十年河東，十年河西 (Proverb)

                                     

Previously I wrote an article with the title 債多不愁(zhai4 duo bu4 chou2) in May when the issue of raising America’s debt ceiling was reported on the paper. Now as it has been settled, it seems to have turned out that the whole world is worried about it. At least the financial markets have shown so.

Later China, as one of its big creditors, noted that the U.S. should quit its “addiction to borrowing.” 舉債成癮(ju3 zhai4 cheng2 yin3) Hearing this remark and remembering what I have read the other day that Goldman Sachs expects China's GDP to top America's by 2027. I thought to myself, “it really corresponds to what we often say, 十年河東，十年河西(shi2 nian2 he2 dong, shi2 nian2 he2 xi).

Twenty years ago when some Taiwanese businessmen went to China to invest, they received grand and wholehearted welcome. Chinese people embraced those investors, who created jobs and brought prosperity. These days Taiwan’s tourist business have opened their arms to the Chinese tourists, hoping their amazing consuming ability will benefit them.

This is what we call十年河東，十年河西. Here the 河, river, refers to the Yellow River, 黃河(huang2 he2), which is notorious for its shifting of path. Every time when a flood occurs and the Yellow River has a major change of its path, those who originally live on the west of the river might turn out to living on the east of it. Such a situation is extended to refer to a change of a person’s or a country’s conditions. Twenty years ago, could a businessman from Taipei have predicted how “poor” he will feel himself to be in Shanghai twenty years later?

Another similar expression is 風水輪流轉(feng shui3 lun2 lie2 zhuan3), The table has turned. I think many of you have heard of the term Feng shui風水, which literally means wind and water. Some people believe it is related to your luck. 輪流is taking turns. 轉means to turn or spin.

I’m no expert in economics or finance. But I’ve noticed Chinese or Taiwanese, compared with Americans or Westerners, are more in the habit of saving money for a rainy day. Some people say perhaps it has to do with our history. For thousands of years we’ve learned that there could be wars or natural disasters anytime. Plus the fact that our social welfare system has not been so advanced as the western countries. We’ve been taught to 量入為出(liang4 ru4 wei2 chu), to keep both ends meet, since we were young. Spend only 7 or 8 dollars if you make 10.

I read a report that in 2008, Taiwan had the top saving rate for three consecutive years. I think that’s because most of Taiwanese have the notion of 未雨綢繆(wei4 yu3 chou2 mou2). The meaning of the idiom refers to a kind of bird that will fix its nest before it starts to rain.

Some people, unfortunately, can’t make their both ends meet. They have to borrow to live. They are spending their “future” money. In that case, we’ll say they are 寅食卯糧(yin2 shi2 mao3 liang2). 寅、卯are two of the twelve Earthly Branches, 地支(di4 zhi), which is a Chinese system of reckoning time. 寅is followed by卯. If you’re eating 卯year’s food in the year of寅, you’re eating the food of your future.

I have no intention to comment on any political or economic conditions of any country, which is way beyond my knowledge. But as a person, if he has to keep borrowing to pay for his old debts, that would be what we call飲鴆止渴(yin3 zhen zhi3 ke3), drinking poison to quench your thirst. Perhaps the only solution will be 開源(kai yuan2), to find new ways to earn money, and 節流(jie2 liu2), to save money.

十年河東，十年河西=十年河东，十年河西

債多不愁=债多不愁

風水輪流轉=风水轮流转

量入為出=量入为出

未雨綢繆=未雨绸缪

寅食卯糧=寅食卯粮

飲鴆止渴=饮鸩止渴

開源節流=开源节流

Seven things after you open the door (II) (proverb)

鹽 Salt:  When an elder wants to boasts to a yougster about his rich experiences in life, he may say 我吃的鹽比你吃的飯還多(wuo3 chi de yan2 bi3 ni3 chi de fan4 duo), “The salt I’ve eaten is more than the rice you’ve eaten.” He’s implying that you’d better listen to him, who has lived much longer and accordingly has much more experiences.

Salt is the origin of the taste 鹹(xian2), salty. In Taiwan, 鹹濕片(xian2 shi pian4) has become a euphemism for porn film. 濕means wet. My guess is that sex involves a lot of sweat and body fluids. That’s why we call it that way.

醬 Sauce:  Here the sauce refers mainly to soybean sauce醬油(jiang4 you2).  In Chinese cuisine, 滷(lu3), braising food with soybean sauce and water, is a way of cooking frequently applied. 滷肉飯, braised pork rice, for example, is everyday life food that you can see it everywhere in Taiwan.

In Taiwanese, we have often heard a Xiehouyu that goes as黑柑仔裝醬油 (in south Min dialect), containing soybean sauce with a black bottle.

What happens when you take a black bottle as the container of the soybean sauce? You never knew that your mediocre-looking, quiet next-door neighbor was a writer until one day you learned from the news that he had won the Nobel Prize. Under such situation, you will want to use this Xiehouyu. You cannot tell what’s inside the black bottle without opening it. You never really know a man only by his appearance. So the latter part of this Xiehouyu would be –看不出(in south Min dialect), can’t tell.

醋 Vinegar: There is a well-know anecdote in the Chinese history related to vinegar. It is said that房玄齡Fang Xuanling (579–648), one of the most celebrated chancellors of the Tang Dynasty, had a jealous wife. Once Emperor Taizong would like to bestow two beauties upon Fang as his concubines. The jealous wife refused to let the two women in. Emperor Taizong summoned the wife and gave her two choices. She was asked either to accept the two women or drink a cup of poisonous wine. Without hesitation the wife drank up the cup of “poisonous wine,” which was later proved to be vinegar.

Powerful as Emperor Taizong was, he had to yield to this woman’s strong will and withdrew his order. From this anecdote we get the term 吃醋(chi cu4), literally meaning “eating vinegar” to refer to the feeling of jealousy. If you have a jealousy girlfriend, you may say, my girlfriend loves to “eat vinegar.” 我的女朋友很愛吃醋 (wu3 de nu3 peng2 you3 hen3 ai4 chi cu4)

I once read a report on a couple who have been married for over eighty years. Their children described the old lady as 醋罈子(cu4 tan2 zi3), a jar for vinegar, because she got jealous even when her husband talked to their care-giver.

So you may also call your jealousy girlfriend醋罈子. And when you irritate her by talking to another girl, you may say you’ve accidentally “turned over a vinegar jar” 打翻了醋罈子(da3 fan le cu4 tan2 zi3)

茶 Tea:  Suppose you are thirsty and eager for a cup of tea. You walk around for a tea house and finally find one. Don’t you ever say “I came here to look for tea,” for “looking for tea” 找茶(zhao4 cha2), pronounces exactly the same as 找碴, finding faults. It would be provoking to say so.

In Hongkong, Yum cha 飲茶(yin3 cha2), drinking tea, is a very important part of their life. According to Wikipedia, tea house is called “Dim Sum House” by westerners, which means “snacks house.” Chinese has a long history of drinking tea, which has developed into an art of 茶道(cha2 dao4), Way of tea, and got flourished in Japan.

The seven things represent the basic needs for a common daily life. Yet for different classes of people, there are different levels. Take the last item tea, for example. It could be nothing more than a drink that’s to quench your thirst, or a high-end art that’s so complex (and not affordable to everyone) as茶道. To what degree do you want to “toil” yourself depends on how you define the seven things.

我吃的鹽比你吃的飯還多=我吃的盐比你吃的饭还多

鹹濕片=咸湿片

醬油=酱油

滷肉飯=卤肉饭

黑柑仔裝醬油=黑柑仔装酱油

房玄齡=房玄龄

我的女朋友很愛吃醋=我的女朋友很爱吃醋

醋罈子=醋坛子

打翻了醋罈子=打翻了醋坛子

飲茶=饮茶

Seven things after you open the door (I) (proverb)

What are the seven things after you open the door and start the day? For the ancient Chinese, it would be 柴(chai2)、米(mi3)、油(you2)、鹽yan2)、醬(jiang4)、醋(cu4)、茶(cha2);namely, firewood, rice, oil, salt, bean sauce, vinegar and tea. We call them 開門七件事(kai men2 qi jian4 shi4),the seven things after you open the door and start the day.

These seven things were daily life necessities. Though trivial, they were what the general populaces toiled themselves around for. Though the first item has been replaced in the modern society, the seven are combined together to mean our necessities in life.

柴 firewood: Though mostly it has been replaced by gas oven today, it is still in frequent use in our daily language. For example, when referring to those who are suffering from a famine in Samaria, we will use the term骨瘦如柴(gu3 shou4 ru2 chai2),as thin as a piece of firewood, to describe them.

When a man and a woman, both horny, hit it off, we’ll say they are like 乾柴烈火(gan chai2 lie4 huo3),dry firewood encountering raging flames. To the arbitrary and rude people who are trying to force others, we have a term橫柴入灶(heng2 chai2 ru4 zao4). 橫柴means to pose a firewood across; 入灶 , to put the firewood into a stove. When putting a piece of firewood into the oven, you should send one end after the other, instead of putting it across. If you try in the latter way, you are either arbitrary or too inflexible to change to cope with the changing situation.


米 rice : Generally people in the south of Yellow River take rice as their staple food (while the north, noodles.) To those who idle their lives away, contributing nothing to the society, we’ll scorn them as 米蟲(mi3 chong2), a rice bug, which would be found in the rice if it is not carefully stored. Rice turns to 飯( fan4) when cooked as in 吃飯 (chi fan4), having a meal. To those who are good at nothing but eating, we’ll call them 飯桶(fan4 tong3), a cooked rice bucket, which carries the same scorn as 米蟲.


These days to “debt” or not to “debt” has been the question for the Obama government. Those who want to raise the debt ceiling might say it’s hard for a government to do what they should do without enough money. It’s like a housewife, however skillful in cooking, can’t serve her family a good meal without rice. As said in Mandarin, 巧婦難為無米之炊(chao3 fu4 nan2 wei2  wu2 mi3 zhi chui). 巧婦, a skillful housewife, 難為 hard to achieve, 無米之炊, cooking without rice.


油 Oil: This indispensable element in cooking is often used as a connotation for under-the-table profits. The head of the purchase unit in a big enterprise, for example, is often said to be a job with “a lot of oil and water.” 油水很多(you2 shui3 hen3 duo) So when you’re trying to grab illegal profits or taking advantage of others, we’ll say you’re 揩油 (kai3 you2 or ka you2).


When someone is smooth-tongued and speak glibly, we’ll call him油腔滑調(you2 qiang hua2 diao4), not in a favorable way. 油滑 means oily and slippery; 腔調, tone. In 金瓶梅 (Jing ping2 Mei2), which I talked a little bit about in April, 西門慶(xi men2 qing4) likes to call his concubine 小油嘴(xiao3 you2 zui3), little oily mouth when she is saying something witty or tricky.


When do you need to apply oil to your soles? It must be when you need to run away from an undesirable situation, like running into your x that had an ugly breakup with you, or, one of your debtees. In such cases, you need to腳底抹油(jiao3 di3 mo3 you2) and take off.


(TO BE CONTIUNED)


柴、米、油、鹽、醬、醋、茶=柴、米、油、盐、酱、醋、茶
開門七件事=开门七件事
乾柴烈火=干柴烈火
米蟲=米虫
吃飯=吃饭
巧婦難為無米之炊=巧妇难为无米之炊
油腔滑調=油腔滑调
西門慶=西门庆
腳=脚

君子報仇，十年不晚 (Proverb)

When President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden had been slain by US forces and that justice had been done just a few months ahead of the tenth anniversary of the 911 attack, I remembered the Chinese saying 君子報仇，十年不晚 (jun zi3 bao4 chou2, shi2 nian2 bu4 wan3)

君子is a virtuous man. 報仇, to revenge, 十年ten years, 不晚not too late. It’s never too late for a virtuous man to take revenge even if it takes ten years. Sometimes people will say another version of it, three years, 三年(san nian2), but the idea is the same.

There are several ways to see this proverb. With a 國仇家恨(guo2 chou2 jia hen4), a feud that has to do with the existence of the whole nation or family, a virtuous man will keep it in mind as his mission and wait for the right time to get even. He won’t act reckless. In the 911 attack case, thousands of innocent civilians, including children and women, were murdered, plus the destroy of the Twin Tower, it’s certainly a國仇家恨. Killing the mastermind behind the attack at this point perfectly corresponds to the proverb.

On the other hand, it’s inevitable that we get irritated when done wrong by others in our daily life. At that moment we just want to beat up those wrong-doers to let off some steam. The problem is, is it worth it? Do we have to get into troubles and punish ourselves for some scum? On second thought, we remember the proverb and say to ourselves, I’ll wait and see. Ten years later if I’m still mad, I’ll take action. Usually ten days, even ten hours is enough for you to get over it. Or sometimes you are too weak or too chicken to fight the bully, you say this just as a bluff.

報仇 or復仇(fu4 chou2) is one of the most important themes in Chinese Wu-Xia novel武俠小說(wu3 xia2 xiao3 shuo). The protagonist, whose father has been murdered by some evil rascal, strives all his life in search of  a kungfu classic or a master as his mentor and strenuously hones his kungfu skills, so that he could revenge on his father’s death by killing the evil rascal. Whatever metaphor you think it is, in the Wu-xia world, where right and wrong are so distinguished and justice is always done, it is a relief and comfort for us to see the justice done. 正義伸張(zheng4 yi4 shen zhang), which is not always the case in the real world. Perhaps that’s why sometimes we have to say to ourselves君子報仇，十年不晚. We’ll have to wait patiently.

It is reported that Osama Bin Laden had been trained and learned his military skills in the US. If it’s true, it corresponds to a Taiwanese proverb,  with your own hand you feed a rat that later bites your bag. 飼老鼠咬布袋(qi niao qi4 ga bou4 dei) (in Taiwanese)

Thrilled and exhilarated as Americans are, they have to keep alert for the possible action the terrorists might take in the aftermath of Osama Bin Laden’s death, which I really don’t want to see. As what we say 冤冤相報何時了(yuan yuan xiang bao4 he2 shi2 liao3). 冤冤相報, the circle of revenge, 何時, when, 了, end. When will the vicious circle end if you keep revenging on each other? Prayers alone perhaps is never enough. To cope with the terrorism, you got to learn some “kungfu” so as to protect yourself.

君子報仇，十年不晚=君子报仇，十年不晚

國仇家恨=国仇家恨

復仇=复仇

武俠小說=武侠小说

正義伸張=正义伸张

飼老鼠咬布袋=饲老鼠咬布袋 

冤冤相報何時了=冤冤相报何时了

China’s moon, the tiger moms & 揠苗助長 (Proverb)

In English we have a proverb, “The grass on the other side of the fence is greener.” As I was growing up, I kept hearing the proverb, 外國的月亮比較圓(wai4 guo2 de yue4 liang4 bi3 jiao4 yan2), literally meaning “The moon in a foreign country is rounder,” sometimes as a sarcasm to the prevailing notion that how a foreign country, mostly referring to the U. S., beats us in many ways.

However, as what we say, 風水輪流轉(feng shui3 lun3 liu2 zhuan3),  the table has been turned. Things seem to have changed. These days I notice that some Americans have started to turn their heads towards the East to watch the China’s moon.

For example, last December when a football game in Philadelphia was canceled due to a predicted snowy storm, the governor of Pennsylvania blasted his people for being “weak” by saying if the game were held in China, people wouldn’t back out. They would go to the game as planned, and would do some calculus on the way to it. To him, China’s moon seems to be rounder.

It is reported that President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union about China four times. He talked about China’s recent research and development in the fastest train, the fastest computer, . . . etc. As president of a country that has been a super power, Obama has expressed  a seemingly prevailing concern and anxiety for falling behind another potential super power.

More or less the sensation caused by the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reflects such concern, I think. It’s like twenty years in Taiwan, when many people lashed out at Taiwan’s school education for putting too much pressure upon students by taking examples from America’s system: how school there ended somewhere around 3 p.m.; instead of endless tests and exams, how students enjoyed various extra-curricular activities. . . . 外國的月亮比較圓

I heard Amy Chua, the author of this “tiger mother” book, was put on the cover of the latest Time magazine. And there’s been a lot of talks on the trend of the Chinese parents sending their babies to those “early educational classes,” dance for one-year-old, economic for three, and potential class for three-month-old. . . .Wow, how can American parents sleep when they hear about this? (Same question for those who despise the “tiger mother.”)

I think people tend to go extremes or lose perspective with this “foreign moon complex.” You tend to take exceptional as general. Yes, traditionally Chinese parents might be “stricter” than most American parents. But I don’t know how many Chinese parent will call their children “garbage” when the kids fail to meet their expectations. (Forgive me for possibly using the wrong quotation because I haven’t read the book.) Chua’s daughters could have ended up a drug addict with a traumatic heart, which I think would be very likely if I were her daughter. If so, will she be where she is now?

And for those dance class for one-year-old and economic class for three, I have a very good idiom to teach you. (though the classes could be exaggerated)—揠苗助長(ya4 miao2 zhu4 zhang3)

Like the idiom 一暴十寒(yi2 pu4 shi2 han2) I told you before, it comes from a story told by 孟子(meng4 zi3) There was a farmer, who was haunted by the worry that his rice shoots wouldn’t grow up fast. One day he decided to “help” his shoots by pulling them up. The next day his son went to the farm, only to find that all the rice shoots had died out.

What am I wasting my time here for? Why don’t I take advantage of this trend and write a book with the title, Battle Hymn of the Snake Teacher? (As I told you before, I was born in the year of snake.) In it I’ll describe how I had started teaching at 7 a.m., which is true when I first graduated from college, how I had whipped my students for their poor grades, which was practiced by some teachers, but not me, and how I had practically lived with my students, reading their diary and talking to them every day, which was still, done by my coworkers. And I’ll be on the cover page of Time!

Hurray!! Guys and gals, see you on Time! (No, see me on Time!)

外國的月亮比較圓=外国的月亮比较圆 (Simplified)
外國: foreign
月亮: the moon
比較圓: rounder

風水輪流轉=风水轮流转

揠苗助長=揠苗助长

揠: pull up

苗: shoot

助: help as in 幫助

長: grow