Chinese Idioms II

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.