Lost in translation: how language complicates US-China relations

Xi Jinping likes to call the world's dependence on advanced Chinese technologies his shashou jian. He means it's the ace up China's sleeve, but translated literally into English, shashou jian is “assassin’s mace”. Translation has been an issue since the beginning of America’s formal relationship with Communist China. And as relations between the two great powers enter a less-predictable phase, linguistic sleight of hand has the potential to become more consequential. Jiehao Chen, The Economist’s China researcher, and Corbin Duncan, our global correspondent, ask why Chinese is such a hard language to translate. David Rennie, our geopolitics editor, considers the real-world consequences when the message gets lost in translation. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.