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.)

A recent WeChat article about the “4+4” scandal by Wang Xiaolei, former Xinhua political reporter, illustrates the use of 关系咖 (guānxi kā) and 资源咖 (zīyuán kā) when referring to the intergenerational privilege enjoyed by the scions of well-connected or wealthy families:

This is an "upgraded" version of privilege. […] Ordinary people have already accepted this new reality. For quite some time now, they have silently acquiesced to the existence of ubiquitous nepotism and "well-resourced" and "well-connected” second-generation scions. [Chinese]

Another related term is 萝卜坑 (luóbo kēng, “radish hole,” i.e. the hole left behind after a radish is pulled from the ground). “Radish hole” is used metaphorically to refer to cushy internship or job opportunities—particularly at state-owned enterprises such as the Chinese tobacco monopoly—that are reserved for well-connected, but not necessarily well-qualified, applicants. Unwary applicants without connections are likely to find that the “hole” (the ostensibly open job position) has already been filled by a more privileged “radish.”

A more visual interpretation of the “4+4” scandal and the privilege underpinning it can be found in a recent WeChat article from Liu Su, a popular blogger who works at the Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden. The article discusses various manifestations of privilege and unfairness in today’s society, and ends with an AI-generated image based on a sentence that appeared in the (suspiciously brief) doctoral thesis of Ms. Dong Xiying, a young resident whose alleged affair with thoracic surgeon Dr. Xiao Fei touched off the whole “4+4” scandal in the first place. After the scandal broke, Ms. Dong’s doctoral dissertation and various references to her were taken offline, but the deleted content was archived by numerous curious online sleuths:

Before Dong Xiying’s dissertation was taken offline, it was downloaded by some curious netizens who later uploaded it to cloud storage for posterity. The acknowledgments section of her dissertation is rather brief, and the last sentence reads: "In this world of vast distances and harried journeys, it is enough that you and I are safe, sound, and happy." That sentence, presumably some pearl of wisdom cribbed from the internet, provoked in me a strong emotional response. At this moment, I feel that words alone do not suffice, and that a comic illustration would be a better expression of my true feelings. So I asked ChatGPT-4o to render the following comic based on the ideas I provided. [Chinese]

“In this world of vast distances and harried journeys, it is enough that you and I are safe, sound, and happy.” (source: WeChat/Liu Su)