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The internet has been in an uproar over the sacking by Xi Jinping of two of China's topmost military men.

Exclusive | "Was fallen Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe compromised by hostile force?  A rare form of words that the Communist Party normally only applies to those accused of betrayal was used in the indictment against him", by William Zheng, SCMP (7/10/24)

China’s fallen former defence minister Wei Fenghe may have been compromised by a hostile force as the peculiar wording of the official indictment hinted.

In an unprecedented move, Wei, along with his successor Li Shangfu, was officially impeached by the Politburo headed by President Xi Jinping on June 27. The duo were expelled from the party and could face further legal action.

[Since Wei and Li were in charge of the PLA Rocket Force, which gets into nuclear missiles and what not, the situation could not be more dire.  Maybe they did not accede to Xi's wishes regarding a launch.  Who knows?  No matter what, Xi was royally peeved.]

While Beijing has not revealed details of their offences, one particular phrase from the official impeachment against Wei caught the attention of seasoned Chinese experts.

Of the all top generals who fell in Xi’s war against corruption, Wei was the only one described as “zhongcheng shi jie” 忠诚失节 or “ being disloyal and losing one’s chastity”.

There's no doubt that something is rotten in the state of the PRC, but I doubt that it has anything to do with General Wei losing his chastity.

The article continues:

The hard-to-translate phrase “shi jie” has its origins in Chinese history, where it was used to describe the moral degradation of the scholar-gentry who formed the ruling class.

In the fourth century BC the word “jie” was a bamboo or bronze sceptre representing royal authority – while “shi” means to lose – so a betrayal or defection would imply the loss of this jie.

Later in the Song dynasty (which ruled from the 10th to 13th centuries), it referred to women perceived as unchaste, such as widows who remarried.

China watchers familiar with the Communist Party’s history note that it has used the phrase as a euphemism for betraying the party and being compromised by a hostile force.

A search of statements published by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the top civilian anti-corruption body, and its military counterpart shows that Wei is the only person to whom the phrase has been attached in the last decade.

A political scientist from Beijing’s Renmin university said the characters “shi jie” are most prominently associated with former Communist Party leaders such Xiang Zhongfa or Gu Shunzhang, who defected to the Kuomintang, or Nationalists, the Communists’ bitter rivals during the civil war.

This is all commendable, workaday Sinology and China-watching, but it is not justification for translating zhōngchéng shījié 忠诚失节" as “being disloyal and losing one’s chastity” in the 21st century.  "Zhōngchéng shījié 忠诚失节" is indeed a very serious charge, but what is it really saying?   "Zhōngchéng 忠誠 signifies “loyal; faithful; loyalty; fidelity; faithfulness” and "shījié 失节" implies "forfeit integrity".  In other words, with regard to loyalty, forfeit one's integrity, i.e., be disloyal.  This skips over, by many centuries, that bit about a woman losing her chastity, which is medieval.  The perfidy of Wei Fenghe goes back to classical and feudal times and applies to male officials.

Xi is not alluding to any sexual improprieties on the part of General Wei.  Even if there were (which I doubt is in play here), Xi and the CCP would not make a public issue over it.  Within the last three years, there have been two major scandals involving very high-ranking CCP officials, Qin Gang and Zhang Gaoli, and the whole world was aware that gross sexual misconduct was involved.  But Xi and the CCP didn't make a peep about that.  Let's just say that they both disappeared from public and political life — like former president Hu Jintao being whisked out of the Great Hall of the People by two of Xi's goons on October 22, 2022.

Wei's alleged "zhōngchéng shījié 忠诚失节" is not an imputation of sexual misbehavior, even indirectly or metaphorically.  It is about being disloyal.

 

Addendum

This report, which I read just this morning, adds an ironic twist to the whole story:

Analysis: Military purges put Xi Jinping's singer-wife in the spotlight.  Speculation is rife over whether Peng Liyuan is helping Xi control China's military, by KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei (July 11, 2024)

She has, after all, achieved at least the rank of major-general in the PLA.

 

Selected readings

• "Inspirational PLA Video" (5/4/16)
• "No more corruption" (10/7/11)

[Thanks to Mark Metcalf]

July 11, 2024 @ 5:57 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Idioms, Language and gender, Language and the military

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