In China, doctors tend to get red pennants “JinQi” from their patients, to show appreciation and gratitude. My dad has got a lot of them over his career—I once swung by his office and the doctors store their pennants in buckets… I thought he was well beyond the phase of treating it seriously. But recent days he got another one and posted it everywhere on his social media🤣.
Tips of giving out pennant: the bestower should loudly announce their presence and even pretend to be lost so that everyone knows who they’re looking for.
And here’s the story from THE WORLD OF CHINESE, in which Hayley gave a modern, thorough break-down of this cultural phenomenon:
Why are Chinese Doctors’ Offices Full of Red Pennants?
Hayley Zhao 2024. Link.
The tradition evolves early in history. Before that it’s a reward for war heroes. Since the Song dynasty (960-1279):
The Song emperors began to reward scholars who excelled on the imperial exams with jinqi. In his poetry, Song dynasty scholar Li Maoying (李昴英) described how people who passed the provincial round of the imperial exam celebrated by hanging a jinqi at their front gate. Since then, these pennants have become a symbol of recognition for people’s achievements.
Fast forward to 21st century:
Nowadays, walls adorned with jinqi from patients praising doctors for their surgical prowess are a common sight in Chinese hospitals. Such displays are also increasingly seen in police stations, schools, and even veterinary clinics.
“While there are many other common ways to express gratitude, like writing thank you letters or giving gifts and red envelopes, only pennants appear noble and also comply with legal, ethical, and cultural norms and customs,” Dr. Cai Minkun wrote in the academic journal Medicine & Philosophy in 2021, referencing tightening regulations against conspicuous gift giving and perceived bribery in the medical field. Cai noted one potential pitfall when writing thank-you letters: “Fear on the part of the donor that the language used may be of improper, insufficient, or inadequate expression.” The contents of most traditional jinqi, on the other hand, are derived from tried-and-true templates that are always appropriate.
Young people (GenZ and later) tend to improvise to infuse a bit more creative energy on the content:
“The content has become more colloquial. Instead of neat alignment and rhyming, many reference internet memes or slang. Sometimes it’s just one word,”
…
A viral video posted by state media outlet People.cn in 2023 shows a young patient born in the 2000s presenting her ophthalmologist with a pennant adorned with a single number six—internet slang for “awesome.” The doctor, sporting a broad but slightly awkward smile, accepted the pennant, clearly amused by its unconventional content.
reference
Hayley Zhao (2024) Why are Chinese Doctors’ Offices Full of Red Pennants?. THE WORLD OF CHINESE. https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2024/07/red-velvet-pennants-in-china/