They seek a new career in which they can give free rein to the desire to manage and dominate others.

My comments:

The rein refers to the long narrow band of leather that is fastened around a horse’s head in order to control it. Hence, to rein the horse in, you pull on the reins to make the horse go slowly.

Free rein? To have free rein is therefore to have complete freedom to do what you want to. To give “free rein to the desire” to manage and dominate others is to be able to express that desire freely. Apparently they themselves have long been dominated by others for long and are now tired of it.

Good for them that they’re making an effort to break free from the past.

Whether or not they can find such a career which satisfies their “desire to manage and dominate others”, however, is quite another matter altogether.

I mean, dominate others? Why do you want to do that?

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.