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Current Events History

bìnàn suǒ

bìnàn suǒ ((bì·nàn {avoiding; evading → [preventing; keeping away from; fleeing; escaping; hiding from]} · calamity; disaster; adversity; misfortune; trouble; distress → [taking refuge; seeking asylum] 避难 避難) (suǒ place 所) [refuge; asylum; sanctuary; haven; shelter]) ← 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, jw.org was featuring a breaking news item regarding the recent shooting at a Kingdom Hall in Hamburg, Germany. The Mandarin version of this makes use of this week’s MEotW, “bìnàn suǒ ((bì·nàn {avoiding; evading → [preventing; keeping away from; fleeing; escaping; hiding from]} · calamity; disaster; adversity; misfortune; trouble; distress → [taking refuge; seeking asylum] 避难 避難) (suǒ place 所) [refuge; asylum; sanctuary; haven; shelter]), which means “refuge”.

Related Expressions

Some other Mandarin expressions that use the morphemes in “bìnàn suǒ ((bì·nàn {avoiding; evading → [preventing; keeping away from; fleeing; escaping; hiding from]} · calamity; disaster; adversity; misfortune; trouble; distress → [taking refuge; seeking asylum] 避难 避難) (suǒ place 所) [refuge; asylum; sanctuary; haven; shelter]) (or related ones) are:

  • bìmiǎn (bì·miǎn {avoid; evade [→ [prevent; keep away from; flee; escape; hide from]]} · avoid; {refrain from} 避免)
  • kǔnàn (kǔ·nàn {being bitter → [hardship; suffering; pain]} · calamities; adversity; trouble; distress 苦难 苦難)
  • nán ({[is] difficult}; {[is] hard} | difficultly | {make difficult/difficulties})
  • nántí (nán·tí difficult · topic → [problem] 难题 難題)
  • bìhù suǒ ((bì·hù sheltering; protecting; shielding · protecting; guarding; shielding 庇护 庇護) (suǒ place 所) [sanctuary; asylum; haven; refuge])
  • Wángguó (Wáng·guó King’s · Nation → [Kingdom] 王国 王國) Jùhuì Suǒ ((Jùhuì Meeting 聚会 聚會) (Suǒ Place 所) [Hall])

Usage in a Scripture

The above-mentioned news item cites Psalm 9:9 (Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) WOL; Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus), which uses “bìnàn suǒ ((bì·nàn {avoiding; evading → [preventing; keeping away from; fleeing; escaping; hiding from]} · calamity; disaster; adversity; misfortune; trouble; distress → [taking refuge; seeking asylum] 避难 避難) (suǒ place 所) [refuge; asylum; sanctuary; haven; shelter]):

📖 📄 📘 Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華) huì (will) bìhù (bì·hù shelter · protect 庇护 庇護) bèi ([passive signifier] → [being] 被) yāpò (yā·pò pressed · coerced → [oppressed] 压迫 壓迫) de (’s 的) rén (persons 人), zuò (become 做) tāmen de ((tā·men him/her · [pl] → [them] 他们 他們) (de ’s 的) [their]) bìnàn suǒ ((bì·nàn {avoiding → [keeping away from]} · distress → [taking refuge] 避难 避難) (suǒ place 所) [refuge]);
Tāmen (Tā·men he/she · [pl] → [they] 他们 他們) zāoshòu (zāo·shòu encounter · {receive → [suffer]} 遭受) kǔnàn (kǔ·nàn {being bitter → [hardship]} · distress 苦难 苦難) shí ({(particular) times}),
Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor → [God]} → [God] 上帝) jiùshì (jiù·shì exactly · {will be} 就是) tāmen de ((tā·men him/her · [pl] → [them] 他们 他們) (de ’s 的) [their]) bìnàn suǒ ((bì·nàn {avoiding → [keeping away from]} · distress → [taking refuge] 避难 避難) (suǒ place 所) [refuge]).

Remember Job

As students of the Bible, we have come to understand that, just as it was in Job’s time, now, the last days of this old system of things, is not a time when Jehovah is physically protecting his people from all bad things. However, we can still turn to him for mental, emotional, and spiritual refuge, as Job could. Also, we know that, as in Job’s case, even the physical effects of the bad things that happen now will eventually be undone by Jehovah, when the time is right.—Job 1:7–22; 42:12–17; Revelation 20:12, 13.

Categories
Culture Current Events History

zhōunián

zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年) ← 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.]

February 24, 2023, a few days before the date of this post, was the one year anniversary of Russia’s sending of significant military forces into Ukraine, resulting in the largest scale open warfare in Europe since World War II. So, as of this writing jw.org is featuring the article “Ukraine War Enters Second Year—What Hope Does the Bible Offer?”, and this week’s MEotW is “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)”, the Mandarin word used in the Mandarin version of that article to translate the sense of “anniversary”.

Circles

Zhōunián (Zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)” literally means “circle (or whole; cycle) of a year”, and can be thought of as a year having gone full circle. Another use of the “zhōu (circumference; circle; ring; periphery [→ [whole; cycle] [→ [week]]] | {to circle; to make a circuit}周/週)” in “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)”, that also involves circles/cycles and time, is to mean “week”. Extending from that, “Zhōu’èr (Zhōu’·èr {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week(day)]} · Two → [Tuesday] 周二 周/週二)” means “Week(day) Two”, or “Tuesday”.

Note, though, that in this pattern, “Sunday” is notZhōuqī (Zhōu·qī {Circle → [Week(day)]} · Seven → [not used to mean “Sunday”] 周七 周/週七)”, but rather, “Zhōurì (Zhōu·rì {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week]} · {Sun → [Day]} → [Sunday] 周日 周/週日)”. Note also that regarding “Zhōurì (Zhōu·rì {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week]} · {Sun → [Day]} → [Sunday | weekday] 周日 周/週日)”, the excellent resource Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE) says:

weekday; Sunday; Apparently 周日 can mean either “weekday” or “Sunday”; it was used in w07 7/1 p.17 to mean “Sunday” (周六和周日 “Saturday and Sunday”; the Traditional version of wtl07 uses the variant 週 for 周) but in w95 7/15 p.29 and w93 11/1 p.31 it was used to translate “weekday” (i.e. non-Sabbath day in Israel), and g02 4/8 p.7 (5/8 in zh) uses 在周日 to translate “during the workweek”.

In addition to “Zhōurì (Zhōu·rì {Circle → [Cycle] → [Week]} · {Sun → [Day]} → [Sunday] 周日 周/週日)”, Mandarin dictionaries also list several other ways to say “Sunday”, some of which originated from Catholicism.

Not Regular Joes

The “zhōu (circumference; circle; ring; periphery [→ [whole; cycle] [→ [week]]] | {to circle; to make a circuit}周/週)” in “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)” is also used as a surname. For example, for hundreds of years, China was ruled by the Zhōu ({Circumference; Circle (surname)}周/週) dynasty.

A famous Zhōu ({Circumference; Circle (surname)}周/週) of more recent times was Zhōu Ēnlái ((Zhōu {Circumference; Circle (surname)}周/週) (Ēn·lái Kindness · Comes 恩来 恩來) (the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China)) (Wikipedia article), the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China, who served from October 1, 1949 until his death on January 8, 1976. An English translation of an interesting speech he gave in 1958 regarding some of the tasks that the PRC government faced relating to reforming the written language—such as simplification of the characters, popularization of pǔtōnghuà (pǔ·tōng·huà common; universal · {through(out) → [common]} · speech → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)] 普通话 普通話), and the creation and implementation of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)—can be found here, on the Pīnyīn.info website.

Usage Examples

In the above-mentioned jw.org Mandarin article, “zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [whole; cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年)” is used as follows:

📖 📄 📘 2023 Nián (Year年/秊) 2 Yuè (Moon → [Month] 月) 24 (Sun → [Day] 日) Xīngqīwǔ (Xīng·qī·wǔ {Star · {Period of Time} → [Week (Day)]} · Five → [Friday] 星期五) shì (is 是) (one 一) ge ([mw]個/个) cǎndàn (cǎn·dàn tragic · tasteless → [dismal] 惨淡 慘淡/澹) de (’s 的) rìzi (rì·zi {sun → [day]} · [suf for nouns] 日子), biāozhìzhe (biāo·zhì·zhe {marking (with)} · mark (that) · being → [marking that] 标志着 標志/誌/識着/著) Wūkèlán (Ukraine 乌克兰 烏克蘭) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭) mǎn ({had filled}滿) (one 一) zhōunián (zhōu·nián {circle → [cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年).

The Pleco app’s built-in dictionary provides these usage examples:

wǔshí zhōunián jìniàn ((wǔ·shí five · tens → [fifty] 五十) (zhōu·nián {circle → [cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年) (jì·niàn remembering · {thinking of} → [commemoration] 记/纪念 記/紀念) [golden jubilee])

yìbǎi zhōunián ((yì·bǎi one · hundred 一百) (zhōu·nián {circle → [cycle] of} · year → [anniversary] 周年 周/週年) [centenary])

Will There Be Another Anniversary?

For now, it seems uncertain how much longer Russia and Ukraine will continue to battle for. While many experts, including some Western experts, initially expected Russia might succeed in its initial plan to topple the Ukraine government in a few days, Ukraine has succeeded in holding out, and, with much Western support, has even conducted some successful counteroffensives in the last year. Russia continues to have significant combat power, however, and seems intent on continuing to pursue its goals in this war. Recently, the director of the CIA said the USA believes that China is considering providing lethal aid to Russia, perhaps in the forms of drones and ammunition. Meanwhile, Ukraine remains intent on completely driving out the Russian invaders, and many nations, including many Western nations, continue to provide it with ever more significant military support, now including advanced Western main battle tanks.

Regardless of how long this war may drag on, 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.

Categories
Culture Current Events History Theocratic

jiǎodù

jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [angle | point of view; perspective] 角度) ← 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.]

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, “jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [angle | point of view; perspective] 角度)”, occurs in the transcript for the video used in lesson 06, point 5 of this book:

Screenshot of “jiǎodù” in _Enjoy Life Forever!_ bk. lesson 06 point 5 _Pīnyīn_ Plus video transcript

The Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material for the sentence in the video in which “jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [angle | point of view; perspective] 角度)” occurs is as follows:

📖 📄 📘 Lìngwài (Lìng·wài separately · outside → [additionally] 另外), Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) zhōng (within’s 中) guānyú (guān·yú {closing → [relating]} · to 关于 關於) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor’s → [God’s]} → [God’s] 上帝) chuàngshì (chuàng·shì {initiating, creating of} · {generation → [world]} 创世 創世) de (’s 的) jìzǎi (jì·zǎi recorded · writing → [account] 记载 記載) shì (is 是) cóng (from) shēnghuó (living 生活) zài (on 在) dìqiú (dì·qiú earth · globe 地球) shang (upon 上) de (’s 的) rén (person 人) de (’s 的) jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [perspective] 角度) ({having gone} 去) miáoshù (miáo·shù {to be traced → [to be depicted]} · {to be related} → [to be described] 描述) de (’s 的).

Horns, Corners, and Angles

It’s interesting to consider some of the other expressions that use the morphemes in “jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [angle | point of view; perspective] 角度)”. The first morpheme, “jiǎo ({horn [→ [sth. horn-shaped]]} | corner | angle 角)”, seems to literally mean “horn”, and it is also used to refer to things that are shaped like a horn. Probably related to that, it can also mean “corner”, or “angle”. Some other expressions that include “jiǎo ({horn [→ [sth. horn-shaped]]} | corner | angle 角)” are:

  • sānjiǎo (sān·jiǎo three · {horns → [corners]} → [triangle; delta] 三角) [xíng (form; shape 形)]

    • Interestingly, while in the English-speaking world, we say that a triangle has three sides, Mandarin calls a triangle something with three corners (or perhaps angles).
    • Recall that in the MEotW post on “Dé’ěrtǎ (Delta 德尔塔 德爾塔)”, this expression was listed as one of the ways to say “Delta”—as in the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19—in Mandarin. (“Delta” is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, and its uppercase form (Δ) looks like a triangle.)
  • Fēizhōu zhī Jiǎo ((Fēi·zhōu Africa · Continent → [Africa] 非洲) (zhī ’s 之) (Jiǎo Horn 角) [Horn of Africa])
  • tiānyá‐hǎijiǎo ((tiān·yá sky’s · boundaries; edges → [remotest corners of the earth] 天涯)‐(hǎi·jiǎo sea’s · {horns → [corners]} 海角) [ends of the earth; remotest corners of the earth | separated worlds apart])

    • It turns out that there’s actually a real place called “Tiānyá (Tiān·yá Sky’s · Edge 天涯) Hǎijiǎo (Hǎi·jiǎo Sea’s · {Horn → [Corner]} → [Cape] 海角)”, called Cape Haijiao in English, in the vicinity of the city of Sānyà (Sān·yà Three · Inferiors → [Sanya, a city on Hainan Island, China] 三亚 三亞), which is on Hǎinán (Hǎi·nán Sea · South → [Hainan] 海南) Island in China.
    • The Wikipedia post on Sānyà (Sān·yà Three · Inferiors → [Sanya, a city on Hainan Island, China] 三亚 三亞) summarizes for us that:

      Sanya’s history dates to the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE). Due to its remoteness from the political centers during the Qin Dynasty, Sanya was sometimes called Tianya Haijiao (天涯海角), meaning “the end of the sky and ocean” or “the end of the earth”. As a result, the city served as a place of exile for officials who found themselves out of favor with the country’s rulers.

Degrees of…

(degree; extent; {degree of intensity} | {spend; pass (time)} | [mw for occasions/times] 度)”, the other morpheme in “jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [angle | point of view; perspective] 角度)”, can mean “degree(s)”, “extent”, or “degree of intensity”, among other things. Some other expressions that include it are:

  • chángdù (cháng·dù {being long → [length]} · degree; extent → [length] 长度 長度)

    • This expression occurs in the Mandarin Was Life Created? brochure, when it makes the point that “the Hebrew word translated ‘day’ can mean various lengths of time, not just a 24-hour period”. (Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) WOL; Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus)
  • sùdù (sù·dù {being fast; rapid; quick; speedy → [speed; velocity]} · degree → [speed; velocity; tempo; pace; rate] 速度)
  • wēndù (wēn·dù {(of) being warm} · {degree of intensity} → [temperature] 温度 溫度)
  • tàidu (tài·du state · degree → [attitude; manner] 态度 態度)

Same Character, Different Words?

One thing that came to light during the research for this post is that “角”, the character for the “jiǎo ({horn [→ [sth. horn-shaped]]} | corner | angle 角)” in “jiǎodù (jiǎo·dù {horn(-shaped thing) → [angle]} · degree → [angle | point of view; perspective] 角度)”, can also be pronounced “jué ”, “”, or “”. For example, it’s pronounced “jué ” in “juésè (jué·sè role; part; character · {colour → [[theatrical] role]} 角色 角/腳色)”, where it also means something completely different. (Oddly, the first morpheme in “juésè (jué·sè role; part; character · {colour → [[theatrical] role]} 角色 角/腳色)” can alternately be written with the character “脚/腳”, which, like “角”, can also be pronounced either “jiǎo” or “jué ”.)

This illustrates that the contention that characters are the best way to disambiguate (tell apart) the homophones in Mandarin is problematic. One of the problems is that many characters have multiple possible pronunciations and meanings. Even for a given pronunciation, a character can still have multiple possible meanings. (A classic example is “机/機 ( jī )”, as discussed in the MEotW post on “wēijī (wēi·jī {ridge of a roof → [dangerous | endangering]} · {incipient moment; crucial point | occasion} | {(for) ridge of a roof → [(for) danger]} · occasion; opportunity → [crisis] 危机 危機)”.) So, the way to tell what pronunciation and what meaning a particular character has basically involves taking the same approach that Mandarin-speakers routinely take to disambiguate homophones when speaking Mandarin—consider the context.

Another thing to ponder is that if two Mandarin expressions are pronounced differently and have different meanings, but are written with the same character, do they count as two different words? Or does being written with the same character override their differences and unite them to be one word? There are different viewpoints regarding what is a word in Mandarin, but I think these two Mandarin expressions should indeed be considered two different words that just happen to be written with the same character, because in linguistics (the scientific study of language), speech is primary and writing is secondary, so the different spoken pronunciations (and meanings!) trump being written with the same character. If you have a different take, please share your reasoning and supporting evidence in the comments.


For convenience:

The direct link for the current generation 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.