For the last 5+ years, I have worked for an education company with a home office in Beijing, China. I teach students, but most of my work for the organization has been in mentoring and training incoming teachers and supporting our adult coaching teams. When working directly with home office employees, you often hear them say “jiāyóu”. I learned that it meant ‘add oil’. A friend from China said that it means to “Go, go, go” or “try harder”!
When working on projects, it made me feel pressured to hear this. We had strict, nearly impossible deadlines at times, and when we were told to “jiāyóu”, my first thought was, "How in the world can I add any more oil to this? I’m working as hard as I can!"
As time passed, I realized it was a cheer. It was the encouragement to keep up the fight, to keep going, you could do it. I spoke with another employee from the head office who said it meant you were doing a great job and not to stop, you’re almost there.
The meaning became clear after I traveled to China at the end of 2019. Just weeks after my trip, I saw news reports of people admitted into hospitals with a mysterious virus. Some within a couple of miles of the hotel where we stayed. It took a couple more months before they were able to name that virus, and the world was rocked and changed forever by Covid.
I was worried for my students and their families. They were worried for us in the US as it spread here. I would receive encouraging messages from them on WeChat to “jiāyóu” 加油. I would send messages back of the same. We began to use it with frequency as the terror spread around the world. We were in this together.
One of my families shared a clip of this video when Wuhan was in complete shutdown. I found this lengthier one with an explanation on YouTube. Click here to watch:
I finally understood the meaning. I sat in tears listening to the shouts, the support for one another.
I remind myself now when things are difficult or I feel like I can't do it or want to quit, to “jiāyóu” 加油.
I say to anyone who is reading this, in whatever you are going through, “jiāyóu” 加油!
For more explanation of the meaning of “jiāyóu”:
