I learned a few new Chinese terms from reading Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century, by Christian Caryl (Basic Books, 2014).
个体户 (traditional 個體戶) getihu ('individual-body-enterprise') – Even during the heyday of collectivization, Communist China allowed very limited small-scale entrepreneurship. The term for such businesses translates literally as 'individual' (个 ge, used as a counter for individual items) + 'body' (体 ti, also 'form, style; system') + 'door' (户 hu, also 'household, family; [bank] account; type of professional').
包产到户 (traditional 包産到戸) baochan daohu ('assure-production reach-household') – The method used to abolish China's disastrously underperforming collective farms was to reassign production quotas down to the level of individual households. The term for production quota is baochan, composed of 包 'wrap; envelope; include; take full responsibility for; assure, guarantee' + 产 'give birth to; produce' (or 'product[ion]'). The reassignment of responsibility to households was conveyed by adding the modifier 到户 daohu, from 到 dao 'arrive, reach' + 户 hu 'door; household, family'.
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