| Chinese | 薅社会主义羊毛 |
|---|---|
| Origin | Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow[1] |
| Meaning | to take advantage of the country and its people[2] |
Pulling the wool of socialism's sheep[3] (Chinese: 薅社会主义羊毛), spelled 'hao shehuizhuyi yangmao' in Hanyu Pinyin,[4] is a phrase originating from the sketch comedy Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow performed by Zhao Benshan, Song Dandan and Cui Yongyuan.[5] The phrase is uttered by Aunt Baiyun (played by Song)[6] and it means to take advantage of a collective small gain to satisfy one's own selfish desire.[7]
Baiyun recalled the difficult times and used the opportunity of herding sheep for the production team to knit a sweater for uncle Heitu. Her act was ridiculed as "pulling the wool of socialism's sheep and digging the corner of socialism." This sketch comedy made "pulling the wool of socialism's sheep" a buzzword in 1999,[8] and 20 years later, it become an almost Internet-exclusive term.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ "The Wool Party is eyeing the restaurant". Sina. 2021-04-26.
- ^ "What kind of party is the Wool Party?". Initium Media. Mar 11, 2019.
- ^ Tom McDonald (2022). ""Pulling the sheep's wool": The labour of online thrift in a Chinese factory". Sagepub.com. Vol. 22, no. 2. Journal of Consumer Culture. pp. 398–416. doi:10.1177/1469540520955206.
- ^ Jin Liu (27 September 2013). Signifying the Local: Media Productions Rendered in Local Languages in Mainland China in the New Millennium. Brill Publishers. pp. 139–. ISBN 978-90-04-25902-7.
- ^ "The camel hair that Baiyun has never pulled has been pulled". The Beijing News. 2017-06-01.
- ^ "Please think twice before "pulling the wool of sheep"". Southern Daily. 2019-11-08.
- ^ "1500 rolls of toilet paper in a park in Chengdu were used up in 7 days". China News Service. 2017-04-16.
- ^ "Theft of free toilet paper in Chengdu People's Park is serious". The Paper. Apr 16, 2017.
- ^ "80 cents flat mail letters and 520 yuan of red envelopes, calculating love in this era". Sina. 2020-08-25.