![](https://ianrowen.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/riveter-q4biss.png)
The Riveter
23 January 2015
“There’s a word in Mandarin Chinese that’s vital to everyday life, and to this movement in particular, and it’s very hard to translate into English. Xinku literally means difficult or bitter, and it’s also a phrase used to express sympathy when asking someone for a favor. This word, xinku, was used by occupiers both with each other and with police in and around the site, even when simply saying goodbye to someone on the way out. In this movement, instead of being treated as enemies, police were talked to like family members.” – Ian Rowen