红领 (hónglǐng): red collar

Meanings

1 red collar
2 government / public-sector worker (slang)

Characters

红

Examples

他大学毕业后考上公务员，成了一名红领。

Tā dàxué bìyè hòu kǎo shàng gōngwùyuán, chéng le yì míng hónglǐng.

After graduating, he passed the civil service exam and became a 'red collar' worker.

近年来不少年轻人向往红领的稳定生活。

Jìnnián lái bùshǎo niánqīngrén xiàngwǎng hónglǐng de wěndìng shēnghuó.

In recent years many young people have aspired to the stable life of a government worker.

Tips

culture

Part of the 'collar color' family modeled on English white-collar / blue-collar: 白领 (báilǐng) office worker, 蓝领 (lánlǐng) blue-collar worker, 金领 (jīnlǐng) high-end professional, 粉领 (fěnlǐng) female office worker. 红领 was coined to describe government and Party-system employees, with 红 ('red') signaling the political color.

register

Slangy / journalistic. In neutral writing, prefer 公务员 (gōngwùyuán, civil servant) or 体制内 (tǐzhì nèi, 'inside the system').