''Nucai'' (; Manchu: , Mölendroff: ''aha'') is a Chinese term that can be translated as, 'lackey', 'yes-man', 'servant', 'slave', or a 'person of unquestioning obedience'. It originated in the tribes of northeastern China as a negative and derogatory term, often reserved for insult for someone perceived to be useless or incompetent. However, it was used most prominently in the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

as a deprecatory first-person pronoun by Manchu officials at court when addressing the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctiv ...

officials were forbidden from using the term for self-address; they used "''chen''" () instead.

Usage

During the

, addressing oneself as ''nucai'' became a sort of 'privilege' reserved for ethnic Manchu officials. Officials of

origin were forbidden to address themselves as ''nucai'', and must address themselves as ''chen'' (, literally "your subject"). The rule was applied both in written and spoken situations. Such a rule surrounding the term ''nucai'' reflected the relationship between Manchu officials and the Emperor as that between "master and servant" in a household, while that between Han Chinese officials and the Emperor as simply between ruler and subject. The equivalent Manchu term for ''nucai'' is ''

booi aha Booi Aha (Manchu: (''booi niyalma'') for male, (''booi hehe'') for female; Chinese transliteration: 包衣阿哈) is a Manchu word literally meaning "household person", referring to hereditarily servile people in 17th-century Qing China. It ...

''. The exclusivity of the term ''nucai'' meant that Han Chinese officials were given lower status at court, even though ''chen'' was historically considered a more prestigious form of self-address. In 1773, the Qianlong Emperor received a joint memorial about

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

s from Manchu official Tianbao and Han Chinese official Ma Renlong. Both officials jointly signed the memorial as ''nucai'', angering the Qianlong Emperor, who accused Ma Renlong of 'pretending to be a ''nucai when he was not, and later decreed that if a Han Chinese and Manchu official were jointly petitioning the Emperor, they must uniformly use ''chen'' instead of ''nucai''. Chinese scholar Li Xinyu wrote that although the words of "master and servant" (i.e. ''nucai'') has been institutionally abolished with the Chinese monarchy in 1911, people's "''nucai'' mentality" (

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

phrase for an attitude of servitude to the state or other authority figures) still exists in contemporary China. Social critics point out that there is a degree of support for the so-called "''nucai'' mentality" within elite circles, particularly by those who adhere by " Asian values". At the 2009 Boao Forum for Asia, actor

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

criticized

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ese and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

society as "chaotic" because they are "too free", saying "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want." In the ensuing controversy, the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan attacked Chan for having "too strong of a ''nucai'' mentality" () and demanded that the

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Municipal Government remove Chan as the spokesman of the Taipei Deaflympics.

Usage

See also

References

Further reading