Stinking Old Ninth
Stinking Old Ninth (Chinese: 臭老九; pinyin: chòu lǎo jiǔ) is a Chinese dysphemism for intellectuals used at several points in history.
- During the Yuan Dynasty the Mongol conquerors imposed ten "castes" of Chinese: Bureaucrats, officials, Buddhist monks, Taoist priests, physicians, workers, hunters, prostitutes, (ninth) Confucian scholars and finally beggars.
- During the Cultural Revolution the "Nine Black Categories" were: Landlords, rich farmers, anti-revolutionaries, bad influences, right-wingers, traitors, spies, capitalist roaders and (ninth) intellectuals.
References and further reading
- Li, Kwok-sing, comp., Mary Lok, trans., A glossary of political terms of the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1995.
See also