What Color is Your Collar?

In China, people are proud to be referred to as a white-collar worker, because it means they have a decent job with a high salary. However, some "White Collars" also experience financial problems.

              zán men wǎn shàng qù jiǔ ba kàn shì jiè bēi ba
Simon: 咱们晚上去酒吧看世界杯吧。
               Let's go to a pub to watch the World Cup tonight.

                  wǒ bú qù le ，kuài méi qián le
Xiao Lin: 我不去了，快没钱了。
                 I can’t go; I’m almost broke.

              bú huì ba  nǐ bú shì bái lǐng ma
Simon:不会吧？你不是白领吗?
              Are you kidding? Aren't you a White Collar worker?

                 āi  gōng zī bái lǐng le
Xiao Lin: 唉！工资白领了。
                Well, the salary was earned in vain.

In this dialogue, the trick lies in the word "白领(bái  lǐng)", which is composed of two Chinese characters "白" and "领". Both characters have many meanings, which helps Xiao Lin to tell Simon she has no money through self-deprecation.

"白"(bái) means "white", and sometimes means "in vain". For example, “白干”(bái gàn) which is used to describe doing something in vain. "领" is “collar” when it is used as a noun, but it is also used as a verb to mean " to receive" or "to get".

In the dialogue, when Simon invited Xiao Lin to go to a bar, he is turned down because Xiao Lin says she has no money. Simon is surprised, and replies "不会吧？你不是白领吗?" In the sentence, "白领" literally means "White Collar".

Xiao Lin responds : "唉！工资白领了", "白" means " in vain" and "领" means "to get", so here Xiao Lin is mocking herself, saying that though she has a favorable salary, she still has no extra money to go to a bar.

In Chinese, different colors are used to describe people working in different fields with different work statuses.

[jīn lǐng] 金领  Gold Collar
金 (jīn) means gold, so the word 金领 (jīn lǐng) refers to industry elites such as CEOs, senior officials, and so on.

[fěn lǐng] 粉领 Pink Collar
粉 (fěn) means pink. The word 粉领 (fěn lǐng) usually refers to female professionals working at home, such as freelancers. Their work time is flexible.

[lán lǐng] 蓝领 Blue Collar
蓝 (lán) means blue. The word 蓝领 (lán lǐng) refers to manual workers. Blue collar work may involve skilled or unskilled physical work.