Should you buy pirated goods in China? 水货 (shuǐhuò) VS. 行货 (hánghuò)

Some students living in China may face a major decision. If their cellphone breaks or gets stolen, where will they go to buy a new one? In China, most people would go to a cellphone brand’s official store, or to an underground cellphone market for the cheap prices. If you know about these two different situations, you may have heard two common expressions “水货 (shuǐhuò)” and “行货 (hánghuò).” Although they have opposite meanings, they come in handy in the buying and selling of everyday goods.

Let’s take a closer look:
水货 (shuǐhuò) smuggled goods; unauthorized goods.
水 (shuǐ): water, river.
货 (huò): goods, commodity.

In Chinese, 水货 (shuǐhuò) refers to smuggled goods. Although, it uses the character 水 (shuǐ) it has nothing to do with water. The colloquial meaning of 水 (shuǐ) can be that a thing is unrealistic/impure.

Note: Be careful not to get “水货 (shuǐhuò)” confused with “假货 (jiǎhuò) counterfeit.” The word 水货 (shuǐhuò) arose from early smugglers who, in order to avoid paying taxes, would hide products in plastic bags and send them on other routes to the country being sold to. Therefore, it is ordinarily used to refer to smuggled goods and contraband. Now, it can be used to mean a person whose name falls short of reality.

Examples:
Wǒmen bié qù mǎi shuǐhuò.
我们 别 去 买 水货。
We shouldn’t go buy smuggled goods.

Zhè jǐ nián de shuǐhuò chǎnpǐn hěn duō.
这 几 年 的 水货 产品 很 多。
There are a lot of unauthorized goods these past few years.

行货 (hánghuò) - licensed goods; genuine goods; authorized goods; crudely-made goods
This word is the exact opposite of 水货 (shuǐhuò). It refers to foreign products which have legally passed through customs and other regulations to enter the country. These products can enjoy services and quality guarantees in the domestic market.

Click “ Read more” to learn how to use 行货 (hánghuò) in daily life!

Have you ever hear the Chinese term 爆表 (bàobiǎo)? Currently this term is extremely popular among young Chinese people and its all over the internet! This fun term originally referred to when a meter “explodes,” or the reader is higher than what the instrument can read, for example, there is an AQI over 500 but all the meter can show is 500. Nowadays, this term has become popular internet slang that describes a person who is awesome in some aspect.

爆表 (bàobiǎo): off the charts / extreme / beyond the normal range of measurement.

Word Breakdown：
爆 (bào): to explode or burst / to quick fry or quick boil.
表 (biǎo): exterior surface / family relationship via females / to show (one's opinion) / a table (listing information) /wrist.

The term 爆表 (bàobiǎo) actually originated from the Japanese manga, Dragon Ball! When the Monkey King was fighting with the Saiyan, Vegeta, he let out a huge blast of energy when he was powering up and it actually made Vegeta’s power indicator blow up. Afterwards, many Japanese mangas started to have similar settings. From then on, the internet slang “爆表 (bàobiǎo)” was born and used to refer to when abilities rapidly increase and instantly “explode.”

Examples:
Tā de zhìshāng bàobiǎo.
他 的 智商 爆表。
His intelligence is off the charts.

Tā de yánzhí bàobiǎo, shòu dào hěnduō rén de huānyíng.
他 的 颜值 爆表， 受 到 很多 人 的 欢迎。
He is extremely attractive, and is very popular with a lot of people.

Note: When you refer to a person’s 颜值 (yánzhí) it is actually referring to how good looking a person is. 颜值 (yánzhí) could be translated as “value of a person’s face.” This term is commonly put with 爆表 (bàobiǎo) to say a person is very attractive.

Quiz:

A. Jack is extremely handsome, all the girls want to become his girlfriend.
B. Sunny loves looking at beautiful flowers in spring.
C. Jerry is very lazy but he still manages to pass his classes.
D. Katy is a good dancer, but I don’t think she is as good as Cindy.
See Answer