Few friends seemed to enjoy my blog yesterday on Chinese idioms, like all writers we are inspired by our audiences. Here are two more. I hope my perspective brings you some amusement and insight, again I'm not speaking as an expert in Chinese language and culture but as an explorer in languages and a story teller.
"Feng Hua Xue Yue"(風花雪月）, literally are four characters in Chinese which mean "Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon" in English. These four words are probably the most frequently-used words in Chinese poetry, to quote just a few:
When intertwined branches bloom
the jealous wind and rain strip away their flowers.." - Chu Shu-Chen, Falling Flowers
"The plum without the snow isn't very special
and snow without a poem is simply commonplace..." - Lu Mei-P'o, The Snow and the Plum II
"For a winter-night guest tea serves as wine
boiling on a wicker stove as the coal turn red
outside the window is the same old moon
but with plum blossoms now it's different." - Tu Lei, Winter Night
Note: These poems are quoted from The Poems of the Masters translated by Red Pine. (Also known as Bill Porter, who was instrumental to our decision in moving to the woods near Port Townsend.)
Now you probably get an inkling that "feng hua xue yue" means something poetic in Chinese and you are right. "Feng Hua Xue Yue" is used to describe a kind of romantic and poetic way of life. For instance, my Chinese friends who visited me would say after living with us for a few days : "You are living the feng-hua-xue-yue-style of life." There was always envy in their voice but the tag line that followed told another story, "I don't think I'm ready to give up and live like this yet!" At the beginning I often felt I somehow had to defend my "living like this", but now I just say, "It is not for everybody and we walk our own paths." This reminds me when a friend of mine decided to become a Buddhist nun. All her friends and family were trying to persuade her not to "give up" on her life. She was very relieved by my congratulation on her decision and said, "You know most people can only see what I have got to loose, not what I have to gain."
"Chai, Mi, You, Yan"（柴米油鹽）, literally mean Firewood, Rice, Oil, Salt, in Chinese it is used to describe the fundamentals and the mundane aspects of living. The words and the imagery they provoke are almost the total opposite of "Feng Hua Xue Yue." I admit I haven't quite figured out this part of life. I can find poetry in "chopping wood and carrying water" as long as I don't have to do it from Nine to Five.
To be continued.
February 17, 2011
February 15, 2011
Chinese Idioms
I posted on Facebook few days ago about enjoying a private lesson with a student - "We drank tea, played with the calligraphy brush and talked about the sky (chat in Chinese). A friend really liked the phrase "talking about the sky" and asked me for more examples in Chinese. Here are a couple to start with; I've been wanting to write about them for awhile, so thank you, Kristine, for giving me an incentive. But be forewarned, these two I'm writing today are not poetic or even clever, what I'm hoping to convey is the strong emotional hold that language has on us, and hopefully by being aware of its power we use it more thoughtfully or reinvent it so it liberates instead of imprisons us.
1. "Bu Dong, Bu Xi"（不東不西）, Not East, Not West literally, is used to describe someone who is confused about his/her cultural identity. When I was in college I started to listen to rock 'n roll and hanged out with "foreigners". In the 70s Taiwan was still fairly conservative and because of martial law there weren't many foreign private companies or civilians. The foreigners the Taiwanese saw were mostly military personnel, either based in Taiwan or visiting for R&R. So Chinese women to be seen with a foreigner often was regarded and treated as a prostitute without any discrimination. (It didn't matter I was wearing a T-shirt, jeans and flip flops.) When I went out with foreign exchanged students from my college, I got many dirty looks, rude remarks and a few near-missed spits, but what irked me the most was the condescending "bu dong, bu xi". I still have issues with the phrase, maybe I'm still confused about my cultural identity! I think this phrase sounds especially vicious to me because it reflects a cultural chauvinism which I've fought against all my life. Taiwan has changed a lot and I didn't hear this phrase once during my recent visits, in fact, Taiwan today is not only embracing foreign and Han cultures but also Taiwanese, Hakka and Aboriginal cultures.
2. "Le Ji Sheng Bei"（樂極生悲）, Happiness Extreme Born Sorrow literally, the closest translation I came up with is "Curb your enthusiasm!". I remember growing up when my sisters and I were laughing and giggling, my father always "reminded" us, "Be Careful, Le Ji Sheng Bei". My father was over- protective, like majority Chinese parents, but instead of encouraging kids to freely expressed their happiness, we learned that it was wrong to be "too happy" - something bad is going to happen if you are too happy. Naturally this idiom can be interpreted and used differently - I do believe happiness and sorrow are two sides of the coin, or the white and black keys of a piano, as a friend quoted recently on Facebook. The Ying and Yang of emotions, the cycles of life. How about saying "Bei Ji Sheng Le" when someone is going through painful losses - Extreme sorrow gives birth to happiness!
To be continued.
1. "Bu Dong, Bu Xi"（不東不西）, Not East, Not West literally, is used to describe someone who is confused about his/her cultural identity. When I was in college I started to listen to rock 'n roll and hanged out with "foreigners". In the 70s Taiwan was still fairly conservative and because of martial law there weren't many foreign private companies or civilians. The foreigners the Taiwanese saw were mostly military personnel, either based in Taiwan or visiting for R&R. So Chinese women to be seen with a foreigner often was regarded and treated as a prostitute without any discrimination. (It didn't matter I was wearing a T-shirt, jeans and flip flops.) When I went out with foreign exchanged students from my college, I got many dirty looks, rude remarks and a few near-missed spits, but what irked me the most was the condescending "bu dong, bu xi". I still have issues with the phrase, maybe I'm still confused about my cultural identity! I think this phrase sounds especially vicious to me because it reflects a cultural chauvinism which I've fought against all my life. Taiwan has changed a lot and I didn't hear this phrase once during my recent visits, in fact, Taiwan today is not only embracing foreign and Han cultures but also Taiwanese, Hakka and Aboriginal cultures.
2. "Le Ji Sheng Bei"（樂極生悲）, Happiness Extreme Born Sorrow literally, the closest translation I came up with is "Curb your enthusiasm!". I remember growing up when my sisters and I were laughing and giggling, my father always "reminded" us, "Be Careful, Le Ji Sheng Bei". My father was over- protective, like majority Chinese parents, but instead of encouraging kids to freely expressed their happiness, we learned that it was wrong to be "too happy" - something bad is going to happen if you are too happy. Naturally this idiom can be interpreted and used differently - I do believe happiness and sorrow are two sides of the coin, or the white and black keys of a piano, as a friend quoted recently on Facebook. The Ying and Yang of emotions, the cycles of life. How about saying "Bei Ji Sheng Le" when someone is going through painful losses - Extreme sorrow gives birth to happiness!
To be continued.
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