Tool, dupe of another

US President Joe Biden recently proposed an employment program that includes US$2 trillion in funds to boost infrastructure and manufacturing over the next eight years. In his speech delivered on May 6, Biden said “the Chinese are eating our lunch” and that the US has to compete. Chinese netizens said that US presidents have mentioned China in so many speeches that it has become a gongjuren, or a tool to rally public support.

Literally meaning “tool man,” gongjuren was first used in gaming circles. Among the first credited for popularizing it is a gaming livestreamer called Wanglaoju who streams on video platform Bilibili. In one video, Wanglaoju purchased non-player characters (NPCS) for the sole purpose of building structures in the game Kenshi, a single player role-playing game. Because the NPCS only engage in building and not in combating, he called them gongjuren. Since then, this term has been used to describe people who are used by others as tools.

Gongjuren is also used to describe one-sided romantic relationships when one person puts in all the effort. In the workplace, a gongjuren is an employee who is diligent and willing to bear hardships without complaining, while the boss never recognizes their hard work and only calls on them for jobs that no one else wants to do.

Passiveness is the gongjuren's trademark. They tend to avoid the spotlight and have poor social skills. Reluctant to say no to others, they are very easily pushed around. There are many online tips for young people on how to prevent from becoming gongjuren and avoid being taken advantage of.★