QA：为什么“斩杀线”这个词在中国社交媒体上被广泛使用？

Feng Lu
For decades, American propaganda in China has portrayed the family as follows:
a father, mother, two children, a dog, a house with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a front garden, and a back swimming pool; the family enjoys two vacations of ten days or more each year. The father works, and the mother stays home to do housework and care for the children.
The state provides the entire family with free comprehensive medical care; after the father and mother retire, the state provides them with ample pensions.
The state provides children with free education from birth to college graduation.

几十年来，美国在中国的宣传，一直将美国的家庭描绘成这样：
一个家庭，父亲、母亲、两个孩子、一条狗，住在一栋四室两卫的房子里。房子前面有个花园，后面有个游泳池。一家人每年享受两次十天以上的假期。父亲外出工作，母亲在家操持家务、照顾孩子。
国家为全家提供免费的综合医疗。父母退休后，国家为他们提供充足的养老金。
国家为孩子提供从出生到大学毕业的免费教育。

Since January 2025, when TikTok was banned in the US, many Americans have turned to the Chinese app Rednote.
After sharing their experiences, we discovered that this was all a lie. The lives of the American middle class and lower class are far worse than in China.
In China, most people (90%) own their own homes and do not pay property taxes; employees have pension insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation insurance, maternity insurance, and housing provident fund contributions. These expenses are mainly paid by the employer, with a small portion paid by the employee.
Many companies also add two more benefits: supplemental medical insurance and corporate pension.
If you encounter an accident, the government will guarantee your survival through "critical illness medical assistance" and "basic social survival assistance," ensuring it doesn't lead to family collapse.

自2025年1月TikTok在美国被禁以来，许多美国人转而使用中国的APP：小红书 。
在他们分享了他们的经历后，我们发现这一切都是谎言。美国中下阶层的生活远比中国糟糕。
在中国，大多数人（90%）拥有自己的住房，无需缴纳房产税。员工享有养老保险、医疗保险、失业保险、工伤保险、生育保险和住房公积金等福利。这些费用主要由雇主承担，员工只需支付一小部分。
许多公司还会提供补充医疗保险和企业养老金。
如果发生意外，政府会通过“重大疾病医疗救助”和“基本生活保障”来保障员工的生活，确保不会导致家庭破裂。

The government provides nine years of compulsory education for children; high school, while not free, is very inexpensive; university tuition is less than $1,000 per year (my child attends law school, tuition is $800 per year). Schools provide dormitories for $400 per year.
We've found that Americans have very low savings rates, are very prone to debt, and their quality of life spirals downward, almost inevitably leading to homelessness. This situation is like the "kill line" in a game.
However, in China, the government provides a safety net, offering basic jobs and housing, allowing you to return to a normal life. If someone freezes or starves to death due to poverty, many government officials are dismissed.

在中国，政府为儿童提供九年义务教育。高中虽然并非免费，但费用非常低廉。大学学费每年不到1000美元（我的孩子就读法学院，学费每年800美元）。学校提供宿舍，每年费用为400美元。
我们发现，美国人的储蓄率非常低，极易负债，生活质量螺旋式下降，几乎不可避免地导致无家可归。这种情况就像游戏中的“斩杀线”。
然而，在中国，政府提供社会保障，包括基本就业和住房，使人们能够重返正常生活。如果有人因贫困而冻死或饿死，许多政府官员会被免职。

I'm in Shanghai; it's not too cold here, but it gets quite cold in winter when it rains. So, our community staff patrol the neighborhood and surrounding green spaces and under the bridges every time it rains, just in case there are homeless people. If we find them, we persuade them to stay at the community office, providing them with food, air conditioning, and a bed.
We asked the Americans: Why don't you go to the government when you have no money or food? Why don't you apply for a rent extension when you can't afford rent? Why don't you apply for a mortgage extension with the bank when you can't afford your mortgage?
An American replied: You Chinese always say the cruelest things with such naive words.

 我住在上海。这里不算太冷，但冬天下雨的时候会很冷。所以，我们社区的工作人员每逢下雨都会在社区、周边绿地和桥下巡逻，以防有无家可归的人。如果我们发现他们，我们会劝说他们到社区办公室住，为他们提供食物、空调和床位。
我们问美国人：你们没钱没吃的，为什么不去政府寻求帮助？付不起房租，为什么不申请租房延期？付不起房贷，为什么不去银行申请延期还款？
一位美国人回答说：你们中国人总是用这么天真的话语说出最残酷的话。

Pedro
Yes, the U.S. is the only high-income nation without universal healthcare. It offers some of the best medical technology and talent in the world, yet it consistently ranks last among wealthy nations in terms of access, equity, and basic health outcomes. Essentially, the U.S. has a "Tier 1" medical capability attached to a "Tier 3" distribution system. What a shame.

是的，美国是唯一一个没有全民医保的高收入国家。它拥有世界上一些最顶尖的医疗技术和人才，但在医疗服务的可及性、公平性和基本健康结果方面，却始终在发达国家中垫底。本质上，美国拥有“一级”医疗能力，却配搭了一个“三级”的医疗服务体系。真是令人遗憾。
   
Blue Sky
Over the past few years, Americans have repeatedly faked and spread "social credit points," and created a massive amount of parody images.
In China, being blacklisted by the social credit system only restricts your ability to fly, stay in five-star hotels and golf courses, travel abroad, and face strict loan scrutiny.
However, in the United States, once you cross the "death line," your healthcare, housing, credit, and employment will all be affected. You might find a job, but saving money will be extremely difficult because almost all of your salary will go towards rent, insurance, and credit card bills. Once your income stops and the "death line" is breached, your life ends. Bills become overdue, making it difficult to find housing, finding work becomes even more challenging, and paying bills becomes the ultimate challenge.
You see, China's blacklist only prohibits "high-consumption" behavior, while the American "death line" can strip you of everything.

过去几年，美国人屡次伪造并传播所谓的“社会信用积分”，并创作了大量恶搞图片。
在中国，被社会信用体系列入黑名单，只会限制你乘坐飞机、入住五星级酒店和高尔夫球场、出国旅行以及面临严格的贷款审查。
然而，在美国，一旦越过“斩杀线”，你的医疗、住房、信用和就业都将受到影响。你或许能找到工作，但存钱将极其困难，因为几乎所有收入都将用于支付房租、保险和信用卡账单。一旦收入中断，触及“斩杀线”，你的生活就走到了尽头。账单逾期，导致难以找到住房，找工作更加艰难，而支付账单则成为最大的挑战。
你看，中国的黑名单仅仅禁止“高消费”行为，而美国的“斩杀线”却能剥夺你的一切。

Qiu Yu
In China, being blacklisted by the social credit system only restricts your ability to fly, stay in five-star hotels and golf courses, travel abroad, and face strict loan scrutiny.
It is refreshing to read your comments. There are millions of keyboard warriors on the internet who claim that the social credit system does not even exist in China.

“在中国，被社会信用体系列入黑名单，只会限制你乘坐飞机、入住五星级酒店和高尔夫球场、出国旅行以及面临严格的贷款审查。”
很高兴读到你这条评论。互联网上有数百万键盘侠声称中国根本不存在社会信用体系。

Blue Sky
“China’s social credit system is a real, multi-dimensional regulatory and incentive mechanism aimed at promoting trustworthiness in society—but the so-called ‘social credit score’ (a single, unified number assigned to every citizen that determines all aspects of their life) is a myth created by misinformation. There is no such universal score.”
  
中国的社会信用体系是一个真实存在的、多维度的监管和激励机制，旨在提升社会诚信——但所谓的‘社会信用评分’（分配给每个公民的单一统一分数，决定其生活的方方面面）是虚假信息制造出来的神话。根本不存在这种普适的评分。

Qiu Yu
Sure, I know. It is complex as hell, not a single number but many.

我知道，这极其复杂，不是单个数字就能决定的，而是很多数字。

Kate Alwyn
In the latter half of 2025, a phrase began circulating widely on Chinese social media: “The Kill Line” . It is not a slogan invented by policymakers or academics, nor a meme meant purely for ridicule. It is a sharp, unsettling, and revealing metaphor used by ordinary Chinese commentators to describe how American society appears from the outside.

2025年下半年，一个词组开始在中国社交媒体上广泛传播：“斩杀线”。它并非政策制定者或学者炮制的口号，也不是纯粹为了嘲讽而创作的梗图。它是普通中国评论员用来描述美国社会外部面貌的一个尖锐、令人不安且发人深省的比喻。

This framing resonates because it clashes with the mythology of American resilience that has long dominated global imagination. For decades, the U.S. projected an image of dynamism, opportunity, and self-reinvention. Anyone who works hard can achieve the American Dream. Total social mobility. But, In American, A point at which a single shock, medical, financial, or legal, can push an otherwise productive middle-class citizen into irreversible collapse.
In the US, the related concept is the "ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed)" group—people with limited assets, low income, but who have jobs. They have work to support themselves, but their situation is dire, teetering on the edge of survival.When this concept is cleverly applied to the context of American society, the "kill line" becomes an invisible red line measuring whether people's living standards can maintain basic decency and stability.

这种框架之所以能引起共鸣，是因为它与长期以来全球想象的美国韧性神话相悖。
几十年来，美国一直展现出活力、机遇和自我重塑的形象。只要努力工作，就能实现美国梦，实现社会完全流动。然而，在美国，任何一次冲击——无论是医疗、金融还是法律上的——都可能将原本富有生产力的中产阶级公民推入不可逆转的崩溃边缘。
在美国，与之相关的概念是“ALICE（资产有限、收入受限、有工作）”群体——他们资产有限、收入低，但有工作。他们有工作养活自己，但处境艰难，徘徊在生存边缘。当巧妙地将这一概念应用于美国社会时，“斩杀线”就变成了一条无形的红线，衡量着人们的生活水平是否能够维持基本的体面和稳定。

From within the U.S., this reality is often discussed in fragmented terms: healthcare reform, student debt, housing affordability, gig work, or income inequality. From outside, however, these fragments cohere into a single systems-level diagnosis.
The American Social Contract, Chinese observers argue, has an unusually high ceiling and an exceptionally lethal floor. You can rise spectacularly, but you can also fall so fast, and so far, that there is no meaningful way back. You can work hard and do everything “right” just to have one disruption kick you to the gutter.
For example, in Austin, the capital of Texas, the sun shines brightly in the early morning, but fourth-grade teacher Bill Atkinson often wakes up in the school parking lot. He has spent another night in his car. Atkinson told the media, "No matter how much money I borrow or scrape together, it can't keep up with the accumulating debt because my income simply isn't enough to pay the rent. Having been used to living paycheck to paycheck for so long, I have no savings to cover several months' rent."

在美国国内，这种现实往往被零散地讨论：医疗改革、学生债务、住房负担、零工经济或收入不平等。然而，从外部视角来看，这些碎片化的讨论却能汇聚成一个系统层面的诊断。
中国观察家认为，美国的社会契约有着异常高的上限和极其致命的下限。你可以飞黄腾达，但也可能跌落谷底，跌得如此之快，以至于没有回头路。你可以努力工作，做尽一切“正确”的事情，却可能因为一次突如其来的变故而跌入谷底。
例如，在德克萨斯州首府奥斯汀，清晨阳光灿烂，但四年级教师比尔·阿特金森却经常在学校停车场醒来。他又在车里度过了一个夜晚。阿特金森告诉媒体：“无论我借多少钱，或者想方设法凑多少钱，都无法偿还不断累积的债务，因为我的收入根本不够支付房租。由于长期以来一直过着月光族的生活，我没有任何积蓄来支付几个月的房租。”

This scene was reported by People magazine. Despite earning approximately $54,000 a year, in this city with skyrocketing rents, he still cannot afford any legal housing and has to use his car as a "bedroom."
High rent, limited credit, and ineligibility for subsidies—these realities pile up, forcing a full-time teacher to sleep in his car. He frankly admitted, "It's not that I don't have a job, or that I'm doing a bad job. I'm just being pushed to the edge by the cost of living."
Bill's story is not an isolated case, but rather a reflection of the oppressive feeling faced by many ordinary workers in the United States today. Their lives face a looming "death line": when their finances fall below a certain threshold, any unexpected event could cripple their entire family.
This "death line" reflects a dual picture of American society. The stark contrast between prosperity and hardship makes the survival pressures faced by ordinary Americans all the more striking.

《人物》杂志报道了这一幕。尽管年收入约5.4万美元，但在这个房租飞涨的城市，他仍然负担不起任何合法住房，只能把车当成“卧室”。
高昂的房租、有限的信用额度以及无法获得补贴——这些现实叠加在一起，迫使这位全职教师睡在车里。他坦言：“不是我没有工作，也不是我工作做得不好。只是生活成本把我逼到了绝境。”
比尔的遭遇并非个例，而是反映了当今美国许多普通劳动者所面临的压抑感。他们的生活面临着一条迫在眉睫的“斩杀线”：一旦他们的财务状况跌破某个阈值，任何意外都可能让整个家庭陷入困境。
这条“斩杀线”反映了美国社会的双重面貌。繁荣与贫困之间的鲜明对比，使得普通美国人所面临的生存压力更加触目惊心。

What shocks many Chinese audiences is not that inequality exists; China is no stranger to inequality, but that the American system appears to tolerate extreme fragility among people who are otherwise working, educated, and contributing to society. A layoff that coincides with illness. A rent increase layered atop childcare and student loans. A credit score collapse triggered by a few missed payments. A modest car repair. In these narratives, the Kill Line is crossed not through moral failure or laziness, but through ordinary life events that happen to everyone. Once crossed, institutional responses shift from support to punishment: fees, penalties, loss of access, legal exposure. The system stops absorbing shocks and begins amplifying them.
Chinese commentators frequently contrast this with what they call a “hard floor” at home. This is not nostalgia or propaganda; Chinese users are often brutally honest about corruption and inequality in their own country. Instead, it is an acknowledgment that family networks, state healthcare, and basic housing options still provide a buffer against total freefall. Life may be constrained, but annihilation feels very unlikely. In China, you can lose your job, but you will not be evicted from your home, lose healthcare, or go hungry. The comparison is not about which system is “better,” but about where risk is carried: collectively or individually.

令许多中国观众感到震惊的并非不平等的存在——中国对不平等并不陌生——而是美国体制似乎在容忍那些有工作、受过教育、对社会做出贡献的人们要去面临这种极端脆弱。疾病碰上失业，房租上涨碰上托儿费上涨，几次逾期引发的信用评分暴跌碰上一次小小的汽车维修。在这些故事中，人们越过“斩杀线”，并非是因为他们道德败坏或懒惰，而是因为这些每个普通人都可能经历的普通生活事件。一旦越过这条线，制度的应对措施便从支持转向惩罚：失去服务、面临法律风险。体制不是在吸收冲击，反而开始放大冲击。
中国评论员经常将此与他们国内所谓的“硬底线”进行对比。这并非怀旧或宣传。中国用户往往对本国的腐败和不平等现象毫不留情的进行批评。相反，这是一种承认，家庭网络、公共医疗和基本住房保障仍然能够为人们提供缓冲，避免彻底崩溃。生活或许会受到限制，但灭绝的可能性微乎其微。在中国，你可能会失去工作，但不会被赶出家门，不会失去医疗保障，也不会挨饿。这种比较并非是在比较哪个制度“更好”，而在讨论风险由谁来承担：是集体承担还是个人承担。


Adrian Qiu(秋霞)
The widespread popularity of the term "斩杀线" (kill line, or execution threshold) stems from several main reasons.
First, it is simple and easy to understand.
Many young Chinese people have played World of Warcraft. In the game, when fighting a boss, once the boss’s health drops to a certain level, the raid leader will call on warriors to collectively use their "Execute" skill. This health threshold is known as the "斩杀线" — meaning that once the boss reaches this point, it is essentially doomed to die quickly. Drawing an analogy to the financial situation of Americans makes this concept strikingly clear and intuitive.
Second, it reflects a backlash against America’s long-term exaggeration of its own standard of living we had never known.
Chinese people have long viewed the United States as a paradise, overlooking its darker aspects. We used to believe that even homeless people in the U.S. lived relatively well — that they were talented, supported by social welfare, and enjoyed freedom without constraints. This perception was largely shaped by stories from immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, with the goal of benefiting from its social welfare system. These Chinese illegal immigrants do not need to receive education in the United States and can return to China for medical care, so many of them are not afraid of the "kill line", and that’s why they boast.

“斩杀线”一词的广泛流行主要源于以下几个原因：

首先，它简单易懂。
许多中国年轻人都玩过《魔兽世界》。在游戏中，与 BOSS 战斗时，一旦 BOSS 的生命值降至一定水平，团队领袖就会号召战士们集体使用“斩杀”技能。这个生命值阈值就被称为“斩杀线”——意味着一旦首领的生命值降至此水平，它基本上就注定要迅速死亡。将其与美国人的经济状况进行类比，就能使这个概念变得清晰明了。

其次，它反映了中国人对美国长期以来夸大自身生活水平的一种反感。
中国人长期以来将美国视为天堂，忽略了其阴暗面。我们过去常常认为，即使是美国的无家可归者也能过上相对优渥的生活——他们才华横溢，享有社会福利，并且拥有不受约束的自由。这种看法很大程度上源于那些非法进入美国、意图享受美国社会福利制度的移民的故事。这些中国非法移民无需在美国接受教育，而且可以回国就医，因此他们中的许多人并不惧怕“斩杀线”，这也是他们引以为豪的原因。

It wasn’t until the end of 2025 that this illusion was completely shattered. Chinese netizens suddenly became aware of the inconsistencies in this narrative and began to notice subtle clues in popular culture — such as the student loan struggles of the characters in The Big Bang Theory, scenes depicting blood donation, or the implied subplot in The Pursuit of Happyness where subtly suggests selling the protagonist’s son to wealthy individuals as an obxt of entertainment. Only now do we understand what these films and shows were really reflecting. We finally understand why Americans strive so desperately to maintain a façade of respectability — because those deemed "unrespectable" are driven out of their communities. We finally understand why Americans fear the word "loser" — because in their society, failure often means losing almost any chance for recovery. This realization was shocking, and that shock, in turn, fueled the spread of the concept.
Third, we have finally come to understand the profound hardships faced by America's lower class and even segments of the middle class. This plight itself has evoked widespread sympathy and fueled the spread of such narratives.

直到2025年底，这种幻象才彻底破灭。中国网民突然意识到这种叙事中的矛盾之处，并开始注意到流行文化中一些微妙的线索——例如《生活大爆炸》中人物为学生贷款苦苦挣扎的情节、献血的场景，以及《当幸福来敲门》中暗示要将主人公的儿子卖给富人作为娱乐对象的隐晦支线剧情。

直到现在，我们才真正理解这些影视作品所反映的真正含义。我们终于明白为什么美国人如此拼命地维护体面的假象——因为那些被认为“不体面”的人，会被驱逐出他们的社区。我们终于明白为什么美国人惧怕“失败者”这个词——因为在他们的社会里，失败往往意味着失去几乎所有翻身的机会。这种认识令人震惊，而这种震惊反过来又助长了这种观念的传播。

第三，我们终于开始理解美国底层阶级乃至部分中产阶级所面临的深重困境。这种困境本身就引起了广泛的同情，并助长了此类说法的传播。

We now realize that drug use among America’s impoverished is not simply a matter of moral failure, but often a desperate attempt to numb physical pain, stay alx enough to protect what little they have, or escape the daily trauma of rape, theft, robbery, and threats to their lives. The additives in the drugs they consume cause wounds to fester, and some homeless individuals even tolerate maggots consuming decaying flesh on their bodies, as it provides slight warmth and disinfection.
We have learned how first responders use salted pork to cover wounds in order to draw out maggots from deep injuries. We have learned what dose they administer aid to people who have overdosed on drugs to prevent shock. We have learned about the process by which crabs in coastal waters dismember water-soaked corpses. We understand why seagulls in America show no fear of humans—they have grown accustomed to feeding on the eyes and lips of the dead. We know that when a homeless person collapses on the street, strangers may sell their bodies to medical schools. We have learned how women resort to coat hangers for abortions and died. We are aware of how numerous pharmaceutical companies obtain clinical data from so many deformed fetuses of addicted pregnant women - who are homeless women raped before they died.

我们现在意识到，美国贫困人口吸毒并非仅仅是道德沦丧，而往往是一种绝望的尝试，他们试图麻痹身体的痛苦，保持警惕以保护自己仅有的东西，或逃避每天要遭受的强奸、盗窃、抢劫和生命威胁等创伤。他们吸食的毒品中的添加剂会导致伤口化脓，一些无家可归者甚至容忍蛆虫啃食身上腐烂的血肉，因为这能带来些许温暖和消毒作用。

我们了解到急救人员如何用咸猪肉覆盖伤口，以便将蛆虫从深层伤口中引出来。我们了解到他们如何给吸毒过量的人服用适量的药物以防止休克。我们了解到沿海水域的螃蟹如何肢解浸泡在水中的尸体。我们理解为什么美国的海鸥对人类毫无畏惧——它们已经习惯了吸食死者的眼睛和嘴唇。

我们知道，当一个无家可归的人倒在街头时，陌生人可能会把他们的尸体卖给医学院。我们已经了解到，一些女性为了堕胎而使用衣架，最终导致死亡。我们也知道，许多制药公司从吸毒成瘾的孕妇——那些在死前遭到强奸的无家可归女性——的畸形胎儿身上获取临床数据。

These realities do not only afflict the poor; the middle class also lives under constant threat. An unexpected car accident, a moderate acute illness, wrongful arrest and detention, or the lingering effects of the pandemic can easily push those already living on the edge into complete destitution.
We had never before witnessed such widespread suffering affecting so many people. No one had ever heard of these.
Thus, the term "斩杀线" kill line, quickly spread across China.
As users of Quora, many of you belong to the upper and middle classes of the United States. You too should learn about these realities because you are human beings and should possess basic empathy. For a long time, American society has kept this knowledge hidden from you, but now you have the opportunity to confront it.

这些现实不仅困扰着穷人，中产阶级也时刻生活在其威胁之下。一场突如其来的车祸、一场中度急性疾病、一次冤案逮捕和拘留，或是疫情的持续影响，都可能轻易地将那些原本就生活在边缘的人推入彻底的赤贫。

我们从未见过如此广泛的苦难波及如此众多的人。这些事情，此前无人知晓。

因此，“斩杀线”一词迅速在中国传播开来。

作为 Quora 的用户，你们中的许多人来自美国的中上阶层。你们也应该了解这些现实，因为你们是人，应该具备基本的同理心。长期以来，美国社会一直对你们隐瞒这些真相，但现在你们有机会直面它了。