Meaning:

    “懒” means “lazy,” and “政” is “governance.” In contrast to the Chinese term “勤政,” which means “good governance,” the term “lazy governance” refers to the situation where civil servants or government officials come up with overly simple and unthoughtful solutions to certain issues. People often use the image of “throwing the baby out with the bath water” to explain this term.

    Example:

    A: 早晨去公园跑步了吗？

    Zǎochéng qù gōngyuán pǎobù le ma?

    Did you jog in the park this morning?

    B: 我家附近的公园关闭了。

    Wǒ jiā fùjìn de gōngyuán guānbì le。

    No. The park near my home is closed.

    A: 为什么？

    Wèi shénme?

    Why?

    B: 因为荔枝熟了，管理处怕逛公园的人摘荔枝。

    Yīnwèi lìzhī shú le, guǎnlǐchù pà guàng gōngyuán de rén zhāi lìzhī。

    Because the litchis in the park are ripe, and the management of the park is worried that visitors may pick them from the trees.

    A: 这可真是懒政。

    Zhè kě zhēnshì lǎnzhèng。

    This is an obvious example of “lazy governance.”