Tǔ’ěrqí (Turkey 土耳其) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]
On February 6, 2023, strong earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria, resulting in tens of thousands of people being killed (over 36,000 at the time of this writing), tens of thousands being injured, and hundreds of thousands being left homeless. So, as of this writing, the article “Devastating Earthquakes Strike Turkey and Syria—What Does the Bible Say?” is being featured on jw.org, and this week’s MEotW is “Tǔ’ěrqí (Turkey 土耳其)”, the Mandarin word for “Turkey”. Knowing this will help us in the Mandarin field as we hear about, talk about, and pray about Turkey in the time ahead.
Note that it is apparent that “Tǔ’ěrqí (Turkey 土耳其)” was chosen to represent “Turkey” in Mandarin because of what it sounds like, not because of the meanings of the supposedly ideographic (representing meaning directly through visible symbols, bypassing speech) Chinese characters used to write it out (“Soil Ear It”??? 🤷🏻).
Some Related Mandarin Expressions
Here are some other Mandarin expressions from the above-mentioned article that should be useful to know regarding this situation:
- Xùlìyà (Syria 叙利亚 敘利亞)
- qiángzhèn
(qiáng·zhèn
strong; powerful · {quaking → [earthquake]} (abbr. for qiángliè dìzhèn)
强震
強震)
- dà (big → [great] 大) dìzhèn (dì·zhèn earth·quake 地震)
- wú‐jiā‐kě‐guī ((wú without 无 無/无)‐(jiā home 家)‐(kě {(that) can} 可)‐(guī {be returned to} 归 歸) → [homeless])
- cǎnjù (cǎn·jù miserable; tragic · {theatrical work (drama, play, opera, etc.)} → [tragedy; calamity; disaster] 惨剧 慘劇)
- ānwèi
(ān·wèi
calming · consoling; comforting
安慰)
- 📖 📄 📘 “cì (gives 赐 賜) yíqiè (yí·qiè {one (whole)} · {corresponding (set of)} → [all] 一切) ānwèi (ān·wèi calming · comforting 安慰) de (’s 的) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝).”—Gēlínduō Hòushū ((Gēlínduō Corinth 哥林多) (Hòu·shū Later · Book 后书 後/后書) → [2 Corinthians]) 1:3 (Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) WOL; Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus).
“Tofu-Dreg Projects”
Some have wondered why so many even relatively new buildings failed to withstand these earthquakes. One news report explains:
experts said there is a mountain of evidence — and rubble — pointing to a harsh reality about what made the quakes so deadly: Even though Turkey has, on paper, construction codes that meet current earthquake-engineering standards, they are too rarely enforced, explaining why thousands of buildings crumbled.
Buildings being poorly constructed, whether or not earthquake-engineering standards exist, is unfortunately not uncommon in this old system of things. There is even a Mandarin expression with its own Wikipedia page that describes such buildings:
“Tofu-dreg project” (Chinese: 豆腐渣工程; pinyin: dòufuzhā gōngchéng) is a phrase used in the Chinese-speaking world to describe a poorly constructed building, sometimes called just “Tofu buildings”. The phrase was coined by Zhu Rongji, the former premier of the People’s Republic of China, on a 1998 visit to Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province to describe a poorly-built set of flood dykes in the Yangtze River.[source] The phrase is notably used referring to buildings collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake disaster.[source][source][source][source][source][source]
In China, the term tofu dregs (the pieces left over after making tofu) is widely used as a metaphor for shoddy work, hence the implication that a “tofu-dreg project” is a poorly executed project.[source]
As we look forward to the new world that will no longer have such natural disasters as these earthquakes, nor the man-made conditions that make them even more deadly, may we keep our brothers and sisters in the affected areas in our prayers to Jehovah, the only true God and the “God of all comfort”—John 17:3, 2 Corinthians 1:3.