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Pity the poor word 'tongzhi', once the great equalizer it now has the connotation of official pomposity or a wink-wink reference to gay-friendly community. Early this week, it was reported that the Beijing Public Transport Group was introducing some changes to its rules on how its service people should address passengers. Except for rare cases, such as senior citizens, the term "Comrade" would no longer be used. Instead men and women would be addressed as "Sir" and "Ma'am", and children would receive the less formal, gender-neutral salutation "Little Friends". Yet another nail in the coffin of conformism and defunct idealism. The evolution of "comrade" reflects the mass psychology and the psychological mannerisms of the past century. Deriving from a Latin word for roommates it was adopted by the European military as a way of addressing people who shared the same barracks. The political use of the word "comrade" originated during the French Revolution and was adopted by the socialist movement of the mid-19th century. This usage was adopted in turn by Sun Yatsen and the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) which frequently used "comrade" as a means of address for its members. The Communists followed suit, actively promoting its use as a utilitarian title for anyone. "Comrade" (tongzhi) means someone who has the same aspirations and goals. So, for the early revolutionaries, it was a word that implicitly invoked a shared cause. I can only imagine how the word was used and received when it was still fresh. Say, I was a Shanghai-based underground worker for the Communist Party. If I opened my door at midnight to someone whispering "Comrade", he would be entrusting his life with me and vice versa. It was not a word to be taken lightly. | 
