If the prominence of a social phenomenon can be gauged in part by the variety of terms used to describe it — like the (apocryphal) notion that Eskimos employ an unusual plentitude of words for snow — then Chinese officials’ engagement in illicit sexual relations is pervasive indeed. Over the years, China’s ruling Communist Party has drawn on a number of phrases to describe the libidinous habits of its wayward officials, including daode baihuai, or “moral corruption,” yanzhong daode baihuai, or “serious moral corruption,” shenghuo fuhua, or “degenerate lifestyle,” and shenghuo milan, or “dissipated lifestyle.” Since party disciplinary actions against senior cadres often have far-reaching political consequences or signal internal power struggles, enterprising outsider observers have tried to crack this code-speak.
If the prominence of a social phenomenon can be gauged in part by the variety of terms used to describe it — like the (apocryphal) notion that Eskimos employ an unusual plentitude of words for snow — then Chinese officials’ engagement in illicit sexual relations is pervasive indeed. Over the years, China’s ruling Communist Party has drawn on a number of phrases to describe the libidinous habits of its wayward officials, including daode baihuai, or “moral corruption,” yanzhong daode baihuai, or “serious moral corruption,” shenghuo fuhua, or “degenerate lifestyle,” and shenghuo milan, or “dissipated lifestyle.” Since party disciplinary actions against senior cadres often have far-reaching political consequences or signal internal power struggles, enterprising outsider observers have tried to crack this code-speak.
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