Meaning:
“白” means “white,” and “手套” means “gloves.” The innocuous-sounding euphemism “white gloves” refers to a middleman or outfit that launders dirty or corrupt money under a seemingly legitimate front — dirty hands concealed by a pair of white gloves. The expression, coined in Taiwan, caught on fast on the Chinese mainland after rampant corruption was exposed at all levels of the bureaucracy around 2014. The white gloves help the families of corrupt officials make their fortunes and manage them. The payoff for the white gloves, who are usually smooth-talking businessmen, is the chance to amass a fortune for themselves by leveraging ties to powerful officials and gaining inside information.
Example:
A: 有传言说某女明星的富商老公是白手套。
Yǒu chuányán shuō mǒu nǚmíngxīng de fùshāng lǎogōng shì báishǒutào。
There’s a rumor that says the rich businessman husband of a film star acted as a middleman who helped launder corrupt money for officials.
B: 网上传言那么多，真假莫辨。
Wǎngshàng chuányán nàme duō, zhēnjiǎ mòbiàn。
There are a lot of rumors spreading online, and you just can’t tell which stories are true.
（First editor: Debra Li)