The Zhao family () refers to dignitaries in China, such as the top bureaucrat, the rich, leaders in-system and their offspring. The phrase originates from

Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...

's "

The True Story of Ah Q ''The True Story of Ah Q'' is an episodic novella written by Lu Xun using third-person narration perspective, first published as a serial between December 4, 1921 and February 12, 1922. It was later included in his first short story collectio ...

". In December 2015, an article in

WeChat WeChat or Weixin in Chinese ( zh, c=微信, p=Wēixìn , l=micro-message) is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment mobile app, app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile a ...

public account described dignitaries as the Zhao family. Immediately, the phrase "the Zhao family" became an Internet meme. Soon after, the

Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ...

prohibited the use of such words as "the Zhao family". Medias which have used such words got punished. Accordingly, such words as "the Zhao family" are no longer visible from main websites in China.

Sources

The phrase "the Zhao family" has its origins in Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q," published in 1921. In the story, old Grandpa Zhao () spits out, when Ah Q (who shares the same surname) dares to cheer along with the Zhaos: "You think you're worthy of the surname Zhao?" ( ''Nǐ yě pèi xìng Zhào?'') On December 19, 2015, a public account in

published an article titled "''The argument between

Vanke Vanke () is a large residential real estate developer in China. It is engaged in developing, managing and selling properties across more than 60 mainland Chinese cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Bay, Bohai-Rim Regio ...

and Baoneng: Barbarians in the front, and the Zhao family in the shadow''" () which divided the hierarchical China capital market into four ranks:

retail investor There are two basic financial market participant distinctions, investors versus speculators and institutional versus retail. Action in financial markets by central banks is usually regarded as intervention rather than participation. Sup ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

, plutocrat and the "Zhao family." The Zhao family is in the highest rank which refer to dignitaries. The barbarians refer to people who are rich but powerless. This article made the word "Zhao family" attract extensive attention.

Derived usages

As the word spreading widely, there have come up derived usages such as "the Zhao family empire", "the Zhao king". Here are some examples: While having words with 50 Cent Party, some people used "You think you're worthy of the surname Zhao?" as a taunt and response.

Commentaries

* Qiao Mu, associate professor in

Beijing Foreign Studies University Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU; ) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. The Internation ...

, said that "the word 'the Zhao family' is a subversive deconstruction in Internet era. We called officials 'People's public servant' whereas in fact they are still dignitaries. There are just

princelings The Princelings (), also translated as the Party's Crown Princes, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior communist officials in the People's Republic of China. It is an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify th ...

in China. It's sensitive to say so frankly, thus people use words like 'the Zhao family' as a taunt." *

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Oriental Daily News ''Oriental Daily News'' is a Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong. It was established in 1969 by Ma Sik-yu and Ma Sik-chun, and was one of the two newspapers published by the Oriental Press Group Limited (). Relative to other Hong Kong n ...

noted the word expresses both resistance of fake

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

propagandize and dissatisfied with the fact. * Hu Ping, the honorary editor of Chinese magazine

Beijing Spring The Beijing Spring () refers to a brief period of political liberalization during the "Boluan Fanzheng" period in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It began as the Democracy Wall movement in Beijing, which occurred in 1978 and 1979, right a ...

, believed that princelings, represented by

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

, were now gathering politics and economy resources without restriction, which obviously contradicted with the claim of right in civilians.{{cite news, url=http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/jz-01052016103622.html, title=中共权贵阶层独揽天下被网民冠以"赵家人"称号, publisher=自由亞洲電臺, date=2016-01-05

Sources

Derived usages

Commentaries

References

See also