Gung-ho is a phrase borrowed from Chinese, frequently used in English as an adjective meaning enthusiastic. The original Mandarin phrase is gōnghé (工合), a standard abbreviation for gōngyè hézuòshè (工業合作社), meaning industrial worker's cooperative. (It is true that gōng means work and hé means together, but gōnghé by itself is not a standard Chinese term and serves only as an abbreviation for the longer phrase: an English-language analogy of a non-fully comprehensible abbreviated phrase would be "IndCoop".)
The phrase entered the American vernacular when it was picked up by then-Major Evans F. Carlson, USMC. According to Carlson, it was used as a slogan by the WW2-era Chinese Communist Party's 8th Route Army, led by Zhu De.
The phrase was originally coined by Rewi Alley, a New Zealander who went to China in the 1920s and whose contribution to the country was later recognised when he became modern China's first honorary citizen. The industrial workers co-operatives that were formed as part of the Gung-ho movement stemmed from Helen Foster (Peg) Snow, wife of American journalist Edgar Snow. Peg Snow suggested to Rewi Alley that China needed widespread industry through the establishment of a movement (Alley, 1987).
Carlson traveled with the 8th and with Rewi Alley. Later he used gung ho during his (unconventional) command of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. From there it spread throughout the Marine Corps (hence the association between the two) and into American society as a whole. It is now often used in the ironic sense of excessively enthusiastic, overzealous.
Alley, R. (1987) Rewi Alley - An Autobiography, New World Press.
Gung Ho is also the name of one of the most-reproduced GI Joe action figures. First released in 1983, there have been sixteen different versions. He is described as a stereotypical "jarhead" Marine soldier hailing from New Orleans and is usually packaged with heavy weapons (missile launchers and machine-guns).
