Tag: Chinese Culture

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Culture Experiences History Language Learning Theocratic

fàzhǐ

fàzhǐ (fà·zhǐ hair · {(to point with) finger → [to point]} → [hair to bristle up with anger] 发指 髮指) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · 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.]

One of the publications that is now recommended to be used on Bible studies is the Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng—Hùdòng Shì Shèngjīng Kèchéng ((Yǒng·yuǎn Eternally · {Far (in Time)} 永远 永遠) (Xiǎng·shòu Enjoy · Receive 享受) (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) (de ’s 的) (Shēngmìng Life 生命)—(Hù·dòng {Each Other} · Moving → [Interactive] 互动 互動) (Shì (Type 式) (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經) (Kè·chéng Lessons · Procedure → [Course] 课程 課程) → [Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course (lff)]) (Enjoy Life Forever! (lff)) book. This week’s MEotW, “fàzhǐ (fà·zhǐ hair · {(to point with) finger → [to point]} → [hair to bristle up with anger] 发指 髮指)”, appears in lesson 13, point 5 of this book:

English:

Religions have misrepresented God in many ways. One notorious way has been their involvement in war.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Cuòwù (Cuò·wù {staggered → [erroneous]} · false 错误 錯誤) de (’s 的) zōngjiào (zōng·jiào {schools of thought} · teachings → [religions] 宗教) zài (in 在) xǔduō (xǔ·duō numbers · many 许多 許多) fāngmiàn (fāng·miàn {directions → [sides]} · faces → [aspects] 方面) lìngrén (lìng·rén {have commanded → [have caused]} · people 令人) wùjiě (wù·jiě {being mistaken} · {to untie → [to solve] → [to understand]} → [to misunderstand] 误解 誤解) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝), qízhōng (qí·zhōng them · among 其中) yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) jiùshì (jiù·shì exactly · is 就是) cānyù ({taking part in} 参与 參與/預) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭). Zhèi (these 这 這) zhǒng ({kinds of} 种 種/种) xíngwéi (xíng·wéi {walkings → [doings]} · doings → [actions] 行为 行為) lìngrén (lìng·rén {command → [cause]} · people’s 令人)‐fàzhǐ (fà·zhǐ hair · {(to point with) finger → [to point]} → [hair to bristle up with anger] 发指 髮指).

The morphemes in “fàzhǐ (fà·zhǐ hair · {(to point with) finger → [to point]} → [hair to bristle up with anger] 发指 髮指)” literally mean “hair finger”. As it often is, though, here the morpheme literally meaning “finger” is used to effectively mean “to point”. Other expressions that use this morpheme in this way include “zhǐyǐn (zhǐ·yǐn {(pointing with) finger → [pointing]} · guiding; leading 指引)” and past MEotW “zhǐnán‐zhēn ((zhǐ·nán {(points with) finger → [points]} · south 指南)‐(zhēn needle 针 針) → [compass])”.

Asian Feelings

The above translation from the Enjoy Life Forever! book is an interesting one that’s technically more evocative than necessary to directly translate the meaning of the original English passage—the English word “notorious” is made to seem a bit abstract and intellectual compared to the visceral image from “fàzhǐ (fà·zhǐ hair · {(to point with) finger → [to point]} → [hair to bristle up with anger] 发指 髮指)” of anger so strong that it causes one’s hair to bristle and stand on end.

This reminds me of how, many years ago, when some of us used to have to act out Cantonese or Mandarin dramas for the conventions, we noticed that Cantonese or Mandarin recordings were sometimes noticeably more emotional than the corresponding original English recordings that we had been using for reference. While it has been a common stereotype that Chinese people (and other Asian people too) are “inscrutable” and relatively unemotional, the truth is that the human feelings that the relatively collectivist Asian cultures tend to suppress often end up just getting compressed, like steam in a pipe, and when the pressure gets to be too much, such feelings can end up getting expressed very intensely, maybe even explosively, when they finally are expressed.

Another factor is that sometimes, Westerners finding Easterners to be unemotional is just a matter of people of different cultures expressing emotions differently. This clip from the television show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds portrays an extreme, rather humorous fictional example of this:

Jesus’ Feelings

Seeing how profit-minded individuals had profaned his Father’s temple, Jesus was so moved by righteous indignation and zeal for Jehovah’s house that he went to the point of literally flipping tables. (John 2:14–17) The Bible also tells us that when some showed that they cared more about their Sabbath traditions than about giving practical help to those in serious need, Jesus was “looking around at them with indignation, being thoroughly grieved at the insensibility of their hearts”.—Mark 3:1–5.

Considering Jesus’ example of zeal for Jehovah, perhaps it’s quite appropriate to feel righteous indignation at how the world prioritizes glorifying human Chinese culture and preserving human traditions like those involving Chinese characters, when we are tasked with the urgent and actually more important work of effectively glorifying Jehovah (as the recently added song 159 encourages us to do) and helping Mandarin-speaking ones in spiritual need.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

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Culture Current Events Experiences History Theocratic

lǐngxiù

lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · 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.]

At the time of this writing, with the 2024 United States presidential election looming, jw.org was featuring the article “Which Leader Will You Choose?—What Does the Bible Say?”. The Mandarin version of this article uses this week’s MEotW, “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)”, to translate the English word “leader”. For example:

English:

The Bible explains that God has appointed a most capable and trustworthy leader: Jesus Christ.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) shuō (says 说 說/説) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝) yǐjing (yǐ·jing already · {has gone through} 已经 已經) wěirèn (wěi·rèn designating · {giving free reign to → [appointing]} 委任) Yēsū (Jesus 耶稣 耶穌) Jīdū (Christ 基督) zuò ({to be} 做) Lǐngxiù (Lǐng·xiù {Neck → [Collar]} · Sleeves → [Leader] 领袖 領袖), tā (he 他) shì (is 是) zuì (most 最 最/㝡) xiánmíng (xián·míng capable · {bright → [understanding]} → [wise and capable] 贤明 賢明) de (’s 的) tǒngzhìzhě (tǒng·zhì·zhě {gathering together → [commanding]} · ruling · person → [ruler] 统治者 統治者), zhíde (zhí·de worth · getting → [deserving of] 值得) xìnrèn (xìn·rèn {being believed} · {being given free reign → [being trusted]} 信任).

Analyzing Mandarin words at the morpheme level often reveals useful and interesting information, but the morphemes in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” seem…odd, considering what they are taken to mean when put together. “Lǐng (neck [→ [collar] → [lead; usher | have jurisdiction over; be in possession of]] | receive; draw; get; take; accept | understand; comprehend; grasp 领 領)” has an original literal meaning of “neck”, from which an effective meaning of “collar” understandably emerged. Somehow, though, another effective meaning that emerged for this morpheme is “to lead; to usher (as in “usher guests into the room”)”. The other morpheme “xiù (sleeve | {tuck inside the sleeve} 袖/褎)” literally means “sleeve”, and does not have an effective meaning on its own that’s obviously related to leadership. How then, did the combination of these two morphemes end up effectively meaning “leader”?

“Clothes Make the Man”?

My mother was a schoolteacher in China, and when I asked her about this seemingly strange combination of morphemes, she said that she wasn’t totally sure about the why or how of it, but that a teacher of hers had explained that to the ancient Chinese, the collar and sleeves of a piece of clothing were the most important indicators of how fit for purpose that piece of clothing was. Thus (if that teacher was not just expressing a baseless personal opinion on the matter), it may be that “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” effectively meaning “leader” is connected to the idea behind the English saying “clothes make the man”, that is, that one’s clothes send a message about what kind of person one is. Sometimes, for example, people are even nicknamed because of what they wear, like the redcoats and brownshirts of history, or the redshirts and browncoats of fiction. A possibly related factor is that on military uniforms especially, symbols of rank or status are often placed on the collar or sleeves or both. So, in old China, perhaps leaders were seen as those wearing clothing with certain kinds of collars or sleeves, resulting in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” (“collar sleeves”) becoming a Mandarin synecdoche referring to “leader”. (For comparison, a common English synecdoche is “suits”, which is used to refer to “businessmen”.)

Another possible explanation is that perhaps the piece of clothing in question in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” is a metaphor for the people as a whole, and that the collar and sleeves, being the parts of a piece of clothing that the Chinese were said to believe set the tone for it, thus represent the leader or leaders of the people. If any of you have any other information or ideas about why or how the morphemes in “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” came to combine to mean “leader”, please share in the comments.

“The Emperors Have No Clothes”

Regardless of how the combination of “lǐng (neck [→ [collar] → [lead; usher | have jurisdiction over; be in possession of]] | receive; draw; get; take; accept | understand; comprehend; grasp 领 領)” and “xiù (sleeve | {tuck inside the sleeve} 袖/褎)” came to effectively mean “leader”, “lǐngxiù (lǐng·xiù {neck → [collar]} · sleeves → [leader] 领袖 領袖)” does indeed mean that to today’s Mandarin-speakers—to them, however they do so, “collar” and “sleeves” do indeed combine to make “leader”. Unfortunately—to allude to another well-known English saying—the human Emperors of this world “have no clothes”—there is no real basis for the claims that they are worthy to be mankind’s leaders.

In contrast, Jehovah God has chosen Jesus as his King, and Jesus has shown himself to have real qualifications, far beyond those involving mere apparel and status symbols. While the world is embroiled in various struggles—from violent wars to comparatively nonviolent elections—over who will gain power to rule, it is our privilege to tell people in the Mandarin field about the good news about God’s Kingdom, and about God’s King, Jesus Christ himself. Being no mere figurehead, he and his Kingdom will “crush and put an end to” the human governments of Satan’s world and cause the whole earth to actually become the peaceful, secure paradise that God wants it be.—Daniel 2:44; 1 John 5:19; Matthew 6:10.

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Culture Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

guāngyīn

guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · 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.]

Rather than dismissively thinking to ourselves that the songs produced by the organization are “just songs”, we should remember that the slave class takes seriously its responsibility to provide spiritual food to God’s people, and so it is going to make sure that the lyrics in its songs are spiritually correct, while also being emotionally moving.—Ezekiel 33:32; Matthew 24:45.

Light and Shade

This week’s MEotW, “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)”, comes from the second verse of song 56, which is entitled “Make the Truth Your Own” in English and “Jiāng (Take 将 將) Zhēnlǐ (Zhēn·lǐ True · Reasoning → [the Truth] 真理) Zhēncáng (Zhēn·cáng {to Be Treasured} · {to Be Stored Up} 珍藏) zài (in 在) Xīnli (Xīn·li Heart · Inside 心里 心裡/裏)” in Mandarin:

English:

The effort you make and the time you are spending
In service to God and his Kingdom

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Nǐ (you 你) bù (not 不)‐cí ({do take your leave from} → [do shrink from] 辞 辭/辤)‐xīnláo (xīn·láo {pungently → [labouriously]} · working 辛劳 辛勞), jìn ({expend to the limit} 尽 盡) quánlì (quán·lì whole · strength 全力) shànyòng (shàn·yòng {(for) good} · {to be using} 善用) guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time available] 光阴 光陰),
Nǔlì (Nǔ·lì exert · strength 努力) xuānyáng (xuān·yáng {to declare} · {to raise → [to make known]} 宣扬 宣揚) Wángguó (Wáng·guó King’s · Nation → [Kingdom] 王国 王國) hǎo (good 好) xiāoxi (xiāo·xi disappearing · news → [news] 消息).

Yin and Yang

While “guāng (light | {[is] bare}; {[is] naked} | {[is] used up} | only 光)” is a well-known Mandarin expression that means “light”, the situation with the other morpheme in this week’s MEotW is a little more complicated. “Yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” is now used to effectively mean such common, everyday things as “overcast”, “shade”, or “negative (electric charge, etc.)”, but the meaning of “yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” originally comes from Chinese philosophy—it’s the “yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” in “yīnyáng (yīn·yáng {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [yin and yang; opposites]] 阴阳 陰陽)” (Wikipedia article).

The “yáng ({positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [sun | solar | open; overt | belonging to this world | positive (electric charge) | male]] 阳 陽)” in “yīnyáng (yīn·yáng {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [yin and yang; opposites]] 阴阳 陰陽)” also appears in “tàiyáng (tài·yáng highest · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} → [sun] 太阳 太陽)”, the Mandarin word for “sun”. The examples of this week’s MEotW and of “tàiyáng (tài·yáng highest · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} → [sun] 太阳 太陽)” show us how much Chinese philosophy is woven through the Chinese languages like Mandarin, to the extent that it may be practically impossible to completely avoid using in everyday speech words with allusions to Chinese philosophy. Of course, we know that Chinese philosophy as a whole, having originated with mere humans, is inevitably going to clash at least in some ways with God’s truth, but in this linguistic situation, in which people in general hardly ever think of the connections to Chinese philosophy that some everyday Mandarin words have, the organization has decided that it’s acceptable, or at least tolerable, to use a word like “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)” in the lyrics of one of its songs.

A Distracting “Easter Egg”

In one of those cute “easter egg”-type indulgences connecting visual design with meaning that many seem to enjoy, the Simplified characters for “yīnyáng (yīn·yáng {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [yin and yang; opposites]] 阴阳 陰陽)”, “阴阳”, employ the radicals/character components representing the moon (月) and the sun (日) respectively. This relates to “yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” literally meaning “female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)” and sometimes being used to mean “moon”, and “yáng ({positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [sun | solar | open; overt | belonging to this world | positive (electric charge) | male]] 阳 陽)” literally meaning “positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)” and sometimes being used to mean “sun”.

To try to be the adult in the room, though, here I need to remind everyone that the way Jehovah created us, the primary focus of human language involves using invisible speech—not visible visual elements—to directly represent meaning. As linguists hold, speech is primary, and writing is secondary. Cute “easter egg”-type indulgences involving the visual designs of some characters may be delightful to some on a mental, “that’s clever” level, but unfortunately, they can and do distract people from the basic linguistic truth that speech is primary, similarly to how visible idols distract people from the basic truth that God is actually a powerful but invisible Spirit, not a physical statue or image.—1 Corinthians 14:8–11.

The Time Available

Anyway, on one level of literalness, “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)” means “light-shade”. This apparently refers to the alternating lightenings and darkenings of the skies as each day—along with its time—passes. The result is that “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)” is used to effectively mean “time”, or “time available”. (This may be an echo of the truth spoken of at Genesis 1:14, that God set up “luminaries in the expanse of the heavens” to “serve as signs for seasons and for days and years”.) Regardless of the origin of part of “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)”, let us be determined to spend well in God’s service whatever time we have available to us. We should especially be careful to do so, since, as dedicated ones, our limited time belongs, not just to ourselves, but to Jehovah.—1 Corinthians 10:31.

In this regard, one thing that we should especially keep in mind as Mandarin field language learners is that the unnecessary, self-indulgent complexities and vagaries of Chinese characters can use up much of our precious available time—which, for us dedicated ones, belongs to Jehovah—if we allow them to. With the above-mentioned linguistic and scriptural information in mind, make sure to only spend whatever time is necessary to spend on Chinese characters, which originated with mere humans and which are imposed merely by tradition. (Hebrews 12:1) Let us focus instead on cultivating God’s gift of speech in the Mandarin field, perhaps with the assistance of the modern, elegant, and efficient Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) writing system.

SVG Technology and Lyrics Links

“guāngyīn” _Pīnyīn_ Plus info, Song 56 (music+_Pīnyīn_), on iPhone 13 mini (landscape orientation)

In the unofficial “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) language-learning resource, some songs now use SVG technology to enable links (rendered in blue) in the musical notation’s Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) lyrics. When tapped/clicked, these will display Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcards”. For example, as shown above, this resource’s rendition of song 56, from which this week’s MEotW comes, uses this technology. More such links will gradually be added as time allows.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin “Sing Out Joyfully” book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.