Wear small shoes (穿小鞋) — Chinglish Slang

Slang Name：Wear small shoes

Chinese：穿小鞋

Type：Business Speak / Chinglish Slang

English：
A uniquely Chinese business expression: "wearing small shoes" means being deliberately given a hard time by someone in power. When your boss "gives you small shoes to wear," they make your work life difficult — giving you impossible tasks, unfair criticism, or freezing you out. It's a form of subtle workplace persecution.

中文：
一个独特的中国商务表达："穿小鞋"指被有权势的人故意刁难。当你的老板"给你穿小鞋"时，他们会让你的工作变得困难——给你不可能完成的任务、不公平的批评或冷落你。这是一种微妙的职场迫害。

"穿小鞋" (chuān xiǎo xié) literally means "wear small shoes" — imagine being forced to squeeze your feet into shoes that are too small. It's painful and every step hurts. In Chinese business culture, it describes a boss or superior who abuses their power to make a subordinate's life difficult, often in ways that are hard to prove or complain about. The term originated from an old Chinese story about a matchmaker who deliberately gave a bride shoes that were too small as revenge.

中文："穿小鞋"字面意思是"穿尺码小的鞋"——想象被迫把脚挤进太小的鞋里。每走一步都很痛。在中国商业文化中，描述了老板或上级滥用自己的权力让下属日子不好过，通常以难以证明或投诉的方式进行。这个术语源自一个古老的中国故事，关于一个媒婆故意给新娘太小鞋子的报复。