Source: China Digital Times (5/15/25)
Words of the Week: “Nepo Babies With Connections and Resources” (关系咖 guānxi kā, 资源咖 zīyuán kā)
By Cindy Carter
The recent “4+4” scandal, which started with the public exposure of one doctor’s extramarital affairs and medical malpractice, has morphed into a broader societal discussion about medical and personal ethics, research fraud, “returnee” students, intergenerational privilege, nepotism, and more. The themes of privilege and nepotism seem to have resonated most deeply with Chinese netizens, particularly given China’s cutthroat job market and stubbornly high unemployment rates for young workers and recent graduates. Most galling to many was the revelation of an exclusive “4+4” medical doctoral program at prestigious Peking Union Medical College: a fast-track program that would allow certain students with four-year bachelor’s degrees (even those unrelated to medicine) from certain elite universities to obtain a Ph.D. in medicine in only four additional years, compared to a much longer timeline for most aspiring Chinese doctors.
In a WeChat essay about what the “4+4” scandal reveals about the “second-generation privilege” enjoyed by those whose well-connected parents are able to smooth their way into desirable internships, academic programs, and sought-after jobs, essayist and commentator Xipo (“Western Slope”) wrote: “Amid deteriorating [socioeconomic] circumstances, second-generation scions may happily ‘settle’ for enjoying their second-generation privilege, but today’s bona-fide ‘first generation,’ those with no parental legacy to lean on, suffer a dual blow. There are fewer opportunities available to them, and increasingly unfair competition for the few opportunities that do remain.”
The dialogue surrounding the “4+4” scandal also reveals a wealth of slang words and phrases used to describe nepotism, connections, social capital, and intergenerational privilege. Two words in particular are worth a closer examination: 关系咖 (guānxi kā) and 资源咖 (zīyuán kā) are used to refer to “well-connected” and “well-resourced” nepo babies, respectively. Another possible translation for these terms might be “well-connected scions” and “well-resourced scions.” Both feature the character 咖 (kā), employed as a suffix in Hokkien-dialect words such as 大咖 (dà kā), meaning a “big shot” or powerful high-flying type. (RealTime Mandarin’s Andrew Methven provides some fascinating background on the etymology and use of 咖 in contemporary Chinese slang.) Continue reading Nepo babies with connections and resources