More Chinese idioms

If you have viewed my previous post, you will know that I promised to add more Chinese idioms so here goes. Unfortunately, I'm a bit busy and so can only do a one or two on each post, but at least that will give you time to absorb them.

走馬看花     zou3 ma3 kan4 hua1

This means a superficial look, a quick survey (literally to ride a horse to look at flowers).
A short note on pronunciation - if there are consecutive third tones, the first is usually pronounced in the second tone. You will notice I use tone numbers instead of the proper tone marks - this is because I haven't worked out how to input the marks.

見鬼怕黑       jian4 gui3 pa4 hei1

Basically, this means once bitten, twice shy (literally see a ghost then you're afraid of the dark)

Stay tuned for the next post.

Aspects of the Chinese language

Anyone wanting to learn to speak Chinese will, sooner or later, come across Chinese idioms. These are usually four character phrases, sometimes derived from historical events, that are essential for anyone studying the Chinese language to learn. They are used in newspapers, magazines, novels and in speech.

From time to time I plan to post Chinese idioms here so that those interested in learning to read Chinese or just have an interest in Chinese characters can get a feel for the Chinese language. I prefer to use traditional characters and have included the pinyin at the side

魂不附體　　hun4 bu2 fu4 ti3

This one is perhaps easy to guess if you know the individual characters. It means to be "scared out of one's wits" (literally: the soul is not attached to the body)

莫逆之交           mo4 ni4 zhi1 jiao1

This one means "bosom buddies" or "great friends" (literally: inseparable friend)

There will be more idioms to follow. Watch this space.

The Chinese Commercial Code

Have you ever wondered how the Chinese used to send telegrams?

The answer is very simple - they used a numeric code known as the Chinese Commercial Code (CCC) or the Chinese Telegraphic Code. Basically, each character was assigned a four-digit number. To send a telegram all anyone had to do was to look up the code number for each character and that was transmitted. To put the message back into Chinese the recipient merely had to check what characters corresponded to the numbers.

Modern communications have little need for the codes but many countries still expect the code to be used for names in visa and immigration applications to ensure the correct identification of individuals.

The Story of the Chinese Queue

The story of the Chinese queue

Rising out of China’s northeast (around present-day Heilongjiang Province), the Manchus were an alliance of tribes that seized power in Beijing following the demise of the Mingdynasty in the mid-17^th century. They established their own dynasty, the Manchu (also called the Qing), which was to last around 250 years until 1911 when imperial China collapsed and the country fell into civil war. But, although nowadays they are part of modern China and are considered to be Chinese, at the time of their rule they were regarded as hated foreign invaders by the Han majority.

Manchu men traditionally wore their hair in a long pigtail known in the West as a queue. They shaved their head cleanly except for a portion towards the back from which the hair was allowed to grow without cutting. It was then braided into a long queue that was left to hang down the back. Only at times of mourning were they permitted to forgo the necessary regular shaving of the bald part. Men of the defeated Han race, which by around 1650 had been almost totally subjugated, were also required by the Manchus to wear their hair in this fashion.

In the early days, only former soldiers and officials of the old Ming regime had to comply; the death penalty was imposed on those who refused. Some defiantly shaved their whole head and became monks in the sanctuary of Buddhist monasteries while others rose up in rebellion. Once the new regime had become firmly established, the law was applied to all Han men.

The new law, however, was strongly opposed. Chinese culture had long been dominated by Confucian thought, central to which was a strong belief in filial piety and respect for ancestors. Everything you were or owned was a gift from your ancestors. This included your body. Shaving the head, therefore, was considered to be disrespectful since it meant the disposal of a gift from your forbears. Therefore it had to be resisted.

For the Manchus, on the other hand, forcing Han men to wear their hair in a queue was a demonstration of their authority and a mark of subjugation. It was also regarded as a mark of loyalty. A man without a queue was viewed as disloyal to the regime and would be treated as a traitor. Almost invariably, this meant the death penalty so that even after the regime was swept away in the 1911 revolution, many men retained their queues just in case it returned.

The stereotypical image of the pigtailed Chinese of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is an accurate reflection of how Chinese men looked at the time but, more significantly, it is a symbol of one nation’s domination by another.

(Slightly abbreviated from my article on Infobarrel)

Gift giving

Many Chinese are quite superstitious and can be sensitive about what gifts they are given. Some gifts have unpleasant connotations that can cause offence.

A few gifts to avoid giving are:

Knives and cutting utensils - these imply that a relationship might be severed.

Four of anything or anything containing the number four - in some Chinese dialects the word for four rhymes with the word for death and is therefore considered to be extremely unlucky. (The number eight, however, rhymes with to get rich and is welcome.)

·         Textbooks -  textbook rhymes with the word meaning to lose. Any Chinese would regard the gift as omen of bad luck.

·          Flowers – flowers, especially white ones, are closely associated with death and funerals.

·         Clocks - the Chinese for "giving a clock" sounds like the expression for attending a funeral.

·         Handkerchiefs - because of their association with wiping away perspiration and tears, handkerchiefs suggest disappointment and grief.

·         Shoes - the Cantonese do not like to receive shoes as a gift as their word for shoes sounds like a sigh.

Avoid these gift ideas and you should be able to avoid offending your Chinese friends. To be safe, you can always give your Chinese friends fruit or biscuits.