9 Terms to Learn China History in the Past 30 Years

Year 2008 is the 30th anniversary of the introduction of Reform and Opening-up Policy (改革开放政策, Gǎigé Kāifàng Zhèngcè) in China, as well as the One-Child Policy.  Year 1978 was a most significant milestone year in the history of economy for P.R. China.

<South China People Weekly> (南方人物周刊) by South China Weekend (南方周末) has a serial reports called <Reform 30 Years: Everything is from 1978 > (《改革30年：一切从1978开始》) which are very interesting to follow. The recent report  <历数三十年阶层跃动：改变命运的九次机遇> (Counting the changes of classes in 30 years: 9 Opportunities to Change Fates) uses 9 “keywords” to summarize the must significant changes in the past 30 years.  I think these 9 terms are must-known for people want to learn and understand China and Chinese people.

1. 高考 (Gāo Kǎo) : literally means “high exam”. A contraction for “advanced education entrance examination”. The university admission had been suspended for 10 years during the Cultural Revolution from 1967-1976. 1977 was the year for Chinese talents to change their fates when  Gāo Kǎo restarted.   In 2008, the colleges admission rate has reached a record high: ranging from 33%  to 76.8% for different provinces.

2. 倒爷 (Dǎo Yé): were referred speculators who took advantage of a price policy reform in 1979.  There was a “double-prices” system: planned price and market price during the reform. People always found the price difference between the two systems and thus they can perform “倒” (Dǎo) -  buy low and sell high. There was a saying ” 0.9 billion out of 1 billion people is ‘daoing’, the left 0.1 billion are looking for something to ‘dao’. “倒爷” was not a famed class back then, but they helped to break the ice of planned economy.

3. 打工潮 (Dǎ Gōng Cháo):  The government allowed farmers to “reside” in cities and towns in 1984. Since then, thousands of millions farmers have migrated from remote farms/villages in inner China to the coastal cities from late 1980s to early 1990.  I believe the term “打工” (Dǎ Gōng) is from Cantonese which means “to work for an employer instead of being a boss”.  打工潮 means a wave that farmers (most are young people) left hometown to work in the cities. The people are called “打工仔“ (Dǎ Gōng Zǎi, young male) or ”打工妹” (Dǎ Gōng Mèi, young female).  They are the most importance source of labor in China’s economy.

4. 裁军 (Cái Jūn): means disarment. There have been 10 disarments since the country was foundǎě. The largest scale one – a million disarment – was in 1985.

5. 炒股 (Cháo Gǔ): “炒 (Cháo)” means “stir fry” and “股 (Gǔ)” means “stocks”. “炒股“ together means “to keep buying and selling stocks, like stir-frying the stocks”. 1990 was the year that Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange were founded. The first generation of “股民” (Gǔ Mín, stock holder) were less educated in value investment or long term investment. They are an emerging group who would learn a painful lesson in the stock market or made their fortune overnight.

6. 下海 (Xià Hǎi): literally means “walking down to the ocean”. It was a phenomena that government officers quit their “iron-bowl” jobs and started to do business, encouraging by Xiaoping Deng’s South Talks in 1992. The term is a metaphor that  to leave a government job is like to risk walking into an ocean where danger and fortune were unknown.  It was estimated that 100,000 officers have Xià Hǎi.

7. 留学 (Liú Xúe): means “studying abroad”. More and more people who studied abroad have become returnees (海归，Hai Gui) and make great contribution to the technology innovation since 1990s.

8. 新经济 (Xīn Jīng Jì): means “new economy”. The representative of “new economy“ was the class of young entrepreneurs emerging with Internet and dot com booms.

9. 海选 (Hǎi Xuǎn): literally means “select from the sea”. The term became popular along with a Chinese version of “American Idol” reality competition show. The idol in China is called Super Girl (超女, Chāo Nǚ) and the show is a girl’s only singing competition. Li Yuchun (李宇春) was the first Super Girl whose fate was changed by all people voting for the first time in China.

Stories behind each of these terms can be a book, and I am not going to expand them here. Try to learn these words if you will, and brag about them with your Chinese friends. I guarantee great discussions will be followed if you bring up any of them. (Tip: Generation 90s might have very limited knowledge of above topics.)