翹辮子 (Euphemism)

The way people call death more or less reflects their notion about it.

These days the most prevalent euphemism for death in Taiwan would be 往生(wang3 sheng), I think. Literally it means “toward life,” “heading for birth.” The term is strongly Buddhism-tinged and reveals Buddhist belief of reincarnation, 輪迴(lun2 hui2).

In Buddhistic world, life is an endless circle. When people die, their souls abandon their body, the flesh and bone, or what they call (臭)皮囊(chou4 pi2 nang2)-- a (stinky) bag of skin, just like they move out of a house. They don’t leave for good; they’ll come back some day in another (臭)皮囊. Their souls wait for the right time to get into a fetus胎(tai), and the process is called 投胎(tou2 tai).

Life thus starts all over again. You begin with a newborn and go on with the process of 生(sheng)、老(lao3)、病(bing4)、死(si3), birth, aging, illness, death. Death isn’t the end. It is only one point in the circle which is followed by生, birth. So here comes the term 往生. It turns death, which seems to be an ending, into a beginning.

The circulation of life does not limit to human forms. You might come back as an animal, depending on what you did in your previous life. Basically Buddhists regards the process of reincarnation as something bitter, something they’d like to avoid. According to them, the mundane world is a sea of bitterness, 苦海(ku3 hai3). The purpose for them to practice Buddhism is to get off from the reincarnation and go to paradise, which is located in the west, which they call西方極樂世界(xi fang ji2 le4 shi4 jie4). 西方 is the west. 極樂 means extremely happy. 世界, world.

That’s why sometimes we’ll use the term 駕鶴西歸(jia4 he4 xi gui) to mean death. 駕means to ride. 鶴 is a crane, 西歸 , return to the west. You ride a crane returning to the west.

Another common term for death is 過世(guo4 shi4), literally meaning to pass the world, which is similar to “pass away” in English. And the term升天(sheng tian), going up to the celestial world, or成仙(cheng xian), 做仙(zuo4 xian), turning to a celestial being, is similar to “go to heaven” in English.

There’s an old Taiwanese euphemism of death, 到蘇州賣鴨蛋(dao3 su zho mai4 ya dan4), go to Su-zho to sell duck eggs. Why Su-zho? It is said the original slang was 土丘(tu3 qiu), the tomb, which sounds like Su-zho in Southern Fujian dialect, or Taiwanese. Why duck eggs? According to Wikipedia, it has something to do with certain funeral rituals. And in Cantonese, it’s “selling salted duck eggs.” 賣鹹鴨蛋(mai4 xian2 ya dan4)

The Chinese people, men or women, wore plaits辮子(bian4 zi3) more than a century ago. When they were alive, their plaits drooped behind them. But when someone kicked the bucket and was put into the coffin, his plait would be put erect. Thus comes the term翹辮子  

Last but not least, my dear friends. Next time when you’re seeing someone off who’s going towards the west, do not say to him, “Wish you 一路歸西(yi2 lu4 gui xi).” When you mean “bon voyage west-bound,” to Chinese it means翹辮子!

翹辮子=翘辫子

輪迴=轮回

西方極樂世界=西方极乐世界

駕鶴西歸=驾鹤西归

過世=过世

到蘇州賣鴨蛋=到苏州卖鸭蛋

賣鹹鴨蛋=卖咸鸭蛋