger:
Why are companies not being punished for hugely profiteering at a time of national crisis?
大发国难财，为何不杀？
Dà fā guónàn cái, wèihé bù shā?
Translation
Profiteering at a time of national crisis is a four-character colloquialism that first appeared in the 1961 novel Red Crag (红岩 hóngyán). Set in Chongqing during the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the story is based partly on fact, and written by Luó Guǎngbīn 罗广斌, who was an inmate in a Kuomintang prison in Sichuan.
Luo writes:
Cheng Gang waved his hands and said loudly: “Brothers, listen to me. I, like you, cannot go back to my hometown. We are not the ones who profiteered at a time of national crisis. We did not take any money!”
成岗摆了摆手，高声说道：“兄弟们，听我说。我和你们一样，也是回不了家乡的。我们都不是发国难财、接收财的人!”
Chéng Gǎng bǎilebǎi shǒu, gāoshēng shuōdao: “Xiōngdìmen, tīng wǒ shuō. Wǒ hé nǐmen yíyàng, yěshì huíbùliǎo jiāxiāng de. Wǒmen dōu búshì fā guónàn cái, jiēshōu cái de rén!”
Nowadays, the phrase is used to describe opportunistic people or companies that profit from times of great stress or crisis, such as some bakeries raising prices during the lockdowns in April.
Another common phrase in the commentary about Nucleus Gene, and a previous phrase of the week, is to eat human-blood-soaked buns (吃人血馒头 chī rénxiě mántou), which also describes companies that profiteer at times of national crisis.
