“Comrade” is making a comeback in China
“同志”一词在中国正卷土重来

DURING THE decades when Mao Zedong ruled China, it was common for people to address each other as tongzhi: “comrade”. Like its English equivalent, the word has an egalitarian ring, as well as a hint of revolutionary fervour. But after Mao’s death in 1976, and the market reforms that followed, the term tongzhi started to feel a little dated. Less ideological greetings took its place: like xiansheng (“mister”), meinu (“beautiful woman”) and laoban (“boss”).
在毛泽东统治中国的几十年里，人们常用“同志”来称呼彼此。与英文对应词一样，“同志”一词既带有平等主义色彩，又带有一丝革命热情。但在 1976 年毛泽东去世以及随后的市场改革之后，“同志”一词开始显得有些过时。取而代之的是一些意识形态色彩不那么浓厚的称呼，例如“先生”、“美女”和“老板”。

So it caused a stir when the People’s Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece, published an opinion piece this month calling for the word tongzhi to return to everyday speech. Modern greetings can sound frivolous or phoney, the author complained. Some are even “sugar-coated bullets”, they warned, using a Maoist term for bourgeois customs that corrupt the working class. Better, then, to return to the greeting used “back when people were simple and honest”.
因此，当共产党喉舌《人民日报》本月发表一篇评论文章，呼吁将“同志”一词重新纳入日常用语时，引发了轩然大波。作者抱怨说，现代的问候语听起来轻佻虚伪。他们警告说，有些问候语甚至是“糖衣炮弹”，用毛泽东时代的术语来形容腐蚀工人阶级的资产阶级习俗。因此，最好还是回到“古朴淳厚的年代”的问候语。

The party often tries to stoke nostalgia for the days of high socialism in order to bolster its support. In recent years local governments have encouraged “red tourism” at sites like Mao’s hometown to teach people about the history of the party (needless to say, they are given a version without all the bloodshed). Some firms send employees on “red” teambuilding courses where they dress up as guerillas from the 1930s and trek along muddy mountain paths. In 2015 party members, though not the general public, were told to call each other tongzhi again as a way of “purifying” political culture.
该党经常试图唤起人们对高度社会主义时代的怀旧情绪，以巩固其支持。近年来，地方政府鼓励在毛泽东故乡等地开展“红色旅游”，向人们讲述党的历史（不用说，他们得到的是一个没有所有血腥事件的版本）。一些公司让员工参加“红色”团队建设课程，他们打扮成 20 世纪 30 年代的游击队员，沿着泥泞的山路徒步。2015 年，党员们（尽管不是普通公众）被告知要再次互相称呼为“同志”，以此作为一种“净化”政治文化的方式。

The term seems unlikely to make a comeback outside the party, however. For one thing, since the 1990s tongzhi has become a popular slang term for gay people, catching on because it sounded neither pejorative nor clinical, unlike most of the alternatives. For a time one of China’s biggest LGBT-rights organisations, based in the capital, was known as the “Beijing tongzhi Centre” (it closed in 2023 under political pressure).
然而，该术语在党外重获流行的可能性似乎不大。首先，自 20 世纪 90 年代以来，“同志”已成为同性恋者的流行俚语，因为它听起来既不贬义也不临床，与大多数替代词不同。一段时间内，中国最大的 LGBT 权利组织之一，总部位于首都，被称为“北京同志中心”（该中心于 2023 年在政治压力下关闭）。

But many people have criticised the idea for another reason. Since the death of Mao, China has become far richer—but the wealth has not been spread evenly. The country’s Gini coefficient, a common measure of income inequality, rose sharply in the 1990s and is now higher than that of America, according to official estimates. Inequalities have particularly started to sting as the economy has sputtered. “Who should you call tongzhi?” asked one person in a post on Weibo, a social-media platform. “Someone with the same rights, assets…work and salary. Those earning 2,000 yuan ($280) a month can hardly call those earning 20,000 yuan their tongzhi.” There is little sense of camaraderie between China’s haves and have-nots. ■
但许多人以另一原因批评这一想法。自毛泽东去世以来，中国变得远为富裕——但财富并未平均分配。根据官方估计，中国的基尼系数（衡量收入不平等的一个常见指标）在 20 世纪 90 年代急剧上升，现在甚至高于美国。随着经济的停滞，不平等现象开始尤为刺痛人心。“你应该称谁为同志？”一位微博用户在发帖中问道，“拥有相同权利、资产……工作与薪水的人。每月收入 2000 元（280 美元）的人几乎不能称每月收入 20000 元的人为同志。”中国拥有者和没有者之间几乎没有同志情谊。■

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