[Ads-l] ding zui - August 2, 2012

[Benjamin Barrett]

According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_zui <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_zui>), the term ding zui became popular on Chinese internet fora during the trial of Gu Kailai. Photos of Gu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_Kailai <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_Kailai>) make it appear that someone may have stood in for her at trial.

The earliest cite I see for “ding zui” is Slate in an article titled “Double Jeopardy” by Geoffrey Sant on August 2, 2012: http://slate.me/1h2VVEy <http://slate.me/1h2VVEy>

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In China, the practice is so common that there is even a term for it: ding zui. Ding means “substitute,” and zui means “crime”; in other words, “substitute criminal.”
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The Oxford Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionaries (http://bit.ly/1fUHS6n) have this term, though presumably the English translation is not “ding zui.”

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

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