害群之马 The horse that harms the herd. A person who harms the whole group. The image comes from the Zhuangzi: “How is governing the world different from herding horses? One only removes the horse that harms the others.”
一根绳上的蚂蚱 Grasshoppers tied to one string. People in the same situation, none of whom can shirk responsibility.
有福同享，有难同当 Share the blessings, share the hardships.
In June 2014, the Party group of the Supreme People’s Court adopted a mechanism called yi an shuang cha, one case, two investigations. Where leaders let improper practices spread for a long time, or fail to stop, correct or report repeated serious corruption, “the responsibility of the person concerned is to be pursued, and the responsibility of the leaders concerned is also to be traced back and pursued.”
In January 2015, a commentary on the Party portal of People’s Daily called for keeping to the practice and pursuing the responsibility of the leaders as well.
Under the one-child policy, local governments applied a yi piao fojue, a one-vote veto, to family planning. Zhejiang’s measures of April 2007 applied it to any department or unit “in which a birth occurs that violates the laws and regulations on population and family planning.” A vetoed unit lost the right to compete for general honors and titles for that year and the next.
A 1998 article in the journal Population and Economics described a case from 1995. Wencheng town had concealed and falsely reported its figures, and the county vetoed the town’s whole family planning work. Village cadres who had under-reported lost the right to be considered for awards, and their year-end bonuses were deducted.
When a Chinese soldier wins a merit award, the army and the local government deliver a xibao, a letter of good news, to the soldier’s family. In January 2021, People’s Daily described one such delivery. “A delegation from the military and local departments carried banners, beat drums and gongs and set off firecrackers to bring the good news to Liu Menghai’s home. Neighbors formed waist-drum and yangge dance teams to come and congratulate.”
The same article describes the usual form: drums and gongs, banners, a sash and a large red flower for the soldier’s relatives, and a group photo.
In the 4th century BCE, the reformer Shang Yang organized the households of Qin into groups of five and ten that watched over one another and were liable together (什伍连坐). According to Sima Qian, anyone who failed to report a wrongdoer was cut in half at the waist. Anyone who hid one was punished like a soldier who surrendered to the enemy.
Chinese Wikipedia calls it the earliest known written law of lianzuo, a system in which a group is punished for the wrong of one person.
In many Chinese schools, classes compete for a liudong hongqi (流动红旗), a red flag that moves from class to class, and for the title of “civilized class.” Daily points are added and deducted for class duties, dormitory order and conduct.
A 2016 article in the journal People’s Tribune explained the mechanism. The points tie each student’s daily behavior closely to the honor of the class. Teachers, and especially the head teacher, constantly stress winning the flag.
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.
The People’s Liberation Army awards merit to units as well as to individuals. A rocket artillery company of the Army’s 71st Group Army, for example, has been awarded “collective second-class merit once and collective third-class merit twice.”
In January 2024, the Central Military Commission issued a notice commending nine units and twenty individuals for excellence in military training.
一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 One rat dropping spoils a whole pot of rice porridge.
The saying is used when one person’s fault harms the whole group. A teaching dictionary gives a common example: when one person is late for a meeting, everyone has to wait.
In chapter 4 of Dream of the Red Chamber, the new magistrate Jia Yucun takes up a murder case. A clerk shows him an “official’s protective charm” (护官符), a list of the four great families of the area: Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue. “These four families are all linked by kinship. If one suffers, all suffer. If one prospers, all prosper.” The killer is a Xue.
Jia Yucun closes the case without punishing him. The chapter title calls it “a muddled verdict in a muddled case.”