麻雀雖小，五臟俱全 (slang)

I came across the program “Fun Taiwan” as I was channel surfing while having my lunch, where the host Janet and a Russian guest were doing the “tree hugging” in some mountain of Taitung. Such an act, according to the guest, is believed by the Russians to be able to refresh people.

On the world map, Taiwan is just a tiny spot that some people are not even aware of its existence. I’ve been told several times how Taiwanese sometimes have to explain to the locals that they are not from Thailand, but Taiwan when they are abroad.

Tiny as it is, there are some facts about Taiwan that are certainly not “petit.” It’s characterized by its biological diversity 生物多樣性(sheng wu4 duo yang4 xing4). According to Taiwan’s National Science Council,   Taiwan has 2.5 % of land species though it only takes 0.025 % of the earth’s land area, averagely 100 times higher than any other nations. And the marine biological species are as high as 400 times, which means we have 10% of the world’s marine species. A great number of those species, for example, 71% of the mammals, 31% of the amphibious animals and 25% of the plants are exclusive to Taiwan.

We have a slang for this: 麻雀雖小，五臟俱全(ma2 que4 sui xiao3, wu3 zang4 ju4 quan2), literally meaning “Although a sparrow is small, it has every gut it should have. 麻雀 means sparrow; 五臟means five guts, i.e. human guts. If you have a very small apartment, for example, but your tiny apartment has everything a house has, such as a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, . . . etc, we can use the slang to describe it—麻雀雖小，五臟俱全.

Imagine how amazing it is for a botanist to research in Taiwan. Located in tropical and sub-tropical area, Taiwan has botanical species ranging from torrid zone, temperate zone to frigid zone due to its altitude. He doesn’t have to fly among nations to see such a variety of plants. Not to mention those which are exclusive only to Taiwan.  

麻雀雖小，五臟俱全=麻雀虽小，五脏俱全 

生物多樣性=生物多样性

Cursive trilogy 行草三部曲 (chop suey)

When I was in primary school, I used to go to a teacher’s dorm located at a corner on campus to learn Chinese calligraphy on Saturday afternoon. In an old bungalow, with a few dozens of other kids I spent the afternoon struggling with my brush pen and a pool of ink trying to copy those prestigious calligraphers’ characters without tainting the paper or myself.

Unlike today when everyone’s tapping on the keyboard, a man’s handwriting was considered very important back then. For one thing, it is annoying if you have to bother yourself to recognize someone’s scribble, which is not only a waste of time but an “abuse” to your eyes as well as your mind. Not to mention the general idea that a person’s handwriting manifests what he is, 字如其人(zi4 ru2 qi2 ren2). Those who have beautiful handwriting will certainly leave a good impression. A love letter with nice handwriting is more likely to “hit the target.” A man with neat handwriting is more likely to get promoted. It helps not only in your personal relationship but your career.

And it’s not only about developing a beautiful handwriting. It’s also about cultivating your morality, balance your temperament and enhance your heath. When writing with a brush pen, you have to focus your will on the tip of the pen and pace your breath, or qi. To finish the strokes, you move not only the pen, but your muscles, your qi and your will.

This is what I have heard from the teacher, which I could not understand as a kid. But at least I’m sure it’s a good way to hone your patience. From making the ink out of water, handle the brush pen to keeping a clean script as well as a clean shirt without any stains,(traditionally we write from right to left) you got to be cautious and patient. That’s one of the reasons why for thousands of years our teachers and parents have made our kids do this, aside from enjoying the beauty of it in itself.

In 2001, 林懷民(lin2 huai2 min2), the founder of Taiwan’s modern dance group “Cloud Gate,” presented the first episode of his “Cursive Trilogy,” “Cursive;” in 2003, “Cursive II;” in 2005, “Wild Cursive.” With the white curtain containing Chinese characters as the background, the dancers in either black or white use their bodies to “write” in the air. It’s a combination of Chinese calligraphy, Tai-ji 太極(tai4 ji2) and Chinese boxing 拳術(quan2 shu4).

According to Lin, he was inspired by Chinese calligraphy to choreograph this trilogy, but he did not mean to show the beauty of the Chinese calligraphy.  “It’s only an ‘excuse’ to dance.”

    http://anntw.com/awakening/news_center/show.php?itemid=6680

     yap112.wordpress.com

For a starter of Chinese calligraphy, the teacher often begins with the word 永(yong3), which means forever. The reason is that the word includes eight common strokes of Chinese calligraphy, which is called “Eight Principles of Yong.” 永字八法(yong3 zi4 ba fa3) That’s why Lin uses the word as part of the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guPhGS4__iQ&feature=fvwrel

In Chinese calligraphy, the only colors are black and white, which I think is an important element for its beauty. The striking impact on the eyes from the contrast and proportioned balance of the colors is what you cannot neglect.

You can watch two trailers of this trilogy at the following website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpBfJIg5RM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNkWbTiRVjw

林懷民=林怀民

太極=太极

拳術=拳术

肥水不落外人田 (slang)

Recently I read an article written by Cay Marchal, a German who has been staying in Taipei since 2002 dedicated to research on the Chinese philosophy. He wrote about how his Taiwanese friend asked him why he hadn’t asked around to see if any of his friends was working at a travel agency and could help him get a plane ticket before he went to a travel agency directly. “After all, 肥水不落外人田(fei2 shui3 bu2 luo4 wai4 ren2 tian2),” said his friend.

Marchal describes how himself, a westerner, unlike the oriental way, has a different way of seeing so-called “social connection” 人際關係(ren2 ji4 guan xi4). He quotes what Kipling wrote in The Ballad of East and West, “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”

肥水means fertile water. A farmer will lead fertile water to his own farm instead of others’. This is the meaning of this slang. Self-profiting and selfishness is part of human nature. When handling stuff like getting a plane ticket, we do tend to go to our relatives or friends first. Besides the concept of肥水不落外人田, another motive is the potential discount.

The danger of this concept is that it could lead to nepotism, 裙帶關係(qun2 dai4 guan xi4)，literally means a connection on skirt’s string, which I have talked about in my previous writing Clothes make the man. Until 100 years ago when the Republic of China was founded and the monarchy was over, the nation had always been owned by a family. This family garnered the major precious of the whole nation--肥水不落外人田

It’s hard to totally change this concept of thousands of years with only a century. That’s why we keep making new laws to prevent this concept from hindering the progress of democracy. On the other hand, we’re glad to see more and more people are sharing their 肥水with others whose farms are not so fertile. Such an act of 雨露均霑(yu3 lu4 jun zhan),  sharing the rain and dew, i.e. the profit with people, is what we love to see.

裙帶關係=裙带关系

雨露均霑=雨露均沾

A headless fly (slang)

Recently I watched a show on TV where several fashion stylists were competing for the title of best stylist. They had to do some designs for an actor within limited time. One of the stylists was so anxious that she literally ran around the place attempting to finish her design. After the contest she repeated several times calling herself a “headless chicken.”

Coincidentally we have a similar expression when someone is doing something very quickly without thinking carefully and doing it in

an unorganized way. Instead of a chicken, we use a fly. We’ll say “He’s acting like a headless fly.” 無頭蒼蠅 (wu2 tou2 cang ying2)

Not only a fly can be headless, a case can be “headless.” When something seems to be mysterious and hard to be figured out or solved, we’ll call it a無頭公案(wu2 tou2 gong ai4), “a headless case.” For example, the “Two Bullets Incident” on the afternoon before Taiwan’s 2004 presidential election is probably one of the biggest contemporary 無頭公案that Taiwanese are yearning to dig in.

It is called headless because when we try to figure out something by reorganizing it, we’ll say we’re trying to 理出頭緒(li3 chu tou2 xu4)， finding out the head of a strand of thread. It’s similar with English. When you don’t understand someone’s talk, you might say “I can’t make head or tail of it.” A case that you can’t figure out thus becomes “headless.”

During the late 20^th Century, a type of humor originating from Hong Kong movies is called無厘頭(wu2 li2 tou2) or in Cantonese dialect Mo Lei tau. According to Wikipedia, “typical constituents of this humor include nonsensical parodies, juxtaposition of contrasts, sudden surprises in spoken dialogue and action and improbable and deliberate anachronisms.”

The slang “acting like a headless chicken” also reminds me of an old ritual in Taiwan that is rarely practiced today.-- 斬雞頭(zhan3 ji tou2), literally meaning to chop off the head of a chicken.

Such a ritual was often seen during the election campaign two or three decades ago. When a candidate was accused of corruption or flaws alike, he might go to the temple with a cock. He burned a incense, knelt down before the shrine, reading out loud his oath on a yellow paper. Then he took a knife and chopped off the head of the cock on a cutting board, letting the blood of the cock sprinkle on the yellow paper. Then the paper was burned and the ritual was done.

These days people tend to resort to judicial procedure instead of斬雞頭. Otherwise we’ll have lots of “headless chickens” these days with the presidential campaign heating up.

頭蒼蠅=无头苍蝇

理出頭緒=理出头绪

無厘頭=无厘头

斬雞頭=斩鸡头