“We will not be silenced” — Phrase of the Week
A young couple fights to be heard.
Our Phrase of the Week is: We will not be silenced (给我一个胶带 gěi wǒ yígè jiāodài).
The context
A young couple based in Zhengzhou are battling a real estate developer who owes them money. They bought an off-plan apartment in the city which is still not finished.
Liàngliang 亮亮 and Lìjūn 丽君 moved to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, in 2013. They worked to save a deposit to buy an apartment and start a family.
By 2021 they had saved 450,000 yuan, enough for a deposit. They bought an off-plan apartment in a new project developed by Sunac (融创 Róngchuàng) in the outskirts of the city, taking out a mortgage of 1 million yuan.
At the time, the developer offered cash incentives to customers as their “universal agents” (全民经纪人 quánmín jīngjì rén) to refer new business. Lijun and Liangliang were not married at the time, so Liangliang could “introduce” Lijun as a new customer and receive a commission, according to the rules of the offer.
On purchase, the developer agreed to refund the pair 21,876 yuan within weeks. That amount has still not been paid.
In May this year, the developer hit financial difficulties and stopped work on the building site. The planned 33-flour structure had only reached the thirteenth floor. Liangliang and Lijun’s new 98 square metre apartment would be on the 22nd floor.
With their dream home increasingly distant, the couple took to social media to pressure the Sunac to pay them the outstanding fee.
They broadcast from the building site demanding their commission and their home finished. On the 15th of November, employees of the developer attacked and beat them during one broadcast.
But the couple persisted.
They continued to make their case on social media. In one video first posted on Bilibili and now only available on Twitter, Liangliang says:
Give me an explanation!
给我一个交代。
Gěi wǒ yígè jiāodài.
He repeats it three times.
Then Lijiun covers his mouth with adhesive tape.
Liangliang tries to speak but can say nothing for the rest of the 1 minute 31 second clip. He tries to speak, but his voice is muffled by the tape. He mimes as if he is hammering against a wall or knocking on a door.
Lijun, smiling affectionately, asks:
“What are you trying to say?”
你在说什么?
Nǐ zài shuō shénme?
She repeats the question.
But gets no answer.
Towards the end of the clip, the Chinese characters “adhesive tape” (胶带 jiāodài) appear on screen.
And with that, we have our Phrase of the Week!
What it means
The phrase “Give me an explanation” is a typical phrase to use in this kind of situation.
But here it’s also a pun.
The two characters of “explanation” are pronounced “jiāodài”.
“Adhesive tape”, the two-characters seen on screen towards the end of the clip, are pronounced exactly the same as “explanation”, but with different characters: “glue” 胶 jiāo and “tape” 带 dài - which is “sticky tape” in Chinese.
The pun is used in instances where authorities are silencing people instead of giving them answers and solving their problems. It’s often associated with complaints of unfinished off-plan building developments (烂尾楼 lànwěilóu).
So Liangliang is asking for an explanation (交代 jiāodài).
But what he gets is adhesive tape (胶带 jiāodài).
They are being silenced.
His actions while trying to speak, to further emphasize the point, are interpreted by some as mimicking the authorities knocking on their door, demanding they let this matter go.
So, the phrase “Give me an explanation” (给我一个交代 gěi wǒ yīgè jiāodài), along with the visuals in the clip, has two layers of meaning: They were silenced, but by acting it out in a humorous play of words, and broadcasting on social media, they bring us our Phrase of the Week:
“We will not be silenced!”
Andrew Methven is the author of Slow Chinese 每周漫闻, a resource to help learners of Chinese maintain and improve their language skills, and keep on top of the latest language trends in China. Read more.