Su Weidao served several times as chief minister under Empress Wu Zetian. According to the Tang histories, he once said: “In handling affairs, one should not decide clearly. If there is an error, blame is sure to follow. It is enough to feel the edges and hold on to both ends.”
People called him “Su Moleng,” Su Who Feels the Edges. His words are the origin of the idiom 模棱两可, “feeling the edges, either way will do.” Dictionaries define it as taking no clear position.
拍胸脯 To pat one’s chest. To take responsibility, to vouch for something. A dictionary example: “No problem, I dare to pat my chest on it!”
打包票 To issue a guarantee. To give a full guarantee.
包在我身上 Wrap it on my body. Leave it to me, I guarantee it.
In February 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued Regulations on Requesting Instructions and Reporting on Major Matters. Their rule is short: what must be requested must be requested, and what must be reported must be reported (该请示的必须请示，该报告的必须报告).
A request to a higher Party organization on a major matter must be made in advance, so that the higher level has enough time to study it and decide. Only when an emergency leaves no time to ask may an official act first. Even then, the official must report to the higher level promptly afterwards.
In the People’s Communes, public canteens collected the farmers’ grain, cooked it together and handed it out to all members according to need. People called this “eating from the big pot” (吃大锅饭). The phrase came to stand for egalitarian distribution in general.
In July 1983, the Shekou Industrial Zone was the first to “break the egalitarian big pot.” It introduced a pay scheme of basic wage, position wage and floating wage.
On a winter night in 1978, dated by Chinese Wikipedia to November 24, eighteen farmers in Xiaogang village, Anhui, signed a pact at great risk to contract the collective land to households. Each pressed a red fingerprint on a worn, creased sheet of paper. The members also promised to raise the leaders’ children until the age of 18.
In 1979 Xiaogang had a record harvest of 66,000 kilograms of grain, equal to its total from 1966 to 1970.
甩锅 To throw the pot. To shift the blame onto someone else.
背锅 To carry the pot. Short for 背黑锅, to carry the black pot, to take the blame for others.
踢皮球 To kick the ball around. Said of offices that pass a matter back and forth to avoid responsibility.
不求有功，但求无过 Seek no merit, only avoid faults.
多一事不如少一事 One more matter is worse than one matter less.
In 1950, the scholar Qian Zhongshu was asked to join the committee translating Mao Zedong’s Selected Works. He told his wife, Yang Jiang: “This job is not easy to do. Seek no merit, only avoid faults.”
In 2016, Xi Jinping called for “three distinctions.” Mistakes made in reform through lack of experience or bold trials should be distinguished from knowing violations. Errors in experiments not yet forbidden should be distinguished from defiance of clear bans. Unintentional faults made to promote development should be distinguished from violations for private gain.
In May 2018, the General Office of the Central Committee issued an opinion to set up mechanisms for tolerating and correcting errors (容错纠错). Officials who miss a target but break no rule and seek no private gain are not to be judged negatively.