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Culture Experiences Science Theocratic

Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán

Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]團/糰) [Governing Body]) ← 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.]

A few years back, I wrote up a brief web page listing reasons for producing Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), etc. material for the Imitate (ia) book. Some, especially some who grew up in the West, may have felt that this book is made up of “just stories”, and ones that they were already quite familiar with, at that. However, we must remember that Chinese Bible students may often have a different perspective regarding the Bible accounts that are made to come to life in the Imitate book. As that web page said:

  • Many Chinese people in the world have not been exposed to Bible accounts the way many Westerners have.
  • Also, I have heard that some, perhaps many, Chinese Bible students tend to approach their Bible studies like intellectual exercises for accumulating chōuxiàng (abstract) head knowledge as if for a school exam, rather than as training for their hearts for their own real lives.

Later, the web page touches on how some of the real-world benefits of good storytelling like that found in the Imitate book involve empathy:

    • The actress Natalie Portman once said, “I love acting. I think it’s the most amazing thing to be able to do. Your job is practicing empathy. You walk down the street imagining every person’s life.”
  • The Imitate book helps build Bible students’ empathy towards Bible characters, which in turn helps Bible students realize that others would feel empathy towards them as well if they imitated these Bible characters—not everyone will just think they’re crazy, like many worldly friends or family members might think.

While even fictional stories can have the benefits described in the links and the quote above, true stories from the Bible can have even greater benefits, including spiritual ones.

Besides the Imitate book, another book from Jehovah’s organization that relates Bible accounts is the Learn From the Bible (lfb) book. The letter from the Governing Body in this book says that, similarly to the Imitate book, the Learn From the Bible book also “brings the Bible accounts to life and captures the feelings of those depicted”, while, unlike the Imitate book, it “tells the story of the human family from creation onward”. While the Learn From the Bible book is especially suitable for children, the letter from the Governing Body in this book says that “it can also be used to help adults who desire to learn more about the Bible”. So, it would be good to consider on this blog some of the expressions used in the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book.

You Have Mail!

This week’s MEotW, “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]團/糰) [Governing Body])”, appears near the beginning of the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book:

English:

A Letter From the Governing Body

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

📖 📄 📘 Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]團/糰) [Governing Body]) de (’s 的) Xìn (Letter 信)

We can see from the above that “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]團/糰) [Governing Body]) is the official Mandarin expression used to translate “Governing Body”. What morphemes and words are used to make up this Mandarin expression? What do they mean? How do they work together to make up the whole expression?

Central, But Not Necessarily in the Central Kingdom

Both the morphemes in “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央) mean “centre” or “central”. Years ago, a sister expressed to me that she doubted that the organization would use the expression “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央)”, since it was such a mainland China-coded expression that’s often used by the current central government there. In fact, Pleco’s built-in dictionary says that it can be an abbreviation for “Zhōngguó Gòngchǎn‐Dǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuán‐Huì ((Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [Chinese] 中国 中國) (Gòng·chǎn {Commonly Possessing} · {Produced (Things) → [Property]} → [Communist] 共产 共產)‐(Dǎng Party黨/党) (Zhōngyāng Central 中央) {(Wěi·yuán Entrusted · Members 委员 委員)‐(Huì Gathering) → [Committee]} → [Central Committee of the Communist Party of China]) (“Central Committee of the Communist Party of China”). Another example is “Zhōngguó Zhōngyāng Diànshì‐Tái ((Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [China] 中国 中國) (Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Diàn·shì Electric · {Looking At} → [Television] 电视 電視)‐(Tái Platform → [Station]台/臺) [China Central Television (CCTV)]) (“China Central Television (CCTV)”), the national television broadcaster of China. However, mitigating against the concern that “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央) is overly connected to mainland China is that it’s used in “Zhōngyāng Qíngbào‐Jú ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Qíng·bào Situation; Circumstances · Reporting → [Intelligence] 情报 情報)‐(Jú Bureau; Office → [Agency] 局) [Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)])”, the Mandarin expression referring to the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Anyway, the organization has decided that it’s not a problem to use “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央) in the official Mandarin expression referring to the Governing Body.

Old (Man/Men)

“Zhǎnglǎo (Zhǎng·lǎo {grown → [elder]} · old (men) → [elders] 长老 長老) literally just means “grown old”, without any explicit reference to any man or men. However, it’s used such that it has an effective meaning of “elder (man/men)”, and it’s used by the organization to refer to the elders within the organization. There are many Mandarin expressions that follow this pattern of explicitly meaning a description, while only implicitly meaning that this description applies to a person, or to persons. Another example is “jìsī (jì·sī {offering sacrifices} · {taking charge [of]}; {attending [to]}; managing (person) → [priest] 祭司)”, which literally just means “offering sacrifices, attending to”, but which effectively means “priest[s]”, an implied person, or implied persons, to whom the literal description applies.

Towards a Clearer Style

In the rendering “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]團/糰) [Governing Body])”, following after “Zhǎnglǎo (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老) is a hyphen. This is not a typical Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) rendering, if anything is typical about Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in this characters-dominated world—typically, one would encounter “Zhǎnglǎotuán (Zhǎng·lǎo·tuán {{Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders]} · {{Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]} 长老团 長老團/糰)”, rendered as a single, uninterrupted word. However, I have been leaning towards the view that such relatively long, uninterrupted words are relatively difficult to parse, or mentally break down into meaningful components. So, I have been adopting the practice of inserting hyphens in expressions that are typically rendered as long, uninterrupted words, between expressions like “zhǎnglǎo (zhǎng·lǎo {grown → [elder]} · old (men) → [elders] 长老 長老) and “tuán ({roll sth. into a ball} → [unite; assemble | sth. roundish; lump | group; society; organization | round; circular | [mw for roundish things]]團/糰) that can stand alone as words. This makes it easier for readers to mentally come to grips with how multi-word expressions are constructed, with how they mean what they mean.

Even with the English writing system, which has been around for centuries and is very widely used, there remain similarly differing opinions on word separation and hyphenation, as well as differing opinions on things like the Oxford (serial) comma, British and American spellings, capitalization, etc. Different organizations, in fact, have different style guides regarding how to use the English writing system. It should not be surprising, then, that a relatively “young” writing system like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), which additionally faces cultural prejudices unfairly limiting its use, has some aspects regarding which differing opinions still exist, which may get hammered out to an extent with time and greater usage by many different people.

Having a Ball

Coming to the final morpheme of this week’s MEotW, note that while “tuán ({roll sth. into a ball} → [unite; assemble | sth. roundish; lump | group; society; organization | round; circular | [mw for roundish things]]團/糰) effectively means “group” or “body”, it literally means “roll something into a ball”, and can also mean “roundish mass; lump”! So, “zhǎnglǎo (zhǎng·lǎo {grown → [elder]} · old (men) → [elders] 长老 長老)tuán ({rolled into a ball} → [group] → [body]團/糰) suggests the mental image of a number of elders rolled into a ball or roundish mass, so that they become a body of elders. Hopefully, elders in the Mandarin field will be able to find this Mandarin wording amusing rather than be offended by it!

Anyway, the morphemes in “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]團/糰) [Governing Body]) on a certain level of literalness come together to mean “Central Body of Elders”, which matches nicely with the English expression “Governing Body”. In their letter near the beginning of the Learn From the Bible book, the Governing Body introduces this book and expresses their hopes for how it will be able to benefit people who make good use of it. May we do our part to help people in the Mandarin field to do so. Perhaps, we can start by showing them the letter from the Governing Body that’s contained in the Learn From the Bible book.


For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Learn From the Bible book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Learn From the Bible 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 Learn From the Bible book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

Categories
Current Events Science Theocratic

chōngtū

chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突) ← 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.]

War has certainly been a prominent subject in the news lately. Here are a couple of recent headlines I found with a quick web search:

Why the World’s Biggest Powers Can’t Stop a Middle East War

Thinking the ‘unthinkable’: NATO wants Canada and allies to gear up for a conventional war

The looming shadow of a possible future war over Taiwan must also especially concern many people in the Mandarin field.

At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the article “When Will the Fighting Stop?—What Does the Bible Say?”. Where the English version of this article uses the expressions “fighting” or “conflicts”, the Mandarin version uses this week’s MEotW, “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突)”. For example, here are the English and Mandarin titles of the article:

English:

When Will the Fighting Stop?—What Does the Bible Say?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Shìshang (Shì·shang {Generation → [World]} · Upon 世上) de (’s 的) Wǔzhuāng (Wǔ·zhuāng Militarily · {Dressed Up} → [Armed] 武装 武裝) Chōngtū (Chōng·tū {Dashings → [Clashings]} · {Chimneys → [Chargings]} → [Conflicts] 冲突 衝突) Huì (Will) Yǒu (Have 有) Píngxī (Píng·xī {Being Made to Be Flat, Level, Even → [Being Made to Be Peaceful]} · Ceasing → [Subsiding] 平息) de (’s 的) (One 一) Tiān (Sky → [Day] 天) Ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions])?

In addition to being used to refer to armed conflicts, “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突) can also be used to refer to other kinds of conflicts. For example, the section of the Was Life Created? brochure entitled “Science and the Genesis Account” in English and “Kēxué (Kē·xué {Branches of Study} · Learning → [Science] 科学 科學) (and與/与) Chuàngshìjì (Chuàng·shì·jì {Initiating, Creating of} · {Generation → [World]} · Record → [Genesis] 创世记 創世記) in Mandarin contains this statement:

English:

However, the real contradiction is, not between science and the Bible, but between science and the opinions of Christian Fundamentalists.

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

📖 📄 📘 Qíshí (Qí·shí its · {being solid → [actuality]} → [actually] 其实 其實), gēn (with 跟) kēxué (kē·xué {branches of study} · learning → [science] 科学 科學) yǒu (having 有) chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [charging]} → [conflict] 冲突 衝突) de (’s 的) (not 不) shì (is 是) Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) de (’s 的) jìzǎi (jì·zǎi recorded · writing → [account] 记载 記載), ér ({but (rather)} 而) shì (are 是) mǒuxiē (mǒu·xiē certain · {indefinite number of} → [certain] 某些) rén (people 人) de (’s 的) guāndiǎn (guān·diǎn view·points 观点 觀點).

Morphemes and Related Expressions

The “chōng (charge; rush; dash [→ [clash; collide]] | {pour boiling water on} | rinse; flush [→ [develop (film)]]沖/衝) in “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突) can mean “charge; rush; dash”, leading to an effective meaning of “clash”, which is what it means in “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突)”. Other expressions that use this morpheme include “chōngjìn (chōng·jìn charge; rush; dash · {to advance; enter [into; in]} 冲进 沖/衝進)”, “chōngpò (chōng·pò charge; rush; dash · {to break (through)} 冲破 沖/衝破)”, and “chōngzǒu (chōng·zǒu rinse; flush · {to walk → [to go away]} 冲走 沖走)”.

Oddly, the “tū (chimney [→ [sticking out | dashing forward; charging [→ [sudden[ly]; unexpected[ly]]]]] 突) in “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突) has a traditional literal meaning of “chimney”, which can lead to an effective meaning of “dashing forward” or “charging”, presumably reflecting how a chimney suddenly juts out of the roof of a house. This is what it means in “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突)”. Other expressions that use this “tū (chimney [→ [sticking out | dashing forward; charging [→ [sudden[ly]; unexpected[ly]]]]] 突) include “tūchù (tū·chù {chimney → [projecting]} · contacting (thing) → [synapse] 突触 突觸)”, “tūpò (tū·pò {chimney → [sticking out | dashing forward]} · {breaking → [through]} → [breaking through | breakthrough | surmounting; exceeding; overcoming] 突破)”, “tūrán (tū·rán {chimney → [dashing forward] → [sudden[ly]; abrupt[ly]]} · {-ly | like that} 突然)”, and past MEotW “tūbiàn (tū·biàn {chimney → [dashing forward] → [sudden[ly]; unexpected[ly]]} · changing [→ [mutation]] 突变 突變)”.

To Talk About a War to End All Wars

The above-mentioned jw.org article uses “chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashing → [clashing]} · {chimney → [dashing forward; charging]} → [conflicting; clashing] 冲突 衝突) when it discusses how today’s wars show that the end of all war is near. Here are a couple of examples:

English:

Global conflicts today indicate that an end to all war is soon to come. These wars fulfill Bible prophecy about the time period in which we live. The Bible calls it “the conclusion of the system of things.”

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Shìshang (Shì·shang {generation → [world]} · upon 世上) de (’s 的) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng wars · contendings → [wars] 战争 戰爭) biǎomíng (biǎo·míng indicate · {to be clear} 表明) wǒmen (wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) zhèng ({just now} 正) shēnghuó ({are living} 生活) zài (in 在) Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) yùgào (yù·gào fore·told 预/豫告 預/豫告) de (’s 的)mòqī (mò·qī end · period 末期)”, zhè (this) biǎoshì (biǎo·shì indicates · shows 表示) wǔzhuāng (wǔ·zhuāng militarily · {dressed up} → [armed] 武装 武裝) chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashings → [clashings]} · {chimneys → [chargings]} → [conflicts] 冲突 衝突) búduàn (bú·duàn not · {breaking off} → [being constant] 不断 不斷) de (’s 的) xiànxiàng (xiàn·xiàng appearing · appearance → [phenomenon] 现象 現象) jíjiāng (jí·jiāng {is near/close to being} · {will soon be} 即将 即將) zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ ended · stopped 终止 終止).

English:

The Bible foretells the end of human conflicts. …by means of Armageddon, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) yùgào (yù·gào fore·tells 预/豫告 預/豫告), Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝) huì (will) tōngguò (tōng·guò through · passing → [passing through] → [through] 通过 通過)Quánnéng (Quán·néng All · Able → [Almighty] 全能) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝) de (’s 的) (big → [great] 大) rìzi (rì·zi {sun → [day]} · [suf for nouns] 日子)de (’s 的) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭), (also 也) jiùshì (jiù·shì exactly · is 就是)Hāmǐjíduōdùn (Armageddon 哈米吉多顿 哈米吉多頓)”, lái (come) zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ {to end} · {to stop} 终止 終止) yíqiè (yí·qiè {one (whole)} · {corresponding (set of)} → [all] 一切) wǔzhuāng (wǔ·zhuāng militarily · {dressed up} → [armed] 武装 武裝) chōngtū (chōng·tū {dashings → [clashings]} · {chimneys → [chargings]} → [conflicts] 冲突 衝突).

Categories
Culture Experiences Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

chuīxū

chuīxū (chuī·xū {puff → [boast; brag]} · {sigh → [praise]} → [boast; brag; lavishly praise oneself or others] 吹嘘 吹噓) ← 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.]

I have long especially liked 1 Corinthians 13. It contains counsel on what really does and doesn’t matter in life, an extensive description and definition of the most important kind of love, and a sublime discussion about the need to become complete, mature, as a person. As these apply to life in general, so too do they apply to our lives as Mandarin field language learners.

As Mandarin field language learners, it can benefit us greatly to consider what we can learn from 1 Corinthians 13, and along the way, we can also consider some of the Mandarin expressions used in that chapter in the current version of the Mandarin New World Translation Bible (nwtsty).

Tooting Your Own Horn?

This week’s MEotW, “chuīxū (chuī·xū {puff → [boast; brag]} · {sigh → [praise]} → [boast; brag; lavishly praise oneself or others] 吹嘘 吹噓)”, is used in verse 4 (WOL) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “_chuīxū_” in 1 Co. 13:4 (nwtsty, CHS+_Pīnyīn_ WOL)

(Dark mode for the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY (WOL) website, as shown in the above image, can be enabled in the Safari web browser by using the Noir Safari extension. Other web browsers may also have extensions with similar functionality.)

For comparison, here are the current English and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus renderings of 1 Corinthians 13:4:

English:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up,

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

📖 📄 📘 Ài (love), yǒu (has 有) nàixīn (nài·xīn {being (of/with) enduring} · heart → [patience] 耐心), yòu (also 又) réncí (rén·cí {is kind} 仁慈). Ài (love), (not 不) jídù ({is jealous} 嫉妒), (not 不) chuīxū (chuī·xū {does puff → [does brag]} · {does sigh → [does praise]} → [does brag] 吹嘘 吹噓), (not 不) zìdà (zì·dà {(does consider) self} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大),

The “chuī (blow; puff [→ [play (a wind instrument) | boast; brag | flatter | break off; break up; fall through]] 吹) in “chuīxū (chuī·xū {puff → [boast; brag]} · {sigh → [praise]} → [boast; brag; lavishly praise oneself or others] 吹嘘 吹噓) literally means “blow” or “puff”. For example, it’s used this way in “chuīhào (chuī·hào blow · {brass wind instrument} 吹号 吹號)”, which means “blow a brass instrument”, such as a trumpet. In “chuīxū (chuī·xū {puff → [boast; brag]} · {sigh → [praise]} → [boast; brag; lavishly praise oneself or others] 吹嘘 吹噓)”, “chuī (blow; puff [→ [play (a wind instrument) | boast; brag | flatter | break off; break up; fall through]] 吹) is used to effectively mean “boast” or “brag”, kind of a Mandarin version of “toot your own horn”.

The “xū (sigh; {breathe out slowly/gently} [→ [praise]]) in “chuīxū (chuī·xū {puff → [boast; brag]} · {sigh → [praise]} → [boast; brag; lavishly praise oneself or others] 吹嘘 吹噓) literally means “sigh” or “breathe out slowly/gently”. It can be used to effectively mean “praise”, and in this week’s MEotW, it’s evidently used to mean “praise oneself”.

Characters for the Bragging Rights?

A while ago, a young brother said to me that he felt that Chinese characters may be a test for us. I suppose he meant that characters may test our resolve and determination to serve Jehovah in spite of the presumably unavoidable difficulties presented by them. I replied to him that I think characters help show whether we are serving God in the Mandarin field out of pride, or out of love.

Why did I say that? Well, the truth is that, especially now, and more and more so as time goes on, the difficulties traditionally presented to us Mandarin field language learners by Chinese characters are usually avoidable—much of the organization’s core published Mandarin material is now available with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and more and more of its material is becoming available with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as time goes on. Also, more and more unofficial material with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is also becoming available.

So, if a Mandarin field language learner uses characters rather than Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), it is more and more becoming a choice, not a necessity. When faced with this choice of writing systems, pride will cause one to gravitate towards choosing the system that has difficulties—even if they are unnecessary and avoidable—that one can brag about overcoming, and that brings with it widespread social and cultural prestige that one can bask in. As Lǔ Xùn ((Lǔ Stupid; Rash (surname)) (Xùn Fast; Quick; Swift 迅) (pen name of Zhōu Shùrén, the greatest Chinese writer of the 20th cent. and a strong advocate of alphabetic writing)) explained:

In addition to the limitations of social status and economic means, our Chinese characters present another high threshold to the masses: their difficulty. If you don’t spend ten or so years on them, it’s not easy to cross this threshold alone. Those who cross over it are the scholar-officials, and these same scholar-officials do their utmost to make writing as difficult as possible because it makes them especially dignified, surpassing all other ordinary scholar-officials. …

…If the characters were easy to recognize and everybody could master them, then they would not be dignified, and the scholar-officials would lose their dignity along with them.

So, one of the main reasons why characters are the way they are, and why the Chinese people of the world in general have stuck with characters even though much simpler and more reasonable systems like Zhùyīn (Zhù·yīn {Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin] 注音 註/注音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) have been around for decades, boils down to pride. Chinese people may show pride in different ways than Westerners are used to, but, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, “proud is as proud does”. Does one keep using an old, overly complex system that one’s ancestors invented and that one has invested much time and effort into, even though a new system has become available that is objectively much simpler and better, and even though lives are at stake? That’s very evidently foolish human pride in action. If a Mandarin field language learner adopts the possibly Christendom-derived attitude of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” when it comes to characters, then that one will generally be following what turns out to be a prideful course.

The Great Wall of China

Why keep bashing your head against the Great Wall of characters when Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) makes available a way around it? When all is said and done (and written and read), could it be that the reason many do so boils down to pride?

Choices, Consequences

Of course, some situations call for a nuanced view. For example, one may still encounter situations in the Mandarin field in which certain material is only available in characters, so it’s still the practical course for one to learn as many characters as one reasonably can. However, what writing system does one choose to use when one can, and why?

Also, some in the Mandarin field have already been learning characters for so long that they can already recognize most of the ones they encounter, most of the time. So, such ones may feel that they may as well continue to struggle on with characters. However, with the inhuman number and complexity of characters, unfamiliar characters may still occasionally ambush even highly-experienced native Mandarin-speakers, let alone Mandarin field language learners. Also, even the best of us are still human, so we are all susceptible to occasionally being struck by character amnesia because of the aforementioned inhuman number and complexity of the characters.

Even more seriously, as even the young brother mentioned above acknowledged, experience shows that those who focus on learning characters often end up neglecting their Mandarin speech. This can, and often does, result in their not being able to speak Mandarin very powerfully or persuasively when trying to preach to or teach Mandarin-speaking people. However, linguistics (language science) and the Bible itself both testify that being able to “use speech that is easily understood” is a primarily important requirement in the preaching and teaching work that God has assigned to us.—1 Corinthians 14:8–11.

“Love…Does Not Brag”

In contrast to the prideful course chosen by many in the world, and perhaps unwittingly adopted by some in the Mandarin field, love will move one to, when possible, use the system that through its simplicity and elegance enables one to serve Jehovah and one’s Mandarin-speaking neighbours better, faster, regardless of how it is still often looked down on in the traditional popular culture. As the scripture says, “ài (love) (not 不) chuīxū (chuī·xū {does puff → [does brag]} · {does sigh → [does praise]} → [does brag] 吹嘘 吹噓)”.—1 Corinthians 13:4 (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus).