China Archives - Page 94 of 112 - understand-culture

Shenzhen Speed

Construction of the Shenzhen International Trade Center began in April 1982. At first each floor took seven days, then six, five and four. From the 31st floor on, the builders kept to three days per floor. CCTV’s evening news and People’s Daily followed the progress, and “three days a floor” became known across the country.

The main tower was topped out on April 30, 1984, a full month early. At 160 meters, it was then the tallest building in China. Shenzhen sudu, “Shenzhen speed,” became a phrase for the pace of the whole zone.

Overtaking Britain

In 1958, the second session of the Eighth Party Congress adopted the general line “go all out, aim high, and build socialism with greater, faster, better and more economical results.” It set the goal of catching up with and overtaking Britain within fifteen years. In August, the Politburo set the year’s steel target at 10.7 million tons, double the output of 1957. A nationwide campaign to make iron and steel followed.

So much labor went into steel that farming suffered and the economy fell out of balance.

The Daqing Oil Battle

In early 1960, the Central Committee approved a request from the Ministry of Petroleum Industry. Tens of thousands of oil workers from across the country, with 30,000 demobilized soldiers, gathered at the new oilfield in Daqing for the “Daqing oil battle” (Daqing shiyou huizhan). The campaign headquarters was set up on April 8, 1960. On June 1, the first trainload of crude oil left Daqing. In the first winter, workers lived in holes dug into the ground.

Hundred-Day Oath Rallies

About a hundred days before the gaokao, many high schools hold an oath rally, bairi shishi. On the morning of February 27, 2023, at Qingdao No. 2 High School, class teams led by student representatives shouted their oaths: “Draw the sword in June and write a brilliant chapter. Give everything and vow to create glory!”

The principal told them: “Ask not about the harvest, only about the plowing.”

The Vocabulary of Campaigns

会战 A decisive battle between main forces. In civilian use, concentrating forces to finish a specific task in one great effort.

攻坚战 An assault on fortified positions. Today used for any hard target, as in the “battle against poverty.”

冲刺 The sprint at the end of a race. The greatest effort in the moment just before success.

Policies Above, Countermeasures Below

上有政策，下有对策: “There are policies above, and countermeasures below.”

Xi Jinping has drawn a line against it. Leading officials, and above all the “number ones” of Party and government, he said, must “never be allowed to practice ‘policies above, countermeasures below,’ and still less selective implementation.” People’s Daily quoted the sentence in June 2026.

Collusion at the Grassroots

In a study titled “The Phenomenon of Collusion Among Grassroots Governments,” the sociologist Zhou Xueguang describes how local governments deal with the policies and inspections of their superiors. They use all kinds of means of “policies above, countermeasures below.” Collusion among grassroots governments, he writes, has become “an institutionalized form of informal behavior.”

Zhou also notes that some of these practices have been “an important source of institutional innovation.”

The Vocabulary of Countermeasures

走过场 To cross the stage. In Chinese opera, a role that enters and leaves at once. Figuratively, to do something only for the form.

钻空子 To drill into the gap. To use a loophole or an opening.

打擦边球 To hit an edge ball, as in table tennis. To bend the rules. In 2025, the Party’s website quoted Xi Jinping: “Many leading officials start by hitting edge balls, breaking the Eight-point Regulation, and in the end it becomes a big problem.”

土政策 A homemade policy. Rules and decisions that a locality, office or enterprise makes on its own.

The Plastic Bag Rule

From June 1, 2008, a State Council rule banned the production, sale and use of shopping bags thinner than 0.025 millimeters, and shops had to charge for bags.

In 2016, an official of the National Development and Reform Commission reported that bag use in supermarkets and malls had generally fallen by more than two-thirds. The official also named the problems: enforcement in farmers’ markets was hard, the public’s understanding differed, and substitutes cost more. Reporters found compliant bags hard to find in the markets.

Minor Property Rights Housing

Homes built on village collective land and sold to outsiders are called xiao chanquan fang, “minor property rights housing.” In June 2007, the Ministry of Construction warned city residents not to buy houses built on collective land. In January 2008, a State Council notice said that city residents “may not buy” rural homesteads, farmers’ houses or minor property rights housing.

The bans kept coming. Two ministries issued another notice in August 2012. In November 2013, an urgent notice ordered all such projects under construction or for sale to be stopped. In 2017, Beijing ruled that rental housing on collective land was “for rent only, not for sale,” to stop “minor property rights housing in disguise.”