Frank: 大家好，我是Frank。许家印被判刑的新闻你看了吗？

S：当然看了，想想当年的许家印，风光无两啊。

F：是，如今变成了阶下囚，像过山车一样的人生，财富都是大梦一场。

S：你了解恒大集团吗？

F：怎么说呢，肯定是听过这个名字，前些年恒大这个名字随处可见，我们这儿现在还有很多恒大的烂尾楼呢。

S：嗯，当年恒大除了地产以外，也进入了各个领域，比如卖矿泉水、造汽车、买足球俱乐部。真是给恒大忙坏了。

F：你这么一说，我就想起来了，这些应该分别是恒大冰泉、恒大汽车和广州恒大足球俱乐部，是吧？

S：应该是，这些名字也是很熟悉了。

F：我记得当年恒大冰泉那个水，挺贵的。

S：对，一瓶水四五块吧，我从来不买，别的牌子都是一两块。

F：哈哈哈，我也…

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许家印的一生犹如过山车。1958年，他出生于河南农村，大学毕业后到钢铁厂工作。1992年，34岁的他辞职后进入了房地产行业。1996年，他创立了恒大，并凭借高周转、高杠杆的模式使公司迅速扩张。在随后中国房地产的黄金时期，恒大不断扩大规模，最终成为拥有万亿资产的商业帝国。

2017年，许家印以大约2813亿元的身家成为中国首富。然而，恒大的扩张不仅限于房地产，还涉及足球、矿泉水、汽车和金融等领域。许多项目投入了天文数字的资金后，却没有带来相应利润，最后都草草收场。为了维持庞大的商业版图，恒大不断借钱、融资，甚至通过拆东补西来缓解资金压力。

2021年，恒大越来越大的债务窟窿无法继续掩盖，导致全面暴雷。购买恒大房子的人钱房两空。截至2022年末，恒大总债务已经达到了2.4万亿元。2023年，许家印因涉嫌违法犯…

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During the early years of the Qing empire, writers, poets and playwrights obsessed over why the previous dynasty, the Ming (1368 to 1644), had fallen. Their works carried warnings for the new Qing rulers not to repeat the same mistakes made by the corrupt Ming court before them.

The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) is one of those works. It’s a musical play and historical drama written in 1699. It follows the story of two lovers in Nanjing between 1643 and 1645 who are caught up in the factional politics of the last Southern Ming court as it collapses.

In the closing scene of the play, an elderly master who once performed for the Ming elites walks through the ruins of an abandoned palace, and sings:

“I saw him build a high tower, I saw him feast and make merry, but I saw, too, how his tower collapsed.”

眼看他起高楼，眼看他宴宾客，眼看他楼塌了。

The "tower" (楼), which rises and falls, is a metaphor for the fortunes of Ming officials corrupted by wealth and power, and for the dynasty that fell with them.

That line, and the metaphor still survives today.

The “collapsing tower” often describes China’s property sector, which has risen and fallen dramatically over the last two decades, and also for celebrities and business figures who are brought down by scandal.

So when Xu Jiayin (许家印), founder of the indebted property developer Evergrande, was detained three years ago, the line wrote itself: he was a high-profile business celebrity, who lived a life of excess and luxury, and was now at the centre of a collapsing property empire.

That reference was back in the media in the last two weeks, when Xu reappeared in public for the first time in three years.

Now with a full head of white hair, Xu Jiayin stood in a Shenzhen courtroom on August 20, flanked by two law enforcement officers. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on eight charges, and ordered to forfeit all of his personal wealth and assets.

“And with that, the man who once stood at the pinnacle of wealth reached his ultimate downfall.”

至此，那个曾经站在财富之巅的男人，彻底迎来了他的终局。 [1]

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The arc of Xu Jiayin’s life, from rural poverty to China’s richest man, and now back to nothing, is like an extreme interpretation of the rise and fall of China’s property sector. Fuelled by cheap debt, and by local governments which funded themselves through land sales to companies like Evergrande, China’s real estate market exploded from the early 2000s. Then a major clampdown in 2020 sought to bring developer debt under control, and that eventually brought down both Evergrande and Xu.

Xu Jiayin was born in 1958 in a poor village in Henan. Raised by his grandmother, he went to university shortly after the Cultural Revolution ended when entrance exams were restored. He spent ten years working at a state steel mill in Henan, then left in 1992 to become an entrepreneur with just 20,000 yuan to his name.

He spent his first few years in Shenzhen as a salesman at a trading company, before moving to Guangzhou to run property projects. Evergrande was founded there in 1996. Its first development sold out quickly and made Xu his first real money. Evergrande grew rapidly in the following years and was listed in Hong Kong in 2009.

By 2017 Xu was worth around 280 billion yuan, topping China’s rich list.

He diversified the Evergrande business aggressively, and expensively. His football club, Guangzhou Evergrande (广州恒大), spent hundreds of millions on foreign players and coaches. Evergrande Spring (恒大冰泉), his bottled water brand, burned through 5 billion yuan in three years before being sold off at a loss. And Hengchi (恒驰), an electric car venture, swallowed 47.4 billion yuan and never delivered cars at scale.

The expansion was fuelled by a "game of leverage" (杠杆游戏), which is buying land, mortgaging it, borrowing to build, pre-selling flats, then using the cash to buy more land and bankroll Xu's other expensive ventures.

When Beijing imposed the "three red lines" (三道红线) on property developer borrowing in 2020, Evergrande failed all three and the business began to fall apart. By the end of 2022, the group owed 2.4 trillion yuan to banks, suppliers, and the 1.6 million buyers who had paid for homes which had not yet been built.

Meanwhile, and much like the elites of the late Ming as described in The Peach Blossom Fan, as Xu’s empire was collapsing around him, he was feasting, and funnelling money out of the business, and out of China.

According to court documents, he bought yachts, private jets, luxury cars, a mansion on Hong Kong's Peak, and set up an offshore family trust worth 2.3 billion US dollars. All of it while ordinary savers and homebuyers were losing everything.

Now, less than ten years since he topped China’s rich list, Xu has nothing, and will spend the rest of his life behind bars. One article summed up his life experience with a classical expression:

“He enjoyed thirty years of wealth and glory.

But in the end, it was all just one long dream.”

三十年荣华富贵，到头来，大梦一场。

That phrase, “one long dream” (大梦一场), goes back more than 2,000 years, to the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi. He suggested that life itself could be the dream. But we will never truly know until we wake at the very end.

Now Xu Jiayin has finally woken from his long dream with his empire in ruins.

So that’s what we’re exploring this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 排面 pái miàn

show, prestige; outward appearance, status

这些“副业”的共同特点，是只讲规模、不讲利润，只讲排面、不讲回报 - These side ventures all shared the same fatal flaw: they were obsessed with scale over profit, and all about prestige over return. [1]

• Note: internet slang

2. 阶下囚 jiē xià qiú

prisoner, convict

恒大万亿帝国崩塌，许家印也从“首富”沦为阶下囚 - Evergrande’s trillion-yuan empire collapsed, and Xu Jiayin went from being “China’s richest man” to a convicted prisoner. [1]

3. 风光无两 fēng guāng wú liǎng

at the height of one’s glory, extremely successful and prestigious

恒大足球队拿下亚冠冠军，让许家印在公众视野里风光无两 - Evergrande FC’s AFC Champions League title catapulted Xu Jiayin to the pinnacle of public fame. [1]

4. 大梦一场 dà mèng yì chǎng

a dream that comes to nothing, all just a dream

三十年荣华富贵，到头来，大梦一场 - He enjoyed thirty years of wealth and glory. But in the end, it was all just one long dream. [1]

5. 草草收场 cǎo cǎo shōu chǎng

end hastily, come to an abrupt end

恒大冰泉，喊着要做高端矿泉水，广告铺天盖地，渠道砸钱开路，最后亏得一塌糊涂，草草收场 - Evergrande Spring was pitched as a premium mineral water, backed by a massive ad campaign and millions poured into distribution. But in the end, it was a colossal money loser that quietly went out of business. [1]

• Related:

  • 虎头蛇尾 hǔ tóu shé wěi - strong start and a weak finish.

Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 没收 mò shōu

confiscate, seize

剥夺政治权利终身，并处没收个人全部财产 - He was deprived of political rights for life and sentenced to have all his personal property confiscated. [1]

7. 终局 zhōng jú

final outcome, end

那个曾经站在财富之巅的男人，彻底迎来了他的终局 - The man who once stood at the pinnacle of wealth reached his ultimate downfall. [1]

• Related:

  • 结局 jié jú – ending, outcome

8. 惨烈 cǎn liè

brutal, devastating

潮水退去的那一刻，他摔得极其惨烈 - When the tide finally turned, his fall was swift and brutal. [1]

9. 崩塌 bēng tā

collapse, downfall

但这场崩塌留下的代价，至今仍未消散 - But the fallout of his collapse continues to cast a long shadow. [2]

10. 贪婪 tān lán

greed, greediness

恒大的崩塌，根源是一套极致贪婪也极度危险的杠杆游戏 - The root cause of Evergrande’s collapse was an extremely greedy and highly dangerous game of leverage. [2]

11. 窟窿 kū long

hole, shortfall; financial hole

循环越快，规模越大，债务窟窿也就越深 - The faster they shuffled the cash, the bigger the business got, and the bigger the financial hole they dug. [2]

12. 暴雷 bào léi

financial crisis, default; suddenly expose serious financial problems

2021年9月，恒大财富全面暴雷，理财产品大面积逾期 - In September 2021, Evergrande Wealth was hit with a major financial crisis, with a large number of wealth management products becoming overdue. [2]

• Related:

  • 踩雷 cǎi léi – step on a landmine; get caught in a (financial) trap

Three-character phrases

13. 过山车 guò shān chē

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今日上午，深圳市中级人民法院，一纸判决落下。

恒大集团数罪并罚，判处罚金人民币88.2亿元；恒大地产判处罚金70亿元。

许家印，数罪并罚，判处无期徒刑，剥夺政治权利终身，并处没收个人全部财产。违法所得继续追缴，不足部分责令退赔。

而他的两个儿子许腾鹤、许智健，也出现在深圳中院和南山区法院宣判名单里。

同日，恒大系列案件继续落槌。许腾鹤、许智健、甄立涛、柯鹏、杜亮、梁栋等56人，分别被判处有期徒刑十八年至一年十个月不等，并处罚金或没收财产；违法所得继续追缴，不足部分责令退赔。

至此，那个曾经站在财富之巅的男人，彻底迎来了他的终局。

许家印的八宗罪

法院审理查明，许家印是恒大集团的实际控制人，全面负责集团的运营，控制着恒大地产、恒大财富等多家企业，涉足地产、物业、金融。

判决书表明，2…

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Frank: 大家好，我是Frank。你看最近的神片《牛来》了吗？

S：我看了，但是不在国内看不到正版，所以其实...我看的是盗版的。你呢，看了吗？

F：没看，但这个电影杀疯了，所有人都在讨论，感觉不是一场电影，而是一场互联网狂欢了，高低得去看看。

S：看了后悔80分钟，不看后悔一辈子……

F：虽然我没看这个电影，但是看了很多评论和网上的片段，也算是大概了解了吧。

S：那你感觉怎么样？

F：很难形容，这个画面有点粗制滥造的，太抽象了。但你看了，你说说呗。

S：我看的是盗版，但我觉得，盗版...完全不影响画质体验。

F：哈哈哈，因为手搓的画质本来就很渣。

S：对，其实这个电影故事情节不算漏洞百出，还挺清晰的。大概就是一只小牛，叫牛来。它出生以…

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2026年8月，中国电影市场出现了一个十分反常的现象。许多大片扎堆上映期间，电影《牛来》因质量不佳遭到观众冷嘲热讽，然而票房却出乎意料地持续增长。

该电影刚上映时票房只有几千元。然而，随着第一批观众不断吐槽，这部电影突然成为了网络热点。此后，大量观众出于猎奇心理前去影院，非要看看它究竟能“烂”到什么程度。有些观众甚至以反讽的方式给它打出五星好评。如此一来，《牛来》吸引了更多人的关注，票房也随之增长。在这个过程中，凡是讨论该电影的人都拥有了强烈的参与感，一场互联网狂欢就此掀起。

更令人关注的是《牛来》的创作过程。导演信雨萌和母亲孙丽芳都是非科班创作者。在没有专业团队和充足资金的情况下，他们用五年的时间手搓完成了整部电影。作品虽然整体显得相当粗糙，却让不少观众感受到了难得的“人味儿”。在AI能够快速制造精致影…

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As you’ve probably heard by now, Here Comes the Cow (牛来), or just Niu Lai, is a new animated film which opened in Chinese cinemas on August 5. There was no trailer or publicity around its launch, just a single mysterious digital image.

That poster portrays a traditional ink-wash scene, in which a cow stands alone amid mist and mountains, with elegant calligraphed text:

“The cow will come on August 5th.”

牛来。

8月5日，终将抵达。

Early viewers, possibly drawn in by the beautiful classical imagery, found themselves watching a poorly made 3D animation.

They were subjected to 82 minutes of crude modelling, juddering characters, subtitles full of errors, and a hard-to-follow story line about a calf entering a dream world who learns how to take responsibility.

In its first nine days, the film took 7,169 yuan nationwide, roughly a thousand US dollars, from just 236 viewers. The handful of people who saw it were blunt about the disconnect between the poster and the movie:

“The poster promises a cinematic masterpiece like A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.

But the film resembles a cheap Flash browser game on 4399.”

海报千里江山图，正片4399小游戏。

• This is a contrast any Chinese person would get: A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains is a celebrated landscape scroll painted during the Northern Song in the twelfth century. And 4399 is one of China’s earliest free gaming sites launched in 2004.

Other comments compared the production to paper effigies burned as offerings to the dead, saying:

“The paper cows burned at gravesides look better than this.”

上坟烧的牛都比这个建模好。

But then the film began to draw attention from finance bloggers.

They noticed the title could be interpreted as “the bull market is coming” (牛市终将到来). So they joked that with a name as auspicious as that, investors had a duty to watch it.

As the joke spread, people started digging into the film further, thinking perhaps the plot held a hidden message about China’s next much-anticipated bull market.

That turned out to be a dead end, though. Because the film was made by just two people: a 34-year-old man named Xin Yumeng (信雨萌), who directed it, and his mother, Sun Lifang (孙丽芳), who wrote the script and even sung the outro music.

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The pair had been working on it for five years with no team, no outside investment, and no experience or expertise in film making. Their production company based in Dalian had been an interior decorating firm with a single employee until 2021. And the film’s distributor had reportedly had urged Xin not to release it at all.

As that background surfaced, thousands more started buying tickets to go and see the movie, precisely because it was so bad:

“The audience cycles between hating on it and feeling bad for it.

Now they only need two words to promote this film: absurdly bad.”

一边骂，一边心软；一边心软，一边继续骂。现在宣传只需要四个字：烂得离谱。

Tickets sold out across cinemas with audiences applauding when the two-name credit roll appeared at the end, marking when the awful movie was finally over. Sarcastic five-star reviews began flooding Douban (豆瓣). One, for examples, says:

“Everyone else blindly backed Ne Zha and hyped up The Eight Immortals.

But Here Comes the Cow is my personal favourite.”

当你们选择无脑支持《哪吒》，盲目跟风《八仙》的时候，而我却独爱《牛来》。

Joke posters for the movie began appearing online, photoshopping the Niu Lai cow into artwork of other hit summer blockbusters, creating unusual combinations like:

• Spider-Cow (蜘蛛牛) instead of Spiderman

• Cowdyssey (牛德赛) riffing on the The Odyssey

Some industry pundits see the film's success as a problem for Chinese cinema, using the phrase "bad money drives out good" (劣币驱逐良币). This is borrowed from Gresham's Law, the economic principle that cheap currency pushes out sound currency from circulation. Applied here, it's the fear that this low-budget, badly made movie will drown out high quality films.

But a rival internet coinage has recently taken hold: “bad money drives out counterfeit cash” (劣币驱逐假币), where Niu Lai is the poor quality “bad money” (劣币). And the “counterfeit money” (假币) means big-budget releases which turn out to be hollow. Audiences, it seems, would rather have a film which is “sincerely awful” (烂得真诚) rather than one dressed up as something it isn’t.

Another reason why it’s taken off in China is because AI software, such as Seedance 2.0, can generate smoother, sharper animation in minutes. But Xin and his mum decided to “handcraft it from scratch” (手搓) over five years.

This collective appreciation for “a terrible movie” (烂片) has become a cultural phenomenon. Niu Lai is now a destination, or a “check-in spot” (打卡点) — one of those must-go places to take a selfie just to prove you’ve been there.

Which is why some are describing the response as “collective performance art” (集体行为艺术): thousands of cinema-goers are taking part in something together, “appreciating ugliness” (审丑), and laughing for 82 minutes of awful film making while forgetting about the pressures of work and life.

So that’s what we’re exploring this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 手搓 shǒu cuō

handcraft, make something from scratch

AI盛行的时代，还有这种水平的人坚持手搓，勇气可嘉 - In an era dominated by AI, it takes real guts for someone less skilled to stick to handcrafting everything from scratch. [2]

• Note: a current and “hot” internet slang.

• Related:

  • 画质 huàzhì - image quality

2. 杀疯了 shā fēng le

go absolutely wild, be insanely good

《牛来》这片子真的杀疯了 - The movie “Here Comes the Cow” is absolutely killing it. [1]

• Note: another common internet slang at the moment.

3. 猎奇 liè qí

seek out the strange or unusual, curiosity about the bizarre

不少观众抱着猎奇心态买票打卡 - Plenty of moviegoers grabbed tickets out of curiosity just to say they saw it. [2]

• Related:

  • 魔幻 mó huàn – surreal, absurd

4. 参与感 cān yù gǎn

sense of participation, feeling involved

今天，一部分年轻人买电影票，是购买：参与感 - These days, when some young people buy a movie ticket, what they’re really buying is a sense of belonging. [4]

5. 反其道而行 fǎn qí dào ér xíng

go against the usual approach, do the opposite

在国产动画疯狂追求特效、IP、神话宇宙时，《牛来》反其道而行 - While Chinese animated films are going all out on special effects, big-name characters, and mythic universes, Here Comes the Cow bucks the trend. [4]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 反讽 fǎn fěng

irony, sarcastic mockery

豆瓣上大量反讽式五星好评刷屏 - Large numbers of sarcastic five-star reviews flooded Douban. [1]

• Related:

  • 嘲笑 cháo xiào – mock, ridicule

  • 群嘲 qún cháo – collective mockery, be collectively ridiculed

7. 高低 gāo dī

by any means, one way or another

这么“烂”的吗？我高低得去看看 - Is it really that bad? Then I really have to see it for myself. [3]

• Note: a northern dialect term

8. 扎堆 zhā duī

cluster together, flock together

暑期档大片扎堆，每一块银幕都是稀缺资源 - The summer lineup is packed with blockbusters, which turns every screen into a highly contested territory. [1]

9. 槽点 cáo diǎn

a flaw or absurdity that begs to be roasted

市场如果奖励的不是品质而是槽点，那最终所有人都会受损 - If the market rewards cringeworthy flaws rather than quality, everyone will ultimately suffer. [1]

• Related:

  • 群嘲 qún cháo - mass mockery

  • 槽点满满 cáo diǎn mǎn mǎn - full of things to mock

  • 槽多无口 cáo duō wú kǒu - lost for words as so many things wrong with it

10. 笨拙 bèn zhuō

clumsy, awkward

这件事的荒诞之处在于——技术越先进，观众反而越珍惜“笨拙” - The absurdity of this is that the more advanced the technology becomes, the more audiences cherish “clumsiness”. [1]

• Note: 拙 is also pronounced as zhuó in daily speech

• Related:

  • 粗糙 cū cāo – rough, crude

11. 审丑 shěn chǒu

appreciate ugliness, seek out the ugly

靠猎奇、靠审丑、靠“烂到出圈”来获取票房，这条路走不长 - Relying on gimmickry, trash aesthetics, and viral cringe to drive the box office is simply unsustainable. [1]

12. 围观 wéi guān

watch as a bystander, watch the spectacle

上映9天票房仅7169元被群嘲，却意外引爆全民猎奇围观 - Mocked for bringing in a miserable 7,169 yuan in nine days, the film unexpectedly became a viral spectacle. [2]

Three-character phrases

13. 乐子人 lè zi rén

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一部叫《牛来》的国产动画，上映前十天票房只有7700块，全国加起来278个人看过。没有“万”。别的电影发战报都是“破亿”“破十亿”，到了《牛来》这儿，热搜话题的tag叫“牛来票房7352元没有万”。连“万”字都不配拥有。

然后事情反转了。全网群嘲之后，这部片子火了。

排片从全国每天不足5场暴涨到上千场，想看人数冲到3.7万，单日票房从3420元飙到十几万。

豆瓣热度一度仅次于诺兰的《奥德赛》和沈腾的《欢迎来龙餐馆》。有人自发在影厅用座位拼出“牛”字，影院工作人员说，加排片的时候完全没想到会这么火。

在热议之下，《牛来》的票房出乎意料的还在涨。截至目前，含预售票房已超千万。猫眼专业版给出的预测是8921.8万——按这个数字，它将排进2026年国产动画片内地票房前三。

灯…

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Frank: 大家好，我是Frank。你小时候玩过“竹知了”吗？

S：其实我没玩儿过，但是我知道。你呢，玩过吗？

F：玩儿过，其实就是一个很简单的传统玩具，转起来以后会发出像知了的声音。

S：这个玩具好像很古老了。

F：对，一千多年的历史了，但是最近因为华为，这个玩具又火了。

S：啊，我想起来了，当时我看到这个热搜的时候很不解，热搜上就是“华为竹知了”，我当时一脑子问号，我还想这什么东西？

F：后来知道是怎么回事了吗？

S：嗯，大概知道了，跟华为问界M9的发布会有关系，是吧？

F：问界M9是华为的一款SUV汽车，当时余承东说，华为这款车是“一千万以内最好的SUV”。

S：那这跟竹知了的关系是...？

F：有网友发现，竹知了甩起来的那个声音，跟…

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华为作为中国科技的“巨无霸”，向来受到媒体和网友的支持。然而，最近一款竹知了玩具所引发的风波，意外地将华为推入了舆论漩涡。

竹知了是一种手工玩具，摇动时会发出类似知了的声音。本来只是无伤大雅的娱乐，但由于竹知了发出的声音被认为与华为高管余承东在发布会上的声音相似，相关调侃在网络上迅速蔓延，有人将其解读为一种暗喻。据称，华为法务部门对相关视频、文章进行了投诉。

不料，这件事立刻引发网民反感。有人认为，企业维护品牌形象本身没有问题，但如果什么都不能碰，就容易给人一种“老虎屁股摸不得”的感觉。网友甚至用“清风不识字，何故乱翻书”来讽刺这种过度敏感。更严重的是，大规模投诉可能造成“史翠珊效应”，越想让某种内容消失，反而越会引起公众关注。

华为当然可以打击造谣和网络黑嘴，但不能把普通网友的隐晦表达都看成攻击，更不能通过

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One of China’s most formidable companies, Huawei (华为), has been humbled by a cheap children’s toy.

That toy is called a “bamboo cicada” (竹知了) which is made of a short section of bamboo and a piece of string. It sounds like a cicada when spun, and is said to date back to the Sui (隋) and Tang (唐) dynasties of over 1,400 years ago.

The harmless toy became a trending topic on Chinese social platforms in recent weeks. It started when netizens somehow linked the bamboo cicada’s buzz to the unveiling of Huawei’s AITO M9 (问界M9) SUV car back in December 2023.

The launch was hosted by Richard Yu (余承东). He’s the head of Huawei’s smart car business, and is well known for his meme-able, over-the-top catchphrases during launch events.

At that launch, true to form, he described the new car as:

“The best SUV under ten million yuan”

一千万元以内最好的SUV

With that one-liner he drew whoops and excited cheers from the audience in the venue. While online, it became a meme mocking Yu’s over-the-top style.

But it was only recently that the sound of the audience’s reaction, and Yu’s own distinctive rapid-fire way of speaking, was likened to the buzz of the bamboo cicada toy.

Content creators began mixing the toy’s high-pitched sound into footage of the launch, and others simply shared images of the toy, with the caption:

“The best toy under one thousand yuan.”

一千元以内最好的玩具。

What started out as a light-hearted, slightly niche joke online was then blown up out of all proportion when Huawei’s well-paid lawyers waded in.

Online platforms were soon hit by a wave of takedown orders from the company’s legal team who claimed the videos had deliberately used “veiled” (隐晦) techniques to mock (戏谑), smear (丑化) and ridicule (嘲讽) the company and its executives, particularly Richard Yu.

But the censorship didn’t stop there. Soon, there were reports of videos online of people simply shaking the toy being removed. Even popular science posts from years ago also vanished. And in one instance, a little girl filmed by her family playing with a bamboo cicada by the roadside had the comments section wiped and blocked on that post.

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Unfortunately for Huawei, the heavy-handed approach only brought the conversation further into the mainstream, which is an outcome one writer notes was entirely predictable, borrowing a term from English, saying:

The public witnessed a textbook demonstration of the “Streisand effect”.

The harder you try to hide something, the more people want to see it. The more you silence others, the more everyone suspects there is something fishy going on.

全社会的人都看到了传说中的”史翠珊效应”——你越不让看，大家越想看。你越捂嘴，大家越觉得这里面有故事。

So the memes continued to come thick and fast, the story shot to the top of trending lists, and, even more ridiculous, sales of bamboo cicadas surged online with captions like “as seen with Mr. Yu” (与余总同款).

In response to the growing backlash, Huawei issued a statement on 4 August denying any blanket campaign against the toy, and its users. Saying it had only targeted personal attacks on Yu.

The statement only invited further ridicule, with one widely shared essay calling it the worst PR disaster in Huawei’s history:

“You can wipe out a bamboo cicada.

But you cannot wipe out the cicada song that has echoed in people’s hearts for centuries.”

你可以消灭一个竹知了，但消灭不了公众心中盘桓几百年的知了声。

The same writer went on to use a cryptic reference to imperial censorship from over 200 years ago, which we’ve translated as:

“The public may be uneducated, but that doesn’t mean you can abuse your power.”

老百姓可以不识字，但你不能乱翻书。

Huawei’s Richard Yu is no stranger to online mockery as we’ve seen before in this newsletter.

One of our favourites is how his marketing prowess turned an otherwise unremarkable phrase, “way ahead” (遥遥领先), into one of the top social media slang phrases of 2023.

Originally from 1980s state media propaganda boasting that China was “way ahead in terms of technology” (遥遥领先的技术与工艺), the phrase took on its new life when Yu unveiled the Mate 60 Pro smartphone. He repeated the phrase so relentlessly during the launch, that internet users turned it into a meme mocking his bombastic style. That meme has since stuck and even become another word for Huawei itself.

Back to the bamboo cicada affair, as the story continued to trend online more memes and wordplay about Richard Yu flowed. Such as this beauty:

“Lingering echoes of Yu”

余音绕梁

Here, the old idiom “lingering music encircling the rafters” (余音绕梁) is given a new meaning: the first character (余), which means “lingering”, is the exact same character as Richard Yu’s surname. By turning that character into a direct reference to Yu, the idiom is twisted into joke about Yu’s loud, boastful presentations, and how his voice echo endlessly in people’s ears.

Memes and mockery aside, what has really got people angry about the bamboo cicada affair is Huawei’s abuse of its immense power and influence, and its endless supply of money to pay expensive lawyers to do its bidding against the interests of the public.

One writer sums up the mood perfectly with this set of rhetorical questions:

So let me ask you this: do the people support this?

Are the people happy with it?

Do the people think this is fair?

我想问一句，人民拥护吗？人民满意吗？人民觉得这样公平吗？

I think the answer to all of these questions is: No!

So that’s what we’re discussing this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 调侃 tiáo kǎn

tease, poke fun at

现在评论区已经有很多网友在拿这个事来调侃了 - There are already many people poking fun at it in the comments section . [4]

2. 余音绕梁 yú yīn rào liáng

the lingering sound of music, a lasting impression; in this context, it is a pun that mocks Richard Yu ’s boastful way of talking

你不能因为竹知了摇动时的嗡鸣声接近于你们产品发布会的“余音绕梁”，就敏感了 - You shouldn’t get so defensive just because the buzzing sound of a “bamboo cicada” toy happens to resemble the “lingering echoes of Yu” at your product launch. [1]

3. 史翠珊效应 shǐ cuì shān xiào yìng

the Streisand effect

互联网有个铁律：越禁越火，即所谓的史翠珊效应 - Things on the internet follow a golden rule: the more you try to ban something, the more viral it becomes. This is what’s known as the Streisand effect. [2]

4. 老虎屁股摸不得 lǎo hǔ pì gu mō bù dé

untouchable, someone who cannot be criticized or challenged

投诉方是个老虎屁股摸不得的超级大公司 - The party making the complaint is a mega-corporation that considers itself practically untouchable. [2]

5. 清风不识字，何故乱翻书 qīng fēng bù shí zì, hé gù luàn fān shū

literally, “The breeze cannot read, so why, then, does it riffle through my book?”; a metaphor for censorship and abuse of power

老百姓可以不识字，但你不能乱翻书 - The public may be uneducated, but that doesn’t mean you can abuse your power. [1]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 猎杀 liè shā

hunt down and kill, mercilessly target

这种无差别的猎杀，给人一种强烈的威胁甚至是舆论霸凌的错觉 - This kind of indiscriminate crackdown creates a chilling sense of intimidation, almost giving the impression of engaging in a PR warfare. [1]

• Related:

  • 霸凌 bà líng - bullying

7. 反噬 fǎn shì

backfire, suffer the consequences

自古以来所有泛化的杀戮最终都会遭到反噬 - History shows that blanket crackdowns always backfire in the end. [1]

8. 暗喻 àn yù

implicit metaphor, indirect allusion

通过某某人的标志性发言，配合竹知了发出的与发布会现场相似的音效，形成了明确的指向性暗喻 - By pairing quotes from a certain individual with the toy’s buzzing sound, which closely echoes the company’s product launch, it creates a clear and pointed allusion. [2]

9. 隐晦 yǐn huì

implicit, subtle

我们的社会，什么时候连玩个玩具都能成为“隐晦地暗讽”某个企业家了？ - Since when has our society reached the point where even playing with a toy can be considered “subtly mocking” a particular entrepreneur? [4]

10. 私器 sī qì

private tool, a tool for personal interests

法律绝不是某个企业、某个企业家、某个律师团队的私器 - The law is absolutely not a private instrument that serves a particular company, entrepreneur, or legal team. [2]

• Related:

  • 公器 gōng qì – public instrument, a tool serving the public interest

11. 影射 yǐng shè

allude to, make an indirect reference to

我展示童年玩具的权利，抵不过一句“我觉得你在影射我” - My right to share a simple childhood toy is instantly overridden by their claim of “implied defamation”. [2]

12. 懵逼 mēng bī

completely confused, totally baffled

总之关于这个事，我现在真的是完全懵逼了 - Anyway, I’m honestly completely baffled by this whole thing right now. [4]

• Note: internet slang from northern dialect. Slightly vulgar and only used in informal chats

Three-character phrases

13. 火星文 huǒ xīng wén

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前几天，一只竹知了因为摇起来“哇哇”叫，被网友发现酷似某位科技圈大佬的口音，瞬间成了顶流网红。结果还没热闹几天，就被批量投诉下架了。

树上的真知了们听说了这件事，集体陷入了沉默。

一只工龄三天的蝉颤巍巍地问：“兄弟，几千万年了咱们都这么叫，从来没人管过。现在竹知了因为声音被投诉，我们是不是得找个律师发个声明，或者去备个案？”

另一只知了叹了口气：“备什么案？咱们连身份证都没有。再说了，咱们叫起来也是‘哇哇哇’，万一他们觉得我们也是在影射，弄不好连我们落脚的树都得被连根拔起。”

这场面越联想越觉得荒诞。

竹知了，一个存在了几百上千年的传统玩具，它的罪过是什么？是它不该发出声音？还是它不该被网友发现声音像某个人？

如果“声音像”也是侵权，那这个世界可就太危险了。

相声演员模仿明星说话、脱口秀演员模仿领导口…

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Frank: 大家好，我是Frank。你看Papi酱的视频吗？

S：天呢，我可是她互联网老粉儿了。一个“集美貌与才华于一身的女子”，我关注她的时候，还没有到短视频平台呢，当时都是在微博上看她的视频。

F：哇，那真的是很早了。

S：对啊，她可以算是最早一批的网红了。当时网红变现的渠道还没有很多，那时候录视频很多都是“为爱发电”。你呢，看她的视频吗？

F：想看不到是很难的，主要她太火了，一直处在时代的潮头啊。

S：作为一个十多年的老粉儿，在这么多网红起起伏伏的时代里，她能一直保持这么有流量，长红不衰，还是有点儿东西的。

F：那你喜欢她什么？

S：嗯...最开始被她的视频吸引是因为她的内容，当然她的表演也挺有趣的，她对两性、婚姻、娱乐圈、职场…

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最近，“OMG 你吓到我了”这句话刷屏各大社交媒体平台。这句话其实出自于papi酱创作的一首名为《生气了》的歌曲。这首歌火爆到什么程度呢？网友们不仅把歌曲制作成嘴替表情包，还进行二创，用方言和外语演唱这首歌。就连有些品牌方也加入玩梗，把《生气了》用作BGM，制作搞笑短视频。

这首成为爆款的歌曲，创作流程却简单到不可思议。词是papi酱写的，但作曲和演唱全由AI完成，整首歌从创意到发布，只用了7天。这首歌能火爆到如此程度，一个原因当然是旋律非常洗脑，但更重要的是，papi酱在视频里表现出的平静发疯，恰好是很多人的日常写照。在高压的环境下，生活和工作中堆满了不顺心的小事却无处发泄，但现在可以用一句“OMG 你吓到我了”将情绪温和地释放出去。

Papi酱2016年开始在互联网上做内容，到今年已经是第十个年头。在…

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Over the past few weeks a song called “I’m so mad” (生气了) has gone viral on the Chinese internet. It’s by Papi Jiang (papi酱) who is one of China’s best-known comedians.

Her real name is Jiang Yilei (姜逸磊) but her stage name is papi酱. The character “酱” (pronounced jiàng), which sounds similar to her real surname just with a different tone, is the Chinese transliteration of the Japanese suffix “chan” (ちゃん), an affectionate “cute” diminutive.

The song, I’m so mad, blew up out of nowhere on social media feeds.

There was no build-up to its release or announcement when it dropped. Jiang casually just put it out as a status update on her Douyin (抖音) feed. Within two days, the song had surpassed ten million plays and had close to two million likes.

As one listener put it:

“Four days in, and it feels like I’ve been listening to to this song for four years.”

才听了四天，感觉被缠了四年。

Jiang wrote and sang the lyrics herself but produced everything else in the song using AI. From conception to release only took seven days.

It has a slow melody, with an intentionally cheesy, over-the-top, “plasticky feel” (塑料感). One of the top comments on the YouTube video of the song sums it up:

It’s such a tacky song… with such a tacky voice… but it’s so addictive!

好土的歌.. 好土的唱腔，但是好上头…..

There’s no chorus or traditional song structure. And the lyrics are more like a random list grievances, including “cucumber flavour is the worst” (黄瓜味最难吃了), and “Bye then, talk to you no more” (拜拜再见聊不下去了).

As one write-up put it:

“There is no wailing, no dramatic breakdown…

Just a ‘I’m-completely-done-this-is-ridiculous’ kind of calm meltdown.”

没有大哭大闹的崩溃，透露出一种”算了，不想吵，但真的很无语”的平静发疯。

“Calm meltdown” (平静发疯) is our translation of a relatively new internet slang phrase meaning “outwardly composed, but inwardly falling apart”.

The most quoted line in the song is “OMG, you scared me” (OMG 你吓到我了), followed by the put-down “your taste is too cheap for me” (你的品味配不上我啊).

That’s become a meme used as a veiled insult, delivering a subtle jab to someone who is annoying, while allowing the person who is annoyed to release some pent-up emotion at the same time. Depending on how it’s dropped into conversation, it can come across as a harmless throw-away comment, but with a real emotional bite within.

Fans of the tune describe Papi as their "mouth substitute" (嘴替), which is someone who says out loud what they're thinking or feeling but daren't say themselves.

This is one reason why I’m so angry has resonated and enjoyed such viral appeal:

“In today’s high-pressure environment, the cost of a public fallout is just too high. When a colleague says something stupid, you can’t flip out at them.

When a friend does something dumb, you can’t just block them. When a client makes an absurd demand, all you can do is meekly reply, ‘Noted, thank you.’”

在如今高压的社交环境里，直接翻脸的成本太高了。同事说了句蠢话，你没法掀桌子；朋友做了件无语的事，你没法直接拉黑；甲方提了个离谱需求，你只能卑微回复“好的收到”。[3]

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Papi Jiang made her name a decade ago with a simple format of online comedy sketch. She’s managed to stay popular since then, while many other influencers from that time have come and gone. She’s done this through staying authentic and connecting with ordinary people.

Her gags riff on the small absurdities and relatable struggles of daily life, while mixing classical idioms with modern expressions into how she delivers them.

At her first public outing in 2016, attending the Weibo Internet Celebrity Festival, she stood out among flashy celebs in plain makeup and a simple black dress. she was dubbed as "a breath of fresh air" (一股清流) by fans. The label stuck, and has since become a common internet slang term still used today.

Her sign-off also became a popular catchphrase:

“Hi everyone, I’m Papi-chan, a woman who embodies beauty and talent.”

大家好，我是papi酱，一个集美貌与才华于一身的女子。

But asked once whether she really saw herself as “embodying beauty and talent” (集美貌与才华), she quipped back saying she’d rather be “unmoved by gain, and unshaken by loss” (不以物喜，不以己悲), a line from the Song-dynasty statesman Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹).

In discussions about the song on social media, one thread is how I’m so angry is mostly AI-generated, and yet the creative element and the viral appeal is still down to Papi’s creativity, and her ability to connect with her audience:

“Technology can make content creation dramatically more efficient, but what makes a piece go viral hasn’t changed.

It has to resonate emotionally with people.”

技术可以让作品更快地产生，但真正决定作品能不能流行的，依旧是那句老话——你到底有没有说中人的情绪。

And that’s what we’re exploring this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 嘴替 zuǐ tì

“mouth substitute”, someone who articulates exactly what is on your mind

她的那句“OMG！你吓到我了”一夜之间火爆全网，成为无数人的嘴替 - Her line “OMG, you scared me” went viral overnight and has become the go-to phrase people use to express their feelings. [1]

2. 长红不衰 cháng hóng bù shuāi

to remain popular for a long time, to enjoy lasting popularity

为什么十年如一日，长红不衰？ - Why has she remained popular and successful for such a long time? [1]

• Related:

  • 翻红 fān hóng – to regain popularity, to make a comeback

  • 一夜爆红 yí yè bào hóng – to become an overnight sensation

  • 红极一时 hóng jí yì shí – to be extremely popular for a time

3. 红透半边天 hóng tòu bàn biān tiān

to become hugely popular, to be famous everywhere

随后，对两性、婚姻、阶层、内娱等话题的辛辣吐槽更让她一下刺破圈层，红透半边天 - Her sharp commentary on topics such as gender issues, marriage, social class, and China’s entertainment industry helped her make the breakthrough and become hugely popular. [2]

4. 平静发疯 píng jìng fā fēng

to have a calm meltdown

没有大哭大闹的崩溃，透露出一种“算了，不想吵，但真的很无语”的平静发疯 - There is no wailing, no dramatic breakdown — just a “I’m-completely-done-this-is-ridiculous” kind of calm meltdown. [3]

5. 四两拨千斤 sì liǎng bō qiān jīn

to achieve a great effect with minimal effort, to accomplish much with little

鲁豫曾说她的视频里有一种四两拨千斤的轻盈 - Lu Yu once said that there was a lightness to her videos that achieved a powerful effect with seemingly little effort. [2]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful words

6. 潮头 cháo tóu

the forefront, the leading edge

在她之后的网红渐渐走向沉寂，papi酱依然立在潮头 - The influencers who came after her gradually faded into obscurity, while Papi-chan still remains at the top of her game. [1]

7. 热梗 rè gěng

trending meme, popular catchphrase

可关于她的热搜依旧是她又创造出了怎样的热梗 - Yet the trending searches about her are still on the new viral memes she have just created. [1]

• Related:

  • 爆梗 bào gěng – viral meme, extremely popular catchphrase

  • 玩梗 wán gěng – to play with memes, to use a meme or catchphrase

8. 爆款 bào kuǎn

blockbuster, hit product or work

这并不是papi酱今年创造的第一个爆款“神话” - This isn’t the first blockbuster hit that Papi-chan has created this year. [1]

9. 写照 xiě zhào

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一开始以为类似新出的表情包，后来发现是一首歌，再后来发现根本逃不掉，抖音刷到、朋友圈刷到，一打开小红书各路人马都在疯狂玩梗。

点进去一看，原来是papi酱发的《生气了》火出圈了。

据其团队透露，整首歌的创作流程简单到不可思议：词是papi酱写的，曲、编、唱全部由AI创作，整首歌从创意到正式上线，7天搞定。

整首歌火得毫无征兆，没有任何铺垫预热，发布得就像某天随手发的一条动态。但在papi酱的顶级流量体质加持下，上线2天抖音播放量破千万，点赞近200万。说是提前预定2026年最热门的洗脑神曲，一点也不为过。

没有技巧，全是情绪

如何评价这首歌？

论制作，它毫无章法。旋律走的是闽南苦情歌的路子，温柔婉转中带着AI演唱特有的塑料感；歌词古早，没有副歌，没有桥段，就…

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Frank: 大家好，我是Frank。你上学的时候，班上有没有那种传说中的学霸，就是你怎么努力都追不上的？

S：当然有啊，但我也没想过追上人家 …我知道自己的天赋就那么点儿。

F：哈哈，你的自我否定来得那么早吗？

S：哎，我不跟天才比，哈哈。我印象很深，我高中班级有一个男生，老师刚把题目写在黑板上，他3秒答案就脱口而出了。3秒，我题目都没看完呢...

F：后来怎么样了？

S：后来人家就上了顶尖的大学，然后出国读书了。

F：都是这个路线啊，最近拿菲尔兹奖的两位数学家，你听说了吗？

S：当然了，大陆首次有两个人同时拿到“数学界的诺贝尔奖”，大家都很激动。我也看了不少相关的报道。

F：网上的争论也不少，开始的时候有些民族主义的声音，说他们在海外…

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数学天才能否修成正果，不仅取决于天赋，更取决于适合的发展环境。邓煜中学时就获得国际奥数金牌，在北大读了两年数学后便去美国深造。他认为，只有在更自由的学术环境里，才能真正专注研究。

相比之下，王虹的经历更有代表性。她小时候曾两次跳级，进入北大数学学院后，却只是班里的小透明。由于基础不够扎实，她成绩一般，一度想放弃数学。后来，一位法国导师成为她的伯乐，还不断为她打气，推荐她去美国继续学习。最终，她证明了“挂谷猜想”，开启了新的学术生涯。

基础数学往往需要研究者长期坐冷板凳，而不是急着追求成果。但问题在于，一些高校的考核制度容易让学者陷入急功近利的竞争，甚至成为完成各种指标的工具人。许多菲尔兹奖得主都曾到其他国家学习或工作。有人在国外完成博士学位，有人长期为海外大学效力，也有人学成后回国发展。近年来，丘成桐、张…

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Two Chinese mathematicians have won the Fields Medal. Known as the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics" (数学诺贝尔奖), it’s awarded once every four years, and only to those under 40.

This is the first time mathematicians from mainland China have won the award.

The two winners are Wang Hong (王虹) and Deng Yu (邓煜). They also happen to be former classmates, having studied mathematics at Peking University (北京大学) in the 2007 cohort.

On the night the news broke, Peking University lit up its Boya Pagoda (博雅塔) with the message:

“Congratulations to Wang Hong and Deng Yu.

Congratulations to Chinese mathematics.”

祝贺王虹邓煜。祝贺中国数学。

The story began trending online, and at first it was all good news for China.

Maths, which is typically not a trending topic, shot to the top of the hot-search lists on social media. It was a propaganda win: celebrating homegrown, world-beating talent, and a moment of national pride.

But as more details about Wang and Deng surfaced, the feel-good celebration turned into a heated debate about the pitfalls of China’s higher education system.

Because it turns out that although the two winners had studied at Peking University (PKU), they each spent the following decade overseas, furthering their studies and building their careers outside of China.

Wang left PKU for France, and later moved on to the United States. Deng lasted only two years at PKU before heading to MIT.

In both cases, the prize-winning work was done abroad.

Some reactions online were critical of the pair, viewing research done abroad with suspicion and asking why they had not stayed in China.

Others questioned: if the award-winning work was all done overseas, how much of their achievement can really be chalked up to so-called “Chinese mathematics”?

While others asked a tougher question still, which is:

“If Deng Yu and Wang Hong had stayed in China, could they have achieved the same level of same success?”

如果邓煜、王虹当年留下来，能有今天的成就吗？

As this was unfolding online, Deng and Wang were measured in their own comments in the media, and gracious about their early training.

Deng said his two years at Peking University had given him an "excellent foundation" (极好的基础). And Wang said it was only after she left for France that she realised how "solid" (扎实) her grounding at PKU had been.

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From a young age, Deng Yu was a maths prodigy. As an International Mathematical Olympiad gold medallist, he was nicknamed “Deng the God” (邓神) by his classmates. He arrived at Peking University as national-team champion, and was waved straight into the maths department through “recommended admission” (保送) without ever sitting the gruelling gaokao exams.

Despite his track record, and the preferential treatment that afforded him, Deng didn't even finish his degree at Peking University. Just two years in, he transferred to MIT.

In contrast, Wang Hong grew up in a small town in Guangxi (广西). Unlike Deng, she never entered a maths competition, let alone won one. She missed out on a place at Peking University at first, and only transferred in part way through her degree.

Her experience there was difficult. She says she felt "invisible" (小透明) in a class full of top performers. She finished near the bottom of her year, and was told multiple times she was "not cut out for maths" (不是学数学的料).

Looking back, Wang said of her experience at PKU:

“When I got into the maths department, for the longest time I thought that just being able to survive would be good enough.”

在我进入北大数学系的时候，我一直以为自己能够活下去就已经很好。

Her experience after she moved to France was totally different. A mentor spotted her talent, and gave her the support and confidence which eventually led her to the Fields Medal.

So in the end, neither Wang nor Deng did their prize-winning work in China. This is precisely the question the historian, Ge Jianxiong (葛剑雄), has been raising for years:

“How come our top talent struggles to thrive at home, but takes off as soon as they go abroad?

为什么我们培养的人才在国内发挥不了作用，但是到国外就很快发展起来了？

The problem according to Ge is structural. At many science and maths departments, competition wins drive who gets selected and rewarded at university. The medal-winners get the attention and the pick of supervisors, and those with no medals, like Wang Hong, are sidelined.

Ge Jianxiong says this is a hidden driver of China’s loss of talent.

The state media of course steered clear of this debate altogether, sticking to the “celebrating homegrown talent” narrative.

But one of the WeChat articles we read this week does end on a hopeful note:

“Imagine a day when middle school isn’t defined by shocking depression rates, soul-crushing test drills, and depressed students being excluded from taking the high school entrance exams.

A day when university students care about more than just high-paying jobs, and young academics can freely debate ideas without constantly worrying about their paper counts.

That is the day China becomes a true science superpower.

哪一天，去中学，不再是令人咂舌的抑郁率和比拼刷题，中考前被逼不参加考试；再去高校，如果听到学生不再讨论毕业找什么工作赚多少钱，青椒能够热烈自由交流学术而不用担心发多少篇论文。那时的中国，才是真正的科技强国。

Not sure that’s likely any time soon.

But it is what we’re discussing this week!

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Favourite Five

1. 青椒 qīng jiāo

young academic, early-career academic

现在在非升即走状态下煎熬焦虑的“青椒”，最明白到底什么意思 - Young academics struggling with the pressure and anxiety of the “up-or-out” system understand exactly what it really means. [3]

• Note: this is an abbreviation plus a homophone pun: “young teacher” (青年教师) is shortened to “青教”, which sounds like 青椒

2. 小透明 xiǎo tòu míng

little nobody, overlooked person

发现在强手如林的班上，她只是个小透明 - She felt like a nobody in a class full of top performers. [1]

3. 修成正果 xiū chéng zhèng guǒ

to achieve success, to finally make it

但是，高兴聚焦点是在“中国籍”上，却很少触碰一个实质性的问题——为什么都是在国外才最终“修成正果” - But they fixate on the “Chinese nationality” of the two medalists, while steering clear of the key question — why is it that they only ever finally make it once they are abroad? [3]

4. 持之以恒 chí zhī yǐ héng

to persevere, to persist

唯一能对抗这种担心的，除了持之以恒的努力，就是“对将来能做出成果的盲目自信” - Nothing fights off that self-doubt quite like hard work and a bit of blind faith that you’re going to pull it off eventually. [1]

5. 坐冷板凳 zuò lěng bǎn dèng

to be sidelined, to wait patiently on the sidelines

不仅需要极高的天赋，还需要长期坐冷板凳的耐心 - It requires not only exceptional talent but also the patience to grind away without being recognised. [1]

Consuming the Conversation

Useful Words

6. 功劳 gōng láo

credit, contribution

北大培养，海外获奖：到底是谁的“功劳”？ - Trained in Peking University but won the prize for their overseas work: so who really deserves the credit? [1]

7. 深造 shēn zào

to pursue further studies, to further one’s education

她从北大毕业后远赴法国深造 - After graduating from Peking University, she went to France to pursue further studies. [1]

8. 效力 xiào lì

to serve, to work for

在海外从事科研就是为他国效力 - Doing scientific research overseas means serving a foreign country. [1]

9. 跳级 tiào jí

to skip a grade

她在小学里曾两次跳级，所以一直就比班上同学小两岁 - She skipped two grades in elementary school, so she was always two years younger than her classmates. [1]

10. 扎实 zhā shi

solid, well-grounded

当年在北大接受的数学训练非常扎实 - The mathematical training she received at Peking University provided a solid foundation. [1]

11. 伯乐 bó lè

mentor, someone who recognizes and nurtures talent

直到在法国遇到伯乐，她才开始不再怀疑自己到底适不适合学数学 - It wasn’t until she met her mentor in France that she finally stopped second-guessing whether she was cut out for math. [3]

12. 打气 dǎ qì

to encourage, to cheer someone on

相互鼓舞，不如换个词，“相互打气” - Rather than saying “encourage each other,” a better way to describe it would be “to keep each other’s spirits up”. [3]

Three-character Phrases

13. 工具人 gōng jù rén

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凑巧的是，他俩还是北大数学系2007级的同班同学，获奖消息传来的当晚，北大博雅塔就亮灯致敬：“祝贺王虹邓煜”“祝贺中国数学”。

然而，当他们这些年的学术经历开始广为人知，争议很快就爆出了：媒体的新闻报道当然会把重点放在“是国内教育培养了他们”上；但网上有太多人都质疑，他们在离开北大之后这十几年来，几乎都在欧美求学、任教，而获奖的学术成果也都是在海外做出来的，那么他们的成就，到底在多大程度上能归功于“中国数学”？

北大培养，海外获奖：到底是谁的“功劳”？

他们本人倒也都肯定过在国内受教育的经历。

邓煜曾说，在北大求学那两年，他做了海量的数学题，打下了极好的基础；王虹也说过了，从北大毕业后远赴法国深造，才意识到当年…

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