In the imperial examinations, men who passed on the same list or in the same year were called tongnian (同年), “same year.” In a story in the Ming collection Constant Words to Awaken the World (醒世恒言), one character tells another: “Although you and I passed in the same year from different provinces, today we meet at the edge of the world, and we are like flesh and blood.”
Lei Jun Gives Back
On November 29, 2023, in the 130th anniversary year of Wuhan University, Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, gave the university 1.3 billion yuan. He had entered its computer science department in 1987. “The journey of fulfilling a vow, which began with my first donation to my alma mater 26 years ago,” he said, “has today finally reached its wish.”
He added that every donation is an alumnus’s love for the alma mater, “and each one weighs the same.”
Huanghe Road
The television series Blossoms Shanghai (繁花), Wong Kar-wai’s first television work, premiered on CCTV-8 on December 27, 2023. Huanghe Road in Shanghai was rebuilt at full scale for the series. The restaurant Zhizhenyuan in the series is modeled on Taishengyuan, a real restaurant there.
A Sichuan financial paper recalled the real street. “Most of the people who came to Huanghe Road to eat were merchants. While eating, they could not avoid talking business.”
Entertainment and Travel Costs
In 2011, the economists Hongbin Cai, Hanming Fang and Lixin Colin Xu published a study of the entertainment and travel costs of Chinese firms in the Journal of Law and Economics. On average, these costs amounted to about 3 percent of a firm’s total value added.
The study found the spending to be a mix. It included “grease money to obtain better government services,” “protection money to lower tax rates,” managerial excess, and “normal business expenditures to build relational capital with suppliers and clients.”
No Wedding Witnesses
In 2017, the city of Huaibei in Anhui issued trial rules on weddings, funerals and other celebrations. Party members, cadres and public employees were generally not to attend such events other than those of close relatives, or to give cash or gifts. Nor were they to accept invitations to preside over a wedding, to act as its witness or to manage the event.
The Cock’s Crow and the Dog Thief
Lord Mengchang of Qi kept several thousand retainers. The Records of the Grand Historian says that he “did not choose among his guests and treated them all well.” When King Zhaoxiang of Qin held him and planned to kill him, he asked the king’s favorite concubine for help. She wanted his white fox-fur coat, which he had already given to the king.
A retainer from the lowest seat, who could steal like a dog, slipped into the palace storehouse at night and took the coat back. Freed, Lord Mengchang reached the Hangu Pass at midnight. By law the pass opened at cockcrow. A retainer from the lower seats crowed, the roosters all joined in, and the party got through shortly before the pursuers arrived.
“At first, when Lord Mengchang placed these two among his guests, the other guests were all ashamed of them.”
Leave It to Me
At the 1995 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Guo Donglin performed the sketch Youshi nin shuohua (有事您说话), “If Anything Comes Up, Just Say the Word.” His character brags to his leaders and friends that he can get sleeper tickets for the train, and people come to him for help.
In fact he gets the tickets by standing in line. When the tickets run out, he pays a high price for two scalped tickets to keep up the story.
If Rich, Do Not Forget
As a young man, Chen She worked in the fields as a hired laborer. One day he stopped work on a ridge and said to his fellows: “If one of us becomes rich and noble, let us not forget each other.” (苟富贵，无相忘) One of them laughed. Later he rose against the Qin and became a king, ruling at Chen.
An old companion from the fields heard of it and came to the palace gate. Chen She took him in. The visitor talked freely about the king’s old life. Someone told the king: “This guest is foolish and ignorant and talks wildly. He lowers your dignity.” Chen She had him beheaded. “All the king’s old friends left of their own accord, and from then on no one was close to him.” (Records of the Grand Historian)
Friendship Like Water
In the Zhuangzi, Confucius asks why, in his years of trouble, his friends have drifted away and his disciples have scattered. He is told that those joined by profit abandon each other in hardship, while those joined by nature take each other in.
“The friendship of a gentleman is plain as water. The friendship of a petty man is sweet as sweet wine. The gentleman is plain and so stays close. The petty man is sweet and so breaks off.” (君子之交淡若水，小人之交甘若醴)
“Those who come together without a reason,” the passage says, “part without a reason.”
Melamine and the Protein Test
In 2008, infant formula from the Sanlu Group and other dairies was found to contain melamine. According to Chinese Wikipedia, the main reason melamine entered the milk was that milk diluted with water could pass the protein test once melamine was added.
Melamine is rich in nitrogen. A Chinese food science journal wrote in 2009 that for this reason it had been added “to give a false impression of high protein content.”