下海

• Pinyin: xià hǎi
• Hanzi breakdown: 下 = 一 + ト (go into, enter); 海 = 氵+ 每 (water radical + every/each — the sea, vast water)

Meaning

To go into business; to leave a secure government or academic position to start a private enterprise. Literally 'to go into the sea.'

Historically refers to the wave of officials and intellectuals who left their positions in the late 1980s and 1990s to start businesses during China's economic reform era. Now broadly means leaving stable employment for entrepreneurial risk. The 'sea' metaphors the vast, risky world of the market economy.

Examples

1. 改革开放后，许多政府官员和知识分子纷纷下海经商，掀起了创业热潮。 After reform and opening up, many government officials and intellectuals left their posts to go into business, sparking a wave of entrepreneurship.
2. 他在大学教了十年书，最终还是决定下海创业，做起了科技公司。 He taught at a university for ten years, but in the end he decided to leave and start his own venture, launching a tech company.
3. 下海之后，他才真正体会到商场如战场的滋味。 Only after going into business did he truly understand what it means that the marketplace is like a battlefield.

Usage Guide

Context: entrepreneurship, economic history, career, reform era, business

Tone: cultural

Do Say

• 改革开放初期，许多知识分子选择下海，经商创业，推动了私营经济成长。(In the early reform period, many intellectuals chose to go into business and start companies, which helped private economy grow.)
• 如今，下海不只指离开体制，也可指辞去稳定工作去创业或进入高风险行业。(Today, going into business no longer only means leaving the system; it can also mean quitting a stable job to start a business or enter a high-risk industry.)

Don't Say

• 下海 in contexts unrelated to career change or entrepreneurship — though literally meaning to go into the sea (for swimming or diving), in modern usage 下海 almost always triggers its entrepreneurial connotation; for physical ocean entry use 下水 or 入海

Origin & History

下 (enter, go into) + 海 (sea — vast, boundless, full of risk and possibility) — to plunge into the sea of commerce; originally coined during China's 1980s–1990s reform era

Cultural Context

Era: 1980s–present

Generation: Generation X and above (historical); all ages (current)

Social background: Universal