"Parting ways" — Phrase of the Week
"Parting ways" — Phrase of the Week
The star who helped build one of China's top livestream platforms is leaving to start his own venture
Our phrase of the week is: "parting ways" (分道扬镳 fēndào yángbiāo)
Context
On July 25, East Buy (东方甄选 dōngfāng zhēnxuǎn), the livestream e-commerce arm of private tutoring giant, New Oriental (新东方 xīn dōngfāng), announced that its star livestream seller, Dǒng Yǔhuī 董宇辉, had left the platform.
New Oriental pivoted into livestream ecommerce when its private tutoring business was decimated by the "Double Reduction policy" (双减政策 shuāngjiǎn zhèngcè) introduced by the Chinese government in July 2021, which sought to ban private tutoring.
The 31-year-old Dong worked for New Oriental as an English teacher. But as the business began to collapse in the aftermath of the new policy, Dong decided to join East Buy and try his hand at livestreaming.
He quickly shot to fame in June 2022 when a livestream broadcast of him selling rice went viral on social media.
Dong was instrumental in the early success of East Buy in its first 18 months.
But on December 5, 2023, tensions between Dong and his employer surfaced when the CEO of the business downplayed Dong’s success, suggesting the high profile and commercial success of Dong Yuhui and East Buy was a team effort.
In what is now known as the “little post incident” (小作文事件 xiǎo zuòwén shìjiàn), the CEO of East Buy was sacked, and Dong Yuhui took on an executive role in the business.
Despite that, Dong's fans continued to criticise East Buy for marginalising the influencer, blaming the founder, Michael Yu. So many people believe his departure announced this week was inevitable.
As part of that departure, East Buy agreed to sell Dong’s namesake venture, Walk with Hui (与辉同行 yǔ huī tóng xíng), to the influencer for 76.6 million yuan (US$10.5 million), and make arrangements to cover Dong’s payment, meaning he gets the company for free.
Following the company announcement, founder Michael Yu released a short statement thanking Dong and wishing him well. Dong responded thanking his old boss for his support.
But few details were revealed on the reasons for the departure:
Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong are parting ways - that is for sure, but both are clearly unwilling to reveal "why Dong left".
董宇辉和俞敏洪分道扬镳的结局已定，但双方显然不愿意戳破“为什么离职”这层窗户纸。
Dǒng Yǔhuī hé Yú Mǐnhóng fēndào yángbiāo de jiéjú yǐ dìng, dàn shuāngfāng xiǎnrán bú yuànyì chuōpò “wèishénme lízhí” zhè céng chuānghuzhǐ.
And with that we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week!
What it means
"Parting ways" is a four-character idiom which directly translates as "split path" (分道 fēndào), "pull the reins and ride off" (扬镳 yángbiāo). The final character (镳 biāo) is from ancient Chinese and means "horse bit" or "horse escort".
Together, the four characters articulate an image of two people in ancient China agreeing to ride their horses down different paths.
The original idiom is found in The Book of Wei (魏书 wèishū), a Classical Chinese text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei dynasties which ruled from 386 to 550 AD.
Written and compiled by author, Wèi Shōu 魏收, between 551 and 554, The Book of Wei is widely regarded as the official and authoritative history of that period. Its 104 chapters describe the lives, events, and biographies of emperors and empresses who lived through that period.
Our idiom appears first is in the chapter, Biography of Hejian Gongqi (河间公齐传 hé jiān gōng qí zhuàn), where Yuán Zhì 元志, a relative of the Emperor and a high-ranking official, had an argument with Lǐ Biāo 李彪, the Imperial Counsellor, about the right of way.
The two could not come to an agreement, so they went to see the Emperor Gao to settle the debate. The Emperor told them:
“Luoyang is my place, so you should listen to me. And I declare that the road shall be divided into two paths, and you shall go your separate ways."
“洛阳我之丰沛，自应分路扬镳。自今以后，可分路而行。”
“Luòyáng wǒ zhī fēngpèi, zì yīng fēnlù yángbiāo. Zìjīn yǐhòu, kě fēnlù érxíng.”
So, the Emperor's advice was for each of them to take their own path.
In modern Chinese, the idiom is commonly used to describe two people or organisations who have worked, lived, or been together for a long time but decide to part ways and undertake their own endeavours. It usually refers to an amicable split.
Michael Yu and Dong Yuhui have parted ways amicably, but will Walk with Hui succeed in the highly competitive livestream e-commerce sector?
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.