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掃黑

简扫黑 · 繁掃黑

Mandarin · pinyin sǎo hēi

to crack down on illegal activities
to fight organized crime

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Characters in this entry

掃: sǎo · sweep, clear away; exterminate
黑: hēi · black; dark; evil, sinister; Kangxi radical 203
扫: sǎo · sweep, clear away; exterminate

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1 · sao3 hei1

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

(formal) to combat crime

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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