‘Abuse of power’ — Phrase of the Week
Urban police officers, who are among China’s most despised law enforcers, have given their newly launched rural equivalent a bad name.
Our Phrase of the Week is: Abuse of power (拿着鸡毛当令箭 názhe jīmáo dāng lìngjiàn).
The context
China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently announced the formation of a new department: The Agricultural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Department (农业综合行政执法队伍 nóngyè zōnghé xíngzhèng zhífǎ duìwu).
According to the ministry, its officers will bring much-needed law enforcement to the countryside, such as catching sellers of counterfeit or substandard seeds, pesticides, and veterinary medicines, and inspecting animals and plants for disease.
But so far, the public response has been mostly negative. The new officers have been nicknamed nóngguǎn 农管, translated as “agricultural-management officers.” The phrase is a play on the phrase urban-management officers, or chéngguǎn 城管, who are among China’s most despised law enforcers, disliked for their abuse of street vendors and record of violence.
China’s propaganda machine has sought to correct the narrative caused by the unhelpful nickname. But whether or not those efforts will succeed will depend on the actions of the new law enforcement officers, as one media outlet points out:
The rural comprehensive law enforcement team has just been established. So it must not be misrepresented and misinterpreted at the grassroots level. We must also be wary of people who “take a chicken feather as a warrant” and regard agricultural management as an opportunity for grassroots power violations and abuses, as well as a banner under which farmers can be tormented.
农村综合执法队伍刚成立不久，要防止其在基层被念歪了经、盖歪了楼，也要警惕有人“拿着鸡毛当令箭”，把“农管”当成基层越权、滥权、折腾农民的“虎皮大旗”。
Nóngcūn zōnghé zhífǎ duìwu gāng chénglì bùjiǔ, yào fángzhǐ qí zài jīcéng bèi niànwāi le jīng, gàiwāi le lóu, yě yào jǐngtì yǒurén “názhe jīmáo dāng lìngjiàn,” bǎ “nóng guǎn” dàngchéng jīcéng yuèquán, làn quán, zhēteng nóngmín de “hǔ pí dà qí.”
And with that, we have our Phrase of the Week.
What it means
Take a chicken feather as a warrant to issue orders is a well-known colloquial phrase. It means to treat something worthless as an order from on high, and use it as a sign of authority.
The phrase can be broken down into two parts: a feather and a flag.
During ancient times in China, military orders were given through flags, known as command flags, or 令箭 lìngjiàn, on the battlefield. The chicken feather (鸡毛 jīmáo), in contrast, means something that is worthless.
Take a chicken feather as a warrant has become a way to describe someone who gives orders based on irrelevant or vague words from the authorities.
The backlash around the nongguan is based on fears that these new law enforcement officers will be the same as their urban cousins, the chengguan, who have a reputation of overexerting their authority, nitpicking, and generally taking things too far:
The past is the teacher of the future. Agricultural management officers may not only learn from the experience of the chengguan, their reputations are also closely linked — chengguan have never been regarded as “official” and are always looked down on.
前事不忘后事之师，农管从兄弟部门城管那不仅借鉴经验，恐怕也要接受后者直到现在尚未“转正”的社会评价。
Qiánshì búwàng hòushì zhīshī, nóngguǎn cóng xiōngdì bùmén chéngguǎn nà bùjǐn jièjiàn jīngyàn, kǒngpà yě yào jiēshòu hòuzhě zhídào xiànzài shàngwèi “zhuǎnzhèng” de shèhuì píngjià.
So take a chicken feather as a warrant is best translated as “abuse of power.”
—Thanks to Geremie Barmé for suggesting this story.
