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暗箱 (àn xiāng) — (noun) camera bellows; dark chamber (photography); (noun, figurative) black box; secretive, non-transparent operation (often in 暗箱操作)

Definition

Literally 'dark box' (the bellows/dark chamber of a camera), but in modern usage it almost always means a 'black box' — hidden, non-transparent process, usually paired with 操作 (暗箱操作).

noun
camera bellowsdark chamber (photography)(noun, figurative) black boxsecretivenon-transparent operation (often in 暗箱操作)

Examples

  • 暗箱。
    Zhè tái lǎo shì xiàng jī de àn xiāng yǐ jīng pò sǔn le.
    The bellows on this old camera are already damaged.
  • 暗箱。
    Zhè cì xuǎn jǔ bèi zhǐ zé yǒu àn xiāng cāo zuò.
    This election was accused of having backroom dealings.
  • ，暗箱。
    Zhèng fǔ yāo qiú gōng kāi zhāo biāo guò chéng, bì miǎn àn xiāng.
    The government requires the bidding process to be open, to avoid black-box operations.

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