‘Stubbornly Chinese’ — Phrase of the Week
A new derogatory phrase used by an overprivileged Chinese influencer to criticize Chinese people living on the mainland began as the Hindi word for "China" thousands of years ago.
Our Phrase of the Week is: Stubbornly Chinese (支性难改 zhīxìng nángǎi).
The context
An internet user going by the handle of Arctic Catfish (北极鲶鱼 běijí niányú) has come under fire for showing off her wealth and sharing offensive posts on social media.
The girl, whose family name is Zhōng 钟 and is described as the third generation of a government official — i.e. the granddaughter of a senior Communist Party member — lives and studies in Australia. She is known for sharing images of her extravagant lifestyle there.
In February, one internet user questioned why she still used Chinese social media platforms if she was so happy to have left the country:
You’ve left the country, so why do you still use Chinese social media platforms? Do you really like them?
都出国了，还用国内老社交平台，真的很喜欢吗？
dōu chūguó le, hái yòng guónèi lǎo shèjiāo píngtái, zhēn de hěn xǐhuān ma?
In response, she said:
My family’s money came from gullible Chinese like you, so how could I not like using Chinese social media platforms? My family’s wealth is in the hundreds of millions, so I can be in whatever country I want to, and use whatever social platform I like. Using Weibo means I can watch you Chinese being stubbornly Chinese.
我家的钱都是韭菜供的，怎么可能不喜欢呢？我家有9位数存款，想混哪个平台就哪个平台，想去哪个国家就哪个国家，我就是喜欢看你们支性难改的样子。
Wǒjiā de qián dōu shì jiǔcài gōng de, zěnme kěnéng bù xǐhuān ne? wǒjiā yǒu jiǔ wèi shù cúnkuǎn, xiǎng hùn nǎge píngtái jiù nǎge píngtái, xiǎng qù nǎge guójiā jiù nǎge guójiā, wǒ jiùshì xǐhuān kàn nǐmen zhīxìng nángǎi de yàngzi.
And with that, we have our Phrase of the Week.
What it means
While there are a number of phrases in the post which could be viable candidates for Phrase of the Week, we have chosen 支性难改 zhīxìng nángǎi, which if translated directly would make no sense: “Stick-ness hard to change.”
The second part of the phrase is 难改 nángǎi, which means “hard to change,” or “stubborn.”
The first part of the phrase, 支性 zhīxìng, is more challenging. It’s a variation on the word 支那 zhīnà, which has been around for more than two millennia. For much of that time the word was neutral, meaning “China” in the Hindi language (चीन, pronounced “cheen”) since Buddhism first traveled there from India during the late Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago.
Its origin is believed to be related to 秦 Qín, China’s first empire, since it sounds similar. It also sounds similar to the word “China” in English, and Cine in French. In fact, these words in European languages are influenced by the original Hindi word. It was transcribed into the Chinese characters 支那 zhīnà.
By the 9th Century, Buddhism had traveled from China to Japan, and so did the word for China, 支那 (pronounced “shina”), in Japanese, and the word for Chinese people, 支那人 zhīnà rén.
This archaic phrase was originally used neutrally in both the Chinese and Japanese languages. But it became a derogatory phrase used by Japanese towards Chinese people during the Sino-Japanese wars. Falling into disuse after World War II, 支那 zhīnà is now viewed as offensive, with the Japanese name for China being replaced by Chūgoku (中国).
This new term, 支性 zhīxìng, draws from the derogatory phrase, and translates as “Chinese-ness” with a condescending tone.
So Arctic Catfish is saying she is far better than Chinese who are still in China who cannot afford to leave the country. She is being condescending and offensive towards Chinese people, which is far worse than showing off her wealth, as far as the Chinese media is concerned. Some users of social media platform Weibo are now asking: Why hasn’t her family been punished yet?
—Thanks to Geremie Barmé for suggesting this phrase.
