Small bunch

一小撮 (yī xiǎo cuō): a small bunch

This phrase has been used by the government since at least the Cultural Revolution to denote groups of wrongdoers. The word has been used in official reports of both the Tiananmen Incident and the Weng'an Riot. The word has also drawn the ire of netizens because of its overuse. The origin of the word means 1/1000 of a measure and would literally suggest a very small group of people. However, incidents such as the Weng'an Riot that are blamed on “a small bunch” of troublemakers involve tens of thousands of people. After a disturbance an official report will often say something to the effect that “a small bunch of people with ulterior motives stirred up the masses who did not understand the actual situation (一小撮别有用心的人”怀着“不可告人的目的”煽风点火，而“不明真相”的群众则受其“蒙蔽” ). Critics complain about the use of these stock phrases because they minimize the underlying social ill that led to the disturbance and portray the aggrieved populace as simply being duped by a small group of troublemakers.

情绪都是煽动的， 真相都是不明的， 群众都是一小撮的。 这样的话， 我听过一遍，两遍， 三遍、四遍乃至无穷遍。 撮是个量词，尘埃是撮，粉尘是撮 不过，盐，也是撮。 撮让人觉得很少，很小，微不足道 像是你深爱却不爱你的那个情人 用这种口吻提起你来， 让你觉得自己渺小到无可称量 然而，除了造物主之外，还有什么人可以用这个量词？ 配用这个量词？ 哪里没有公义，哪里就会有一小撮。 哪里没有平等，哪里就会有一小撮。 哪里没有自由，哪里就会有一小撮。 一小撮又一小撮，风吹散了的一小撮，雨淋散了的一小撮 然而它不在这里出现，就在那里出现 用这个词的人觉得是个完美的羞辱 听到这个词的人觉得那是莫大的赞美 当这话重复一遍两遍三遍乃至无穷遍的时候 也就是有无数个一小撮 那么，要问一句：最后谁才是真正的一小撮？