"The student has surpassed the teacher"— Phrase of the Week
Nanjing starts the "Great Battle of Memes" during Jiangsu Super
Our phrase of the week is: “the student has surpassed the teacher" (青出于蓝而胜于蓝 qīng chū yú lán ér shèng yú lán)
Context
The Jiangsu Football City League, known as Jiangsu Super, or "Suchao" (苏超), is a grassroots football tournament launched in 2025 that has become a sensation in China, bringing together 13 amateur teams representing Jiangsu province's major cities.
The seven-month league runs in two stages: home and away matches, then knockout rounds for the top eight teams.
High levels of public enthusiasm around Suchao see games regularly drawing crowds of over 30,000, with a record 60,396 fans for a Nanjing–Suzhou derby.
Online hashtags have attracted billions of views, drawing on the fierce but light-hearted city-to-city rivalries. Each game becomes a stage for showcasing regional identity, with whole communities (not just football fans) embracing local humour through language in what's been called the "Great Battle of Memes" (玩梗大战).
It started with the Nanjing vs. Suzhou match, when the Nanjing government created a humorous slogan:
"Competition first, friendship fourteenth"
比赛第一，友谊第十四
This sparked memes for other matches drawing on historical, cultural, and geographical references everyone in China and Jiangsu knows.
For example, Xuzhou vs. Suqian became the "Chu–Han Contention" (楚汉争霸), referencing the famous civil war from 206 to 202 BC between Liu Bang (刘邦) and Xiang Yu (项羽) — rival warlords following the fall of the Qin dynasty. The war ended with Liu Bang's victory and the founding of the Han dynasty. Liu Bang was from near modern-day Xuzhou, while Xiang Yu hailed from near where Suqian is today.
The match between Nanjing and Wuxi became the "Salted duck vs. Honey peach" showdown (盐水鸭 vs. 水蜜桃), referencing each city's most famous culinary specialties. Nanjing's salted duck is a centuries-old delicacy, while Wuxi is renowned for its sweet, juicy honey peaches. The playful rivalry produced chants that humorously mix the specialties: "Have the salted duck with sugar" (咸鸭加糖) if Wuxi wins, and "Have the honey peach with salt" (桃子加盐) if Nanjing wins.
This creative one-upmanship from fans of different cities trying to out-do each other with cultural memes is captured in this classical Chinese phrase:
"After Nanjing officially fired the first shot of the fiery Jiangsu Super League with 'Competition first, friendship fourteenth,' the other twelve cities quickly joined in.
In the sense of ‘students surpassing their teacher’, they created slogans even funnier than Nanjing, which turned the whole thing into a ‘meme battle’ of city image and pride."
在南京以“比赛第一，友谊第十四”正式打响苏超红火第一枪后，其他十二个城市纷纷跟进，甚至青出于蓝而胜于蓝，演变为一场城市名片的"梗文化大战"。
Zài Nánjīng yǐ “bǐsài dì yī, yǒuyí dì shísì” zhèngshì dǎxiǎng Sū Chāo hónghuǒ dì yī qiāng hòu, qítā shí'èr ge chéngshì fēnfēn gēnjìn, shènzhì qīng chū yú lán ér shèng yú lán, yǎnbiàn wéi yì chǎng chéngshì míngpiàn de "gěng wénhuà dàzhàn".
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
The phrase "the student has surpassed the teacher" is a classical Chinese phrase which translates as "indigo emerges from blue" (青出于蓝), "yet surpasses blue itself" (而胜于蓝).
This idiom comes from the ancient Chinese philosophical text Xunzi (荀子), considered one of the foundational texts of Confucianism. It was written by the philosopher Xunzi (荀子), who lived c. 313-238 BCE during the Warring States period.
Xunzi was a prominent Confucian philosopher known for his belief that human nature is inherently selfish and requires education and ritual to achieve goodness.
The full passage from the Xunzi, in the chapter Encouraging Learning (劝学篇) reads:
"Indigo dye is extracted from the blue dyer’s knotweed, yet it is darker than blue; ice is made from water, yet it is colder than water."
"青，取之于蓝，而青于蓝；冰，水为之，而寒于水。"
qīng, qǔ zhī yú lán, ér qīng yú lán; bīng, shuǐ wéi zhī, ér hán yú shuǐ
This metaphor shows how students can surpass their teachers through learning and cultivation, just as indigo dye and ice exceed their source materials. It emphasizes improvement through education and effort.
In modern Chinese, it’s often shortened to the first four characters (青出于蓝) and used in the same way: to praise students or successors who exceed their mentors.
But in the Jiangsu Super League context, it's tongue-in-cheek.
Nanjing is the "teacher" with its original slogan, and the other twelve cities are "students" who copied Nanjing's meme idea, ran with it, and improved on it—surpassing the originator.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource which helps you bridge the gap to real-world fluency in Mandarin, stay informed about China, and communicate with confidence—all through weekly immersion in real news.
Want to nerd-out with more amazing Chinese language content?
You’re in the right place!
Read more about how this story is being discussed in the Chinese media in this week’s RealTime Mandarin.
And if you want to go deeper on how football is being discussed in China these days, try some more from the RealTime Mandarin archive: