Chapter 71 of the Water Margin is titled “In the Hall of Loyalty, a stone tablet receives a text from Heaven. The heroes of Liangshan take their places in order.” The tablet sets out the names of the 108 heroes.
The text reads: “Now the number is complete. Heaven has fixed the places in two grades, large and small. The tiangang and disha stars have all been given their order.” Song Jiang stands first.
Many Chinese graduate students call their supervisor laoban, boss. In an essay, the philosopher Zhou Guoping called this “a fairly common phenomenon” in Chinese universities. A supervisor becomes a boss, he wrote, “first through the power to decide whether a student can graduate, and second through the funds in his hands.”
In June 2026, the Beijing News reported a survey in which more than half of the respondents wanted their supervisors to be more like supporters than traditional bosses.
On October 24, 2020, Jack Ma spoke at the second Bund Finance Summit in Shanghai. He criticized the way finance was regulated. “Good innovation is not afraid of regulation,” he said, “but it is afraid of yesterday’s regulation.”
On November 2, the central bank and three other financial regulators held a regulatory interview with Ma and with Ant Group’s chairman and president. On the evening of November 3, Ant Group’s listing on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, planned for November 5, was put on hold.
In official lists, the ordinary members of the Politburo appear in the order of the number of strokes in their surnames. The members of its Standing Committee do not. Their order, Southern Weekend wrote in 2013, is tied to “their division of work and their seniority in the Party.”
The paper added: “Although the ranking of leaders carries important political information, there is no written rule for it.”
In 2014, a Beijing official explained to the Beijing News how deputies are addressed. “Nobody says Deputy Director X. Deputy leaders are mostly called by surname plus a short form of the title.” The word fu, deputy, is left out.
A professor warned about one short form, the surname plus fu. For deputies named Zu or Yue, it gives Zu fu or Yue fu, which sound like the words for grandfather and father-in-law.
论资排辈 To rank by seniority and generation. To set a person’s level and treatment by length of service and generation. A dictionary example: “When a work unit assigns housing, ranking by seniority cannot be avoided.”
老资格 Old credentials. Standing and authority that come with age, as in “a veteran diplomat.”
前辈 A person who is older, or who has longer service.
In the Analects, Confucius says: “In attending on a gentleman, there are three errors. To speak before it is one’s turn to speak is called rashness. Not to speak when it is one’s turn is called concealment. To speak without first watching his expression is called blindness.” (侍于君子有三愆：言未及之而言谓之躁，言及之而不言谓之隐，未见颜色而言谓之瞽。)
The opening chapter of the Book of Rites, Quli, sets out how the young speak in front of elders and teachers. “When an elder has not raised a matter, do not cut in with talk.” (长者不及，毋儳言) “Sitting with a teacher, when the teacher asks a question, answer only when he has finished.”
Meeting a teacher on the road, a student hurries forward and stands straight. “If the teacher speaks to him, he answers. If the teacher does not speak to him, he hurries away.” In front of a friend of his father, he does not answer unless he is asked.
In the Analects, Confucius says: “In serving one’s father and mother, remonstrate gently. If they show that they will not follow the advice, remain respectful and do not oppose them. Work hard and do not complain.” (事父母几谏，见志不从，又敬不违，劳而不怨。)
The Handian dictionary defines 几谏 as “to remonstrate in a tactful, roundabout way.”
人微言轻 The person is low, so the words are light. What a person of low position says is not taken seriously. Su Shi used the phrase in a letter: “I have reported this matter three times and have had no reply. The person is low and the words are light, so it is only natural.”
插嘴 To insert a mouth. To speak before another person has finished.
打官腔 To strike the official tone. To answer with official set phrases in order to put someone off.