一無所有 (song)

During the Chinese New Year, I finished the book “The Sound of Resistance: from Bob Dylan to U2,” reviewing a convention of protest singers of the past century passed along from Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger to Bono.

As someone born in the 60s, growing in the 70s and 80s ‘s Taiwan, it’s almost impossible for me not to have heard of songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” “Blowing in the Wind,” and “One.” Likewise it’s impossible for us not to have seen such a familiar scene of protest from the 70s, 80s in Taiwan.

In June of 1989, we shed tears in front of TV displaying what was happening in Tiananmen Square. We saw a man stood tall in front of a tank and later as a flat piece on the ground, which you thought could only be seen in cartoon. That year we heard the song一無所有(yi4 wu2 suo3 you3) "Nothing to My Name" by 崔健(cui jian4) as an anthem to student protestors in Tiananmen Square.

Cui is often labeled as “The Father of Chinese Rock.” His hoarse voice reminds me of Bruce Springsteen. When hundreds of thousands of people shouted and sang that they got “nothing to their name,” the song had its moment in the history.

Earlier this month, a Chinese woman had a clash with a Hong Kong resident, who tried to stop her kid from eating noodles on the subway train. The clash was such that the train had stopped for a while.

To this event a professor from Beijing University 孔慶東(Kong3 qing4 dong) remarked on a show that Hong Kong residents are “dogs,” and only with people of “lower-class” is law necessary. Calling someone a dog is very insulting in the Chinese language for it’s degrading someone as 畜生(chu4 sheng), a beast.

After that controversial remark, he criticized Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 14 this year as a “fake democracy.”

I don’t know why, but I just feel at this moment, some two decades away from the protest students singing the song “Nothing to My Name” in Tiananmen Square, when China has risen as an economic strength, this Cui Jian’s song still sounds great.

As the singer sings in the song, for a man who has “nothing to his name,” it’s next to impossible that any girl would go with him. No wonder the numbers of people in Hong Kong or in Taiwan who consider themselves 中國人(zhong guo2 ren2) are both falling abruptly.
 

      一無所有(yi4 wu2 suo3 you3) Nothing to My Name

我曾經問個不休　妳何時跟我走

(wo3 ceng2 jing wen4 ge bu4 xiu/ ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zou3)

I’ve kept asking when you will go with me.
可妳卻總是笑我　一無所有

(ke3 ni3 que4 zong3 shi4 xiao4 wo3/ yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)

You’re always laughing at me, saying I have nothing to my name.
我要給妳我的追求　還有我的自由

(wo3 yao4 gei3 ni3 wo3 de zhui qiu3/ hei2 you3 wo3 de zi4 you2)
I wanna give you my quest and freedom.

可妳總是笑我　一無所有
(ke3 ni3 zong3 shi4 xiao4 wo3/ yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)

You’re always laughing at me, saying I have nothing to my name.
喔　妳何時跟我走　喔　妳何時跟我走

(Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3/ Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3)

Oh, When will you go with me, go with me.

腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流

(jiao3 xia4 zhe4 di4 zhai4 zhou3/ shen bian na4 shui3 zhai4 liu2)

The land under my feet is moving. The water by my side is flowing.
可妳卻總是笑我　一無所有

(ke3 ni3 zong3 shi4 xiao4 wo3/ yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)
You’re always laughing at me, saying I have nothing to my name.

為何妳總笑個沒夠　為何我總要追求

(wui4 he2 ni3 zhong xiao4 ge mei2 gou4/ wui4 he wo3 zhong3 yao4 zhui qiu2)

Why do you keep laughing? Why do I keep questing?
難道在妳面前我永遠　是一無所有

(nan2 dao4 zhai4 ni3 mian4 qian2 wo3 yong yuan3/ shi4 yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)
Do I always have nothing in front of you?
喔　妳何時跟我走　喔　妳何時跟我走

(Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3/ Ou ni3 he2 shi2 gen wo3 zhou3)

Oh, . . When will you go with me, go with me.
(腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流　腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流)

告訴妳我等了很久　告訴妳我最後的要求

(gao4 su4 ni3 wo3 deng3 le hen3 jiu3/ gao4 su4 ni3 wo3 zhui4 hou4 de yao qiu2)

I’ve been waiting for long. I’ll tell you my final request.
我要抓起妳的雙手　妳這就跟我走

(wo3 yao4 zhua qu3 ni3 de shuang shou3/ ni3 zhe4 jiu4 gen wo3 zhou3)

I wanna hold your hands, asking you to come with me.
這時妳的手在顫抖　這時妳的淚在流

(zhe4 shi2 ni3 de shou43 zai4 zhan4 dou3/ zhe4 shi2 ni3 de lei4 zai4 liu2)

Your hands are shaking; your tears shedding.
莫非妳是正在告訴我　妳愛我一無所有

(mo4 fei ni3 shi zhong4 zai4 gao4 su4 wo3/ ni3 ai4 wo3 yi4 wu2 suo3 you3)

Are you telling me you love me even though I have nothing?
喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走
(腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流　腳下這地在走　身邊那水在流)

喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走
喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走
喔　妳這就跟我走　喔　妳這就跟我走

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy-ez-6GB_w&feature=related

一無所有=一无所有

孔慶東=孔庆东

中國人=中国人

我曾经问个不休　妳何时跟我走

可妳却总是笑我　一无所有

我要给妳我的追求　还有我的自由

可妳总是笑我　一无所有

喔　妳何时跟我走　喔　妳何时跟我走

脚下这地在走　身边那水在流
可妳却总是笑我　一无所有
为何妳总笑个没够　为何我总要追求
难道在妳面前我永远　是一无所有
喔　妳何时跟我走　喔　妳何时跟我走
(脚下这地在走　身边那水在流　脚下这地在走　身边那水在流)
告诉妳我等了很久　告诉妳我最后的要求
我要抓起妳的双手　妳这就跟我走
这时妳的手在颤抖　这时妳的泪在流
莫非妳是正在告诉我　妳爱我一无所有
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走
(脚下这地在走　身边那水在流　脚下这地在走　身边那水在流)
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走
喔　妳这就跟我走　喔　妳这就跟我走

Why eat bullshit? (joke)

In my previous writing 字感(zi4 gan3), I talked about how Chinese characters can be put vertically or horizontally. As a result, misunderstanding arises.

For example, one day a foreigner came to a diner in Taiwan and got terribly confused. “Why eat 牛大便(niu2 da4 bian4), bull’s dropping?” asked him on reading the menu on the wall.

In Taiwan’s diners the main courses are often shown on color strips of paper on the wall. This one goes as:

牛 大 便

肉 滷 當

麵 麵

The foreigner just read the menu from left to right as reading English, when it is actually arranged downward. If you start from left, the menu goes as 牛肉麵(niu2 rou4 mian4)，beef noodles, 大滷麵(da4 lu3 mian4)，dalu noodles, and便當(bian4 dang), bento, or a boxed meal.

Another characteristic of the Chinese characters is that some characters consist of more than one unit, which is a character itself. Misunderstanding might happen with loose scribbles that do not arrange the units properly. For example, a first grader with the name 朱月坡(zhu yue4 puo) is often mistaken as 朱肚皮(zhu du4 pi2) since he puts the parts of his last word 坡 too separately with the left part 土(tu3) combined with the middle word 月, which turns to 肚. As a result, his name sounds like “pig’s belly.”

Tons of such examples can be given. 關金鵲(guan jin que4), a name after some bird, turns to be 關錯鳥(guan cuo4 niao3), literally meaning shutting in the wrong bird. It sounds funnier if you know that “bird” 鳥is also a euphemism for man’s genital.

Probably this is why we always have squares for the beginners to practice writing the characters. Take a look at those beginners’ writing without any lines or squares to confine the characters, you might be amused.

牛肉麵=牛肉面

大滷麵=大卤面

便當=便当

關金鵲=关金鹊

關錯鳥=关错鸟

祿山之爪 vs. 鹹豬手 (slang)

I read on the paper that a man on the bus had reached out his hand to a girl sexually harassing her. The girl yelled at him so that the bus driver drove the bus directly to a police station and had the man arrested. I applauded for the girl and the bus driver.

If such a thing happened one or two decades ago, I believe the reporter would describe the incident as “無聊男子亂伸祿山之爪(lu4 shan zhi zhua3.” But these days the reporter would more likely choose the term鹹豬手(xian2 zhu shou3), which is not so classical but a more modern usage.

To realize the term祿山之爪, you got to start from one of the four most famed beauties in the Chinese history, 楊貴妃(yang2 gui4 fei), which I had introduced in my previous writing “Angelina Jolie would be ugly.” It is said that Yang, though being the beloved consort of Emperor Xuangzong, had an affair with 安祿山(an lu4 shan), An Lushan, a general of Sogdian and Tujue origin who later rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. Once her breasts were bruised by An’s hands that she had to put on a piece of cloth to cover them, which is said to be the origin of 肚兜(du4 dou), bellyband, or ancient version of bra.  

Thus came the term祿山之爪. 爪usually refers to animal’s claws. Here it refers to a man’s hands that reach out to a woman’s breasts.

But these days the term has been replaced more and more often by鹹豬手, which literally means “salty pig’s hand.” The usage of “pig” is understandable since it’s always been a metaphor for lecherous perverts in the Chinese language if you have some knowledge about the classical novel 西遊記, Journey to the West, which I’ve talked a little about before.

As to the word salty, a theory is that it comes from Cantonese. I remember writing about calling a porn 鹹濕片(xian2 shi pian4) showing the implicative meaning of the word 鹹, salty. Some people say in Cantonese a pervert can be called鹹濕佬(xian2 shi lao3), which is probably why 祿山之爪is also called鹹豬手today.

A student of mine shouted and called for her boss at a Internet café, where she works during the days when a 鹹濕佬sexually harassed her for the second time the other day. They called the police and the pervert never dares to show up again. I applaud for her too.

鹹豬手=咸猪手

楊貴妃=杨贵妃

The rise and fall of a God (chop suey)

Last month we heard of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s death and saw the whole nation’s wailing for the loss of their leader, or, to be more exact, their all knowing and all powerful God.  

Seeing the painful people wailing for their leader, the only term came to my mind was 如喪考妣 (ru2 sang4 kao3 bi3), as sad as one has been bereaved of his own father or mother. 如means like; 喪bereaved; 考deceased father; 妣deceased mother.

Such a scene may seem absurd from a democratic society’s, such as Taiwan’s point of view. However, I myself have seen this happening around me in person, along with millions of Taiwanese.

When former President Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石died in 1975, I was 10. He had been five-term president ever since he retreated to Taiwan. (5/20/1948-1/21/1949, 3/1/1950-4/5/1974 his death), “elected” by the National Assembly of the R.O.C., with a formal democracy, though. I was brought up under his regime.

When he died, our TV shows turned to black and white and no entertainment shows were allowed. All you heard was his memorial song. And you saw what you’re seeing today in the North Korea. Hundred of thousands of people were wailing on the sides of the streets on their knees during his funeral. Such a memory I’ve carried since ten is still fresh and vivid, though I did not understand what that meant as a ten year old.

When watching the follow-up news on Kim Jong Il’s death the other day, I told my 15-year-old daughter that I’d seen such a scene before. Then she told me as a joke what she had heard from her teacher, two “anecdotes” of Chiang Kai-shek, which were put in the textbook of our generation to build a just image of his, a move of 造神(zao4 shen2), creation of “God.”

To be honest, I’m so glad that such a scene is no longer seen in my society. There’s no denying that ever since Taiwan’s 38-year-long martial law, the longest in the world, was lifted in 1987, (the year I graduated from college) we’ve seen drastic changes and progress of democracy in Taiwan, though complaints do exist.  

Seeing the starving people mourning for their leader, I’m wondering how long it will take for this god (now played by his son) to fall to the ground? How long will it take for the high walls that have separated the people from outside to collapse? When will things happening these two years in the Middle East happen in this isolated peninsula?

如喪考妣=如丧考妣

蔣介石=蒋介石

The way Jiangtai Gong fishes (Xiehouyu)

These days in Taiwan if you call someone and tell him he’s won some prize, very likely he’ll hang up the phone without letting you finish. He’ll regard it as a scam, and you might even get a curse.

For the past decade, Taiwan has been so rife with scams. Chances are that you’ll win various prizes twice a day, your account will be stolen every other day, and your son or daughter will be kidnapped whenever they want, even if you don’t have one at all! (Look on the bright side: you got someone who’s so dying to be your offspring and call you mom or dad.)

But those criminals get to become extremely rich! And the punishment is so ridiculously mild. The bitter Taiwanese thus jokingly put the blame on the presidents’ names, the incumbent’s and his predecessor’s. If you combine President Ma’s surname 馬 and part of the former president Chen’s name扁, you get the word 騙, deceive, swindle. No wonder we have so many scam gang 詐騙集團(zha4 pian4 ji2 tuan2) these days.

So you think you’ve heard too much about them to get cheated, but there’s always something new that they get even the well-educated like professors or police officers. This is really what we always say 道高一尺，魔高一丈(dao4 gao yi4 chi3, mo2 gao yi2 zhang4), literally meaning the diao (law) is one Chi (1/3 meter) high, but the devil is one Zhang (10 chi) tall.

Recently there’s something new that’s often heard. (Actually not so “new” at all, but was not so “organized” and permeating.) It is mainly aimed at men, lonely men who are desperate for women or who are especially “sympathetic,” to be exact. Those victims will get phone calls from girls they’ve never met, who sometimes pretend to be, say, a classmate from elementary school. They would ask the victims to go to the bars where they work to consume and cheat them out of money with all kinds of excuses, such as they (or their old mothers) get sick or they are fired. . . etc after they’ve won those men’s affection with their fake promises.

We call this kind of bar or tavern 剝皮酒店(buo pi2 jiu3 dian4). 剝皮means to skin. The way you get cheated out of money is like getting skinned. Here the 酒店does not refer to the hotel. It’s more like an expensive bar with “working girls” for men to drink and party.  

Sometimes you might feel that you’re being exploited. For example, you boss takes part of you pay for the insurance. And after that, you have to pay the tax. Under the circumstances, you may say you’re like a bull that has been skinned several times, or several layers of your skin have been ripped off. 一條牛剝好幾層皮(yi4 tiao2 niu2 buo hao3 ji3 ceng2 pi2)I guess this is probably why 剝皮is used to refer to this kind of bar.

One night after reading a piece of news about how a man had wired about twenty thousands US dollars to a girl that he’d never even gotten to meet, I talked a little bit about this with my students. I said I couldn’t believe how credulous a man could be! Some students replied that they were not surprised at all. Men, in their words, think with their “lower half.” 下半身思考(xia4 ban4 shen si kao3). Another expression of theirs is that their “sperms rush to their brains.” 精蟲衝腦(jing chong chong nao3)

Joke as it is, there’s some point there. You wouldn’t have gotten cheated had you not coveted anything. Just as what a Xiehouyu goes, 姜太公釣魚—願者上鉤(jiang tai4 gong diao4 yu2, yuan4 zhe3 shang4 gou)

姜太公(jiang tai4 gong) or 姜子牙(Jiang Zi3 ya2) is a Chinese historical and legendary figure, a sage and military strategist about 3,000 years ago. He once worked for the Shang government as a low-ranking official, but resigned later as the government was full of corruption and people were having a hard time. He retreated by the Weishui River waiting for his time.

As a recluse, Jiang often fished by the river in an exclusive way. He would use a long rod, a short line along with a “straight hook” to fish with his back to the river.

How could he get any fish this way? Thus comes the Xiehouyu mentioned. Only those who are willing jump at the bake. It’s translated as “Grand Duke Jiang fishes” in Wikipedia. It’s used to refer to the situation when someone puts his own head in the noose.

In fact Jiang did get his fish-- a big one. Later he was called upon by King Wen of Zhou to serve as prime minister. He fished in a seemingly unlikely way but got big fish, so do those girls from the scam gangs.

Moral--Think with your “upper half,” gentlemen! J

詐騙集團=诈骗集团

一條牛剝好幾層皮=一条牛剥好几层皮

精蟲衝腦=精虫冲脑

姜太公釣魚—願者上鉤=姜太公钓鱼—愿者上钩

滄海一聲笑 (music)

In a speech earlier this month, Taiwanese poet 余光中(yu2 guang zhong) remarked that to learn Chinese well, there are two things for a foreigner to learn first: to eat stinky tofu and to understand the meaning of the term 江湖(jiang hu2).

His theory is that Chinese learners have to learn the language through  “Chinese taste bud” and feels. And when the term江湖is used, you should be able to read between the lines to tell what it really means.

The term江湖, literally meaning river and lake, is largely used in武俠小說(wu3 xia2 xiao3 shuo),Wu-Xia novels. According to Wikipedia: The jianghu is the milieu, environment, or sub-community, often fictional, in which many Chinese wuxia stories are set. In modern Chinese culture, jianghu is commonly accepted as an alternative universe coexisting with the actual historical one in which the context of the wuxia genre was set. Each wuxia novel has its own jianghu setting.

You can’t speak of武俠小說, Wu-Xia novels without mentioning 金庸(jin yong), the most recognized Wu-Xia novelist in the Chinese world.

I got the whole series of his works in my studies for more than two decades, as a “decoration”, though, for I’ve never really engaged my full attention reading them. But Jin Yong’s characters are so well-known in the Chinese world that you don’t have to read the novels yourself to know them. They have in some way become stereotypes in our language.

These days as the heating presidential campaigns goes on, watching those politicians lying or manipulating the media with their smearing tactics reminds me of the song滄海一聲笑(cang hai3 yi4 sheng xiao4), which is the theme song of the movie笑傲江湖(xiao4 ao4 jiang hu2), The smiling proud wanderer, an adaptation from Jin Yong’s novel of the same title.

I’ve never seen the movie but I love the song. In the end of the story when the fighting and turmoil get settled, you hear the song ringing in your ear, you might smile and think, “What’s the hustle and bustle, fighting and killing for?” 

Hearing the song, I once again recall a dream that more or less has been shared in a corner of the hearts of my generation—to be a smiling and proud wanderer in this hustle-and-bustle world, instead of getting a “real job” and leading a “normal” life.

You might want to listen to the song for a change in this holiday season.

滄海一聲笑  (cang hai3 yi4 sheng xiao4)  by 黃霑

滄海笑　滔滔兩岸潮 (cang hai3 xia4/ tao tao liang3 ai4 chao2)

The vast sea laughs, lashing on both coasts.

浮沉隨浪記今朝 (fu2 chen2 sui2 lang4 ji4 jin zhao)

Carried in the waves, we have only now.

  蒼天笑　紛紛世上潮 (cang tian xia4/ fen fen shi4 shang4 chao2)

The heaven laughs, at the troubled world.

  誰負誰勝出天知曉 (shei2 fu4 shei2 sheng4 chu tian zhi xiao3)

Only he knows, who is to win or lose.

  江山笑　煙雨遙 (jiang shan xiao4/ yan yu3 yao2)

The mountain laughs, the rain is afar.

  濤浪濤盡紅塵俗事知多少

(tao lang4 tao jin4 hong2 chen2 su2 shi4 zhi duo shao3)

When the waves grow old, the world still goes on.

  清風笑　竟惹寂寥 (qing feng xiao4, jing4 re3 ji2 liao2)

The wind laughs, lost in quite solitude.

  豪情還剩了一襟晚照 (hao2 qing2 hai2 sheng4 liao3 yi jin wan3 zhao4)

Beyond my lofty aspiration bequeaths a tinge of melancholy.

 蒼生笑　不再寂寥 (cang sheng xiao4/ bu2 zai4 ji2 liao2)

People laugh, I’m no longer afloat in the sea of loneliness.

  豪情仍在痴痴笑笑 (hao2 qing2 reng2 zai4 chi chi xiao4 xiao4)

  With infatuation and smiling, I’m still embracing my aspiration and dream. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iknGg9l4a7s&feature=related

滄海一聲笑=沧海一声笑

武俠小說=武侠小说

字感 (chop suey)

Cay Marchal once wrote how he feels about the Chinese characters. He claims that only when reading Chinese books can he feel the pleasure of reading. "Reading those alphabetic languages is like drinking plain water," so he said, “no ‘字感’ (zhi4 gan3)at all”. He goes further to say that he’d like to change French writer La Rochefoucauld’s sentence “Humans wouldn’t have felt love had they not invented reading” into “Humans wouldn’t read had God not invented Chinese, let alone love.”*

Here I think what Marchal refers to as字感can be translated into a sense of words, or how you feel about words when you are reading. As a native speaker and reader of Chinese, I can no doubt share this “bias” of his. I’d even like to go further by pointing out another personal “bias” of mine. That is, only when reading Chinese characters that are printed vertically will I feel the pleasure of reading, or feel the 字感.

Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese characters can be arranged either vertically or horizontally. But traditionally they were arranged vertically, from up to down, right to left. Ever since I started to read, almost every Chinese book I read had been arranged that way until the arrival of the computer era.

Long ago I read an article about how it’s easier for our eyes to read horizontally printed words based on the way the muscles of our eyes are arranged. I’m not sure about the scientific facts, but I definitely have something else to say about this.

I wonder if it’s just me or it’s true for most Chinese readers who were raised up prior to the computer age. I can’t remember any of my favorite Chinese books that are printed horizontally like English ones. I don’t know if I can really enjoy a novel or a poem if it has to be read from left to right. I’m not sure I’ll get my 字感from such a work. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that stop me from reading any long literary work online. (Another important reason is that I have to “touch” the book, the paper to enjoy it.)

I’ve never asked anybody else to see if they have the same feeling as mine. But I just can’t imagine my favorite Chinese poems or novels arranged from left to right. 

A few weeks ago I asked a student why he had to check out his cell phone for time since we had a clock on the wall. “I can’t read a clock.” answered him. Then I found out that I myself have to picture a clock in my mind when reading a digital clock. I still remember how my father had used an old clock to teach me to read time before I went to school.

I wonder if this habit is similar to my clinging to the up-to-down, right-to-left pattern of reading Chinese. Gee, I’m really old-fashioned and getting stale. I’d better get used to the pattern of this era to survive and finish my thesis in two years.  

* note: from我的異國靈魂指南, by莫夏凱;  published by寶瓶文化;  2005年09月01日