"Those who receive the benefits from their lord should also take on their worries" — Phrase of the week
An interview with a tech company content moderator
Our phrase of the week is: "those who receive benefits from their lord should also share in his worries" 食君之禄，担君之忧 (shí jūn zhī lù, dān jūn zhī yōu)
Context
Chinese language Substack publication 莽莽
, has published a fascinating interview with a content reviewer of a large tech company in China.The interview is with Chén Lìjiā 陈立佳 (an alias), who was born in 1997 and began working as a content reviewer in 2020 for a major internet company in China. While the company isn’t directly named, it's described as operating the country's largest search engine, with a user base exceeding 1 billion.
All searches and content postings on the platform must go through an extensive review process by the team where Chen works.
As well as offering an insider’s account of how censorship works in China, the interview reveals the rarely seen human side of China’s censorship system: the individuals working within it.
When asked about his initial motivation for becoming a reviewer, Chen is quite candid, saying it was purely to make a living.
"If I don’t take this job, I won’t be able to make ends meet."
我不端这碗饭的话，我活不下去。
Wǒ bù duān zhè wǎn fàn de huà, wǒ huó bú xiàqù.
“Holding rice bowl" is a phrase we’ve explored before, and a metaphor for a job.
Chen describes how there is no emotion or sense of conscience in his work. It’s just like any job, with the goal of getting paid.
Although only in a low level role, Chen has the authority to close any account on the platform if it posts sensitive or banned content. When asked if he ever would consider letting someone off if what they post is not too serious, he says:
"I just wanted to do this job well at the time. Those who receive benefits from their lord should also share in his worries. That was what I really believed in."
我当时就是想把这份工作干好，食君之禄担君之忧，这是我真正的想法。
Wǒ dāngshí jiùshì xiǎng bǎ zhè fèn gōngzuò gàn hǎo, shí jūn zhī lù dān jūn zhī yōu, zhè shì wǒ zhēnzhèng de xiǎngfǎ.
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week!
What it means
The phrase, "those who receive benefits from their lord should also share in his worries", is an idiom composed of eight characters in classical Chinese. It directly translates as "to eat" (食 shí), "the ruler’s" (君之 jūnzhī), "salary" 禄 (lù), "to bear" (担 dān), "the ruler’s" (君之 jūnzhī), "worries" (忧 yōu). The character "eat" (食) can mean to “consume”, or receive, which is what it means in this context.
The source of the idiom is Xue Dingshan Conquers the West (薛丁山征西 Xuē Dīngshān Zhēng Xī), a popular Chinese historical novel and folk tale about Xuē Dīngshān 薛丁山, a fictional general of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). The story is set during the Western campaigns, where Xue Dingshan is tasked with expanding and defending the Tang Empire's territories.
The character, Xue Dingshan, is based on Xuē Rénguì 薛仁贵, a Chinese military general during the early Tang dynasty, known as the "the General who pacified the East" because of his campaigns in Korea during the early Tang period. Xue Rengui's life was dramatized in a number of fictional works known as the “Xue Family” saga, a series of folk tales based on the heroic deeds of the family across generations.
The stories of Xue Dingshan are part of a larger genre of folk tales and "military romance" novels that were popular during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties.
These tales were often told in the form of operas before being compiled into novels. While the author of Xue Dingshan Conquers the West is not known, it is thought that versions were gradually compiled and recorded by storytellers or anonymous authors from the late Ming to early Qing periods.
Our phrase first appears in Chapter 16 of the novel:
My son, as the saying goes: "Those who receive benefits from their lord should also share in his worries." When the country faces difficulties, I am willing to sacrifice myself in service to the nation.
Life and death are governed by fate, and if I die, it will not be a premature death. Besides, I have received great favor from the court, so how could I not go?
吾儿，自古道：食君之禄，担君之忧，国家有难，情愿舍身报国。生死由天命，即死亦不为夭寿，况为父的受了朝廷大恩，哪有不去之理。
Wú ér, zì gǔ dào: shí jūn zhī lù, dān jūn zhī yōu, guójiā yǒu nàn, qíngyuàn shě shēn bào guó. Shēng sǐ yóu tiān mìng, jí sǐ yì bù wéi yāo shòu, kuàng wéifùde shòu le cháotíng dà ēn, nǎ yǒu bú qù zhī lǐ.
This is said by Cheng Yaojin 程咬金 to his son, Cheng Tieniu 程铁牛, when the 75-year-old Cheng Yaojin volunteers to lead troops into battle, knowing he may not return, reflecting the Confucian values of loyalty, duty, and the readiness to sacrifice oneself for the nation.
In modern usage, the phrase captures the feeling of being subservient to the state even at the expense of the individual.
In a job like working as a content moderator in a tech company, the tech company is the “lord”, which is in-turn following the rules set by the government. But for employees, the most important consideration is to earn a wage and survive in China’s highly competitive corporate culture and employment market.
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.