In my Mandarin Chinese class today, we learned the terms for “Democrat” (mín zhŭ dăng) and “Republican” (gòng hé dăng). “Dăng” means political party, but can also mean “gang,” as in hei shŏu dăng, which means mafia (literally, black hand gang). I think I’ll start referring to them as gangs, not parties.

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