吹风 To blow wind. To let information out or to make an opinion known.
捎话 To carry words. To pass on a message for someone. A dictionary gives the example: “Your superior asked me to pass on word to you to go back quickly.”
传话 To pass on talk. To carry the words of one side to the other.
通气 To let air through. To keep each other informed.
In 2013 and 2014, several provinces, among them Yunnan, Henan and Anhui, wrote a “speak last” rule (末位表态) into their decision procedures. Yunnan did so in June 2013, and Henan in May 2014. When a leading group discusses a decision, the other members state their views first. The top leader states a view last.
A 2014 report on the rules gave the reason: “The other members of the group speak first, and the top leader speaks last. This will help to avoid a ‘hall of one voice.'”
The Third Plenum of December 1978 is remembered as the start of reform. Before it, the Central Work Conference met in Beijing from November 10 to December 15, 1978. On December 13, Deng Xiaoping gave his speech “Emancipate the Mind, Seek Truth From Facts, Unite and Look Forward” at the closing session of the work conference.
The plenum itself met from December 18 to 22. A Party website calls Deng’s speech “in fact the keynote report of the Third Plenum.” It adds: “Without the Central Work Conference before it, there would have been no Third Plenum.”
In his essay The Difficulties of Persuasion (说难), Han Feizi wrote: “The dragon is a creature that can be tamed and ridden. But under its throat it has reversed scales a foot across. Whoever touches them is sure to be killed. A ruler also has reversed scales. A persuader who can avoid touching them has nearly succeeded.”
打招呼 To call out a greeting. Also to tell someone about a matter beforehand or afterward, or to remind them of it.
吹风 To blow wind. To let information out, or to make an opinion known.
通气 To let the air through. To keep each other informed.
摸底 To touch the bottom. To find out the real situation and the inside story.
探口风 To probe the wind from the mouth. To sound out what another person thinks. The Handian dictionary’s example comes from marriage. Instead of proposing a match, the other side first sent someone to “throw a stone to test the road” and sound things out.
Article 10 of the Party Constitution sets the rule for decisions in Party committees. “All important questions are to be discussed and decided collectively by the Party committee, according to the principle of collective leadership, democratic centralism, individual deliberation and decision by meeting.”
In the original, the four steps are 集体领导、民主集中、个别酝酿、会议决定. The third, 个别酝酿, is deliberation with members one by one, before the meeting. The meeting comes last.
When Cao Cao was Minister of Works, he summoned Sima Yi to serve him. According to the Book of Jin, Sima Yi saw that the Han dynasty was in decline and did not want to bend to the Cao family. He declined, saying that he was paralyzed and could not get up. Cao Cao sent a man at night to stab him in secret. Sima Yi lay firm and did not move.
When Cao Cao became chancellor, he summoned Sima Yi again and told the messenger: “If he hesitates again, arrest him.” Sima Yi was afraid and took the post.
改天吧 Some other day.
下次吧 Next time.
暂时不 Not for now.
这次免了 Let’s skip it this time.
A 2024 China Daily language lesson notes that “directly saying ‘no’ is often considered rude in Chinese culture.” To decline an invitation from a superior, it suggests a form such as “If I could, I would love to, but…”
The psychologist Hwang Kwang-kuo built a model of how Chinese people decide on a request. Starting from Fei Xiaotong’s idea of ties that are closer or more distant, he divides relationships into three kinds: expressive, mixed and instrumental.
Each kind follows its own rule. For expressive ties, the rule of need applies. For instrumental ties, the rule of fairness applies. For mixed ties, the person who controls the resource follows the rule of renqing (人情). He weighs what helping would cost against the return that may come in the future.
套近乎 To pull nearness. To act close with someone one does not know well. The Handian dictionary notes that the word is usually critical.
套交情 To pull friendship. To draw someone into a relationship in order to grow closer.
门路 A doorway. Also the connections through which a person reaches a goal. In Dream of the Red Chamber, a dismissed official hears that old officials may be reappointed and goes everywhere “looking for relatives and doorways” (寻亲找门路).
熟主熟客 Familiar hosts and familiar guests. In a Ming story by Ling Mengchu, the merchants who have sailed overseas before “are all familiar hosts and familiar guests.” Only Wen Ruoxu knows no one.