"The Chinese word for cadre is ‘kanpu,’ which means ‘backbone personnel.’ It has no satisfactory..."

“The Chinese word for cadre is ‘kanpu,’ which means ‘backbone personnel.’ It has no satisfactory English equivalent, even though it is commonly translated by the French word ‘cadre.’ Since ‘cadre,’ as normally used in English, means a group of trained persons, it is not exactly suitable for referring to individual members of such a group. Yet the Chinese word is used both for the group and for the individual.”

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Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village (footnote), William Hinton, 1966. (via unhistorical)

干部 - gànbù - Cadre

干 - to do; to work

部 - branch; group

(via richang-chinese)