"Taking drastic measures" — Phrase of the Week
IMB lays off 1,000 employees in China in 3 minutes
Our phrase of the week is: "taking drastic measures" (断臂求生 duànbì qiúshēng)
Context
US computing giant IBM has laid-off more than 1,000 employees in China.
On August 26, IBM announced in an online meeting, which lasted less than three minutes, that it would completely shut down its research and development facilities in China, lay-off the employees working in those facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Dalian, and transfer operations to other countries in Asia.
The reason for the sudden closure is fierce competition in the Chinese market, and the fall in profits of IBM's China business, with revenues falling by 19.6% in 2023 compared to a 1.6% rise in revenue across Asia-Pacific.
This year, the trend has continued, with sales in China in the first half of 2024 falling 5%, while in Asia-Pacific it increased by 4.4% over the same period.
So the layoffs in China, although sudden, do not come as a surprise as they are part of a wider global adjustment across the business:
In 2023, IBM began to take a drastic approach, announcing layoffs of about 1.5% of its global workforce, affecting approximately 3,900 employees.
2023年，IBM便已经开始“断臂求生”，宣布裁减其全球约1.5%的员工，裁员数量约3900人。
2023 nián, IBM biàn yǐjīng kāishǐ "duàn bì qiú shēng", xuānbù cáijiǎn qí quánqiú yuē 1.5% de yuángōng, cáiyuán shùliàng yuē 3900 rén.
And with that we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week!
What it means
"Taking drastic measures" is a four-character idiom which directly translates as "cutting of the arm" (断臂 duànbì) and "to survive" (求生 qiúshēng).
This is a modern variation of an ancient idiom, "a hero cuts off his wrist to save himself" (壮士断腕 zhuàngshì duànwàn).
This idiom has its roots in the Warring States period of Chinese history (475–221 BCE), a time of intense military conflict, political intrigue, and social upheaval when seven major states vied for dominance before the Qin state ultimately unified China.
The idiom is found in Records of the Three Kingdoms (三国志 sānguózhì), the official history of the period written in the third century AD.
The original passage is:
"When a viper bites the hand, a brave man cuts off his wrist."
蝮蛇螫手，壮士解其腕。
fùshé shì shǒu, zhuàngshì jiě qí wàn.
This is part of a conversation between Dèng Ài 邓艾, a general of the State of Wei (魏国 wèi guó) who was responsible for guarding the western frontier, and Chén Tài 陈泰, another general of the Wei army.
Deng is advising Chen on how handle a violent insurgency by an enemy army of the neighbouring State of Shu (蜀国 shǔ guó), recalling an ancient saying: "When a viper bites the hand, a brave man cuts off his wrist" (蝮蛇螫手，壮士解腕).
Deng is emphasizing the need for painful but necessary sacrifices to survive dire circumstances, which the State of Wei was currently facing with the attack from the Shu. Deng believed that a surprise counter attack wouldn’t work because they were underprepared. They should instead, he advised, bide their time and make painful sacrifices, until the enemy forces lowered their guard.
Both the original idiom and the modern variation, "cutting off the arm to save life" (断臂求生), are common in contemporary Chinese and mean the same thing.
The phrase is often used to describe someone, or in this case a company, who makes tough decisions and sacrifices in a desperate situation to find a path to survival.
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.
Nicely done, except that this is a story from the Three Kingdoms period, not the Warring States period.