Gongjie refers to the derogatory act of exposing someone's private matters and attacking them.

Gongjie is a Chinese term, pronounced gōng jié, meaning to expose another person's private matters or shortcomings and attack them. The word carries a clearly derogatory tone and is mostly used to describe malicious accusations and slander against others out of personal resentment or a conflict of interests.

Literally, gong means to attack or accuse, while jie specifically means to expose another person's private matters and faults. Used together, the two characters emphasize not normal criticism and discussion, but targeting an individual and belittling them by exposing their shortcomings and private matters. In classical Chinese, the character jie had this meaning very early on, and it later gradually came to be used together with gong, a usage that continues to this day.

In modern written Chinese, gongjie often appears in contexts describing arguments and disputes. For example, it may criticize both sides in a dispute for not sticking to the matter at hand and instead attacking each other, or point out that someone uses attacks on others to achieve their own aims. Common collocations include xianghu gongjie (mutual attacks) and eyi gongjie (malicious attacks), and it is mostly used as a verb.

It should be noted that gongjie is not the same as criticism or denunciation. Criticism and denunciation can target matters or viewpoints, and the motive may be good or legitimate; gongjie targets the person themselves, is often mixed with personal resentment, and tends toward exposing private matters, giving it a stronger derogatory tone. Its synonyms include dihui (defame), zhongshang (slander) and feibang (libel), and it should be used with careful attention to context to avoid misuse.