"Exploiting loopholes" — Phrase of the Week
Media report about unregulated transporting of cooking oils ignites food safety concerns
Our phrase of the week is: "exploiting loopholes" (钻空子 zuān kòng zi)
Context
An investigative report by Beijing News (新京报 xīnjīngbào), a state-backed media outlet, has revealed China’s biggest food safety scandal since the Sanlu contaminated milk controversy in 2008.
According to Beijing News, tankers used to transport fuel oil are also being used to transport cooking oil, soybean oil, and other similar food products. It is an “open secret” (公开的秘密 gōngkāi de mìmì) that the tankers are not cleaned or disinfected between deliveries.
The report reveals a dark and poorly regulated sector in China.
Under China’s food safety laws, standards for cleaning tankers transporting cooking oil are “recommendations” and not laws, so they are open to interpretation, and can be ignored.
The cost of cleaning tankers between deliveries has become prohibitively high in recent years.
And where the responsibility lies for cleaning tankers is unclear, according to one driver interviewed:
Long distance transportation of bulk edible oils is only partially regulated. "The oil producers are not in charge of it, and the purchasers are not aware of it, which leaves a loophole for the tanker companies to exploit."
散装食用油在长距离运输过程中其实属于半脱管的状态，“卖油的厂家不怎么管，买油的公司不知情，让运输公司钻了空子。”
Sǎnzhuāng shíyòngyóu zài chángjùlí yùnshū guòchéng zhōng qíshí shǔyú bàn tuōguǎn de zhuàngtài, “màiyóu de chǎngjiā bù zěnme guǎn, mǎiyóu de gōngsī bù zhīqíng, ràng yùnshū gōngsī zuānle kòngzi.”
And with that we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
"Exploit loopholes" (钻空子 zuān kòngzi) is the translation of a common colloquial three-character phrase.
It directly translates as "pass through" (钻 zuān), "holes" (空子 kòngzi).
Its definition in Chinese is similar to the idea of "loophole" in English, but refers more directly to "gaps" in a situation which can be filled through taking advantage or making use of any available opportunity presented by that gap.
The source of the phrase is unknown with a number of contending backstories cited on Baidu.
"Passing through holes" is similar in meaning to another Phrase of the Week, "hitting an edge ball" (打擦边球), which we explained in November 2023 in relation to a Chinese electronics brand exploiting the advertising rules at the Qatar World Cup, which meant it could say it was "China's number 1", even though, in China, it cannot make such claims according to the country's advertising laws.
This week's phrase, "passing through holes", has a slightly different connotation. The related behaviour is more serious, potentially damaging and illegal, even though the rules may not be so clear.
The "gap" or "hole" which is being exploited in China's latest major food safety scandal is that no party in the process of transporting bulk cooking oil is fully responsible for cleaning and checking the trucks. So each can ignore the problem and save on costs.
But that loophole can no longer be ignored or exploited.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource to help you learn contemporary Chinese in context, and stay on top of the latest language trends in China.
Read more about how this story is being discussed in the Chinese media in this week’s RealTime Mandarin.