Tag: Steve Jobs

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zhōngzhǐ

zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ end; finish · stop; halt 终止 終止) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[This post is mostly a reposting of a post from about the same time last year. A bit of material was added to address recent developments, but otherwise, the Memorial is again approaching, the same article is again being featured on jw.org, and war continues to ravage humankind.]

[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.]

When he was the president of the United States, Joe Biden expressed that the US would back Ukraine in its war for “as long as it takes”. At the time of this writing, President Donald Trump, who had boasted that he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day, had been trying to do so for many days, with many doubting that Russia will lastingly abide by any peace agreement, considering its known history of not doing so.

Anyway, looking at the matter of war as a whole, it is evident that human governments will never be able to fully put to rest this destructive phenomenon—while World War I was called “the war to end all wars”, it didn’t actually accomplish this, and down to today, war continues to ravage humankind.

That is why this week’s MEotW, “zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ end; finish · stop; halt 终止 終止)”, is so remarkable. It appears in an article that is currently being featured on jw.org in connection with this year’s Memorial campaign, and that has the following title:

English:

Jesus Will End War

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Yēsū (Jesus 耶稣 耶穌) Huì (Will 会 會) Zhōngzhǐ (Zhōng·zhǐ End · Halt 终止 終止) Zhànzhēng (Zhàn·zhēng War · Contending → [War] 战争 戰爭)

Besides being used in the title of the article, “zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ end; finish · stop; halt 终止 終止)” is also used in the current Mandarin New World Translation Bible’s rendition of Psalm 46:9 (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus), which the article quotes from:

📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ {is ending} · {is halting} 终止 終止) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng wars · contendings → [wars] 战争 戰爭), píngdìng (píng·dìng {is making to be flat, level, even → [is making to be peaceful]} · {is making to be settled → [is making to be calm]} 平定) tiānxià (tiān·xià heaven · under → [the whole world] 天下);
Tā (he 他) zhé (breaks 折 折/摺) gōng (bow 弓) duàn (snaps 断 斷) máo ({(long) spear} 矛), shāohuǐ (shāo·huǐ burns · {to be destroyed} 烧毁 燒毀/燬) zhànchē (zhàn·chē war · vehicles 战车 戰車).

“End War? That’s Crazy!” Or, Is It…

The morphemes in “zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ end; finish · stop; halt 终止 終止)” mean “end; finish” and “stop; halt”. Is it crazy to think that something as deeply rooted in imperfect human nature as war can actually be ended or halted?

John Lennon and Yoko Ono with a sign saying “WAR IS OVER! IF YOU WANT IT Happy Christmas from John & Yoko”

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License logo Wasfi Akab [source]

John Lennon & Yoko Ono with one of their “WAR IS OVER!…” signs

Decades ago, John Lennon optimistically—or, perhaps, aspirationally—said, “war is over…if you want it.” Unfortunately, the intervening years have reminded us that while many do want war to be over, some, including world leaders with military forces at their command, don’t want that—they want to be able to use their military forces to try to get their way, which means war. And yet, someone has the audacity, the insanity, to claim to be able to actually end war. Is that truly insanity, though? Many Apple enthusiasts will remember the following quote, which was part of the “Think different” advertising campaign:

[Note: Unlike the televised commercial, which was narrated by actor Richard Dreyfuss, this video is narrated by Steve Jobs.]

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

The above was said in an Apple commercial that showed images of well-known humans, including John Lennon, who are widely acknowledged to have changed the world. If even some humans can change the world and accomplish things that people in general would consider “crazy” to even think about, how about the one who Psalm 46:9 says “is bringing an end to wars throughout the earth”, Jehovah God himself?

So “Crazy” That It’s True

Creation and the Bible both testify to the suprahumanly grand and extraordinary things that Jehovah has the power and wisdom to accomplish, and his chosen King Jesus, whose sacrificial death we will remember at the Memorial, is also no ordinary human. (Come to think of it, Jesus fits the above quote’s description of a “crazy one”. Indeed, Mark 3:21 says his relatives thought he had “gone out of his mind”.) As the above-mentioned article on jw.org says:

While on earth, Jesus showed great love for people, even to the point of sacrificing his life for them. (Matthew 20:28; John 15:13) Soon, he will again prove his love for people by using his authority as King of God’s Kingdom to bring “an end to wars throughout the earth.”—Psalm 46:9.

With the power and backing of Jehovah God himself, and with the assistance of “the armies in heaven”, Jesus will indeed end war, regardless of how “crazy” humans of this world may consider that goal to be. (Revelation 19:11–16) Then, people will be able to do more than just “imagine all the people living life in peace”, as John Lennon sang about—they will be able to actually see and live in the reality of a peaceful, global paradise!

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Culture History Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

zìdà

zìdà (zì·dà {(consider) self} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大) 👈🏼 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).

How Do We View Ourselves?

This week’s MEotW, “zìdà (zì·dà {(consider) self} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大)”, is used in verse 4 (WOL) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “_zìdà_” 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 爱 愛), 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 爱 愛), bù (not 不) jídù ({is jealous} 嫉妒), bù (not 不) chuīxū (chuī·xū {does puff → [does brag]} · {does sigh → [does praise]} → [does brag] 吹嘘 吹噓), bú (not 不) zìdà (zì·dà {(does consider) self} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大),

The individual morphemes in “zìdà (zì·dà {(consider) self} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大)”, which are relatively simple and well-known, literally mean “self” and “big”. When these morphemes are put together in “zìdà (zì·dà {(consider) self} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大)”, the resulting expression effectively means “(consider) self to be great”, corresponding, in 1 Corinthians 13:4 in the current English and Mandarin versions of the New World Translation Bible, with the English expression “puffed up”.

A Nation That Calls Itself “Central Nation”

As discussed in the MEotW post on “Zhōngguó (Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [China | Chinese] 中国 中國)”, “the people of China have long viewed their nation as central to the world that they knew, or cared most about, to the point that ‘China was the only culture to use the concept for its name’ ”:

The English translation of Zhongyuan as the “Middle Kingdom” entered European languages through the Portuguese in the 16th century and became popular in the mid-19th century. By the mid-20th century, the term was thoroughly entrenched in the English language, reflecting the Western view of China as the inward-looking Middle Kingdom, or more accurately, the Central Kingdom or Central State. Endymion Wilkinson points out that the Chinese were not unique in thinking of their country as central, although China was the only culture to use the concept for its name.[source]

This cultural trait is such a thing that there are several words and concepts related to it, including “Sinocentrism”.

While many worldly Chinese people think nothing of calling their nation “Central Nation”, or think that this is only natural considering China’s history, many cultures consider calling oneself the centre of the world to be puffed up, overly and offputtingly self-important. As a Chinese person, I find this proud, self-centred aspect of worldly Chinese culture to be regrettable. Note that this characteristic should not be taken as a stereotype to be applied to all individual Chinese people, since each individual is different. However, it does tell us something about part of the true nature of worldly Chinese culture.

The Mark of B Players and Bozos

When it comes to writing systems, the zìdà (zì·dà {(consider) selves} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大) attitudes of many people in China unfortunately motivated them to act as B players, as described by Steve Jobs. The MEotW post on “gāo’ào (gāo’·ào {[is] (considering self to be of) high (status)} · {[is] proud; haughty; arrogant} 高傲)” discusses this:

The below quote was recently added to the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Was Plan A”:

This tendency of many to prioritize their own pride and position over what’s really better for everyone is also described in this quote from Guy Kawasaki about something he learned from Steve Jobs:

A players hire A+ players. Actually, Steve believed that A players hire A players—that is people who are as good as they are. I refined this slightly—my theory is that A players hire people even better than themselves. It’s clear, though, that B players hire C players so they can feel superior to them, and C players hire D players. If you start hiring B players, expect what Steve called “the bozo explosion” to happen in your organization.

Yes, Pīnyīn was Plan A, but China unfortunately let the proud, self-serving B players have their way.

Note that what makes someone a B player or worse is not necessarily that person’s level of intelligence, skill, talent, etc. What characterizes B players or worse is their proud, self-serving rejection of others who are better in some way, their need to feel superior to others.

Yes, rather than embracing Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as the way forward for the benefit of all, as it deserves to be embraced based on its technical merits, many worldly Chinese people showed a zìdà (zì·dà {(consider) selves} · {to be big → [to be great]} 自大) attitude and stuck with the characters that they had personally invested heavily in, and that brought them status and glory in the status quo.

Jesus Loves Those Who Are Humble Like Children

At Luke 22:25, 26, Jesus himself explained what it takes for one to be viewed by him and his Father as a truly great A player, and not an inferior B player:

But he said to them: “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those having authority over them are called Benefactors. You, though, are not to be that way. But let the one who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the one taking the lead as the one ministering.

Also, Luke 9:46–48 says this about Jesus:

Then a dispute arose among them about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a young child, stood him beside him, and said to them: “Whoever receives this young child on the basis of my name receives me also; and whoever receives me also receives the One who sent me. For the one who conducts himself as a lesser one among all of you is the one who is great.”

Chinese character chauvinists often say that Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is for children. Well, according to Jesus’ words above, that would be fine with him, even if that were true! When this matter is examined in the light of first principles of linguistics (language science), though, it becomes obvious that it’s categorically not true that Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is just for children—Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) works fine for people of all ages as a full writing system for Modern Standard Mandarin, including its most complex and advanced expressions. So, anything that can be spoken and understood in Modern Standard Mandarin can be written and understood in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), regardless of the ages of those involved.

As Mandarin field language learners who are dedicated to, and who glorify, the true God Jehovah, let us not unthinkingly adopt the thinking and attitudes of proud, self-centred, self-glorifying worldly people, regardless of what human nation they come from. Remember, we are here in the Mandarin field, not to be gullible, unquestioningly admiring tourists (email me for login information, and include information on who referred you and/or what group/cong. you are in), but to be missionaries and spiritual rescue workers in this world that Jehovah God views as a spiritual disaster area.

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Culture Experiences History Technology

shūfǎ

shūfǎ (shū·fǎ writing · methods; ways → [calligraphy; penmanship] 书法 書法) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Many know “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)” as the Mandarin word for “book”, but it actually has an old meaning of “write”. From “write” is derived “writing”, and from that, it’s easy to see how “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)” has come to have its modern meanings of “book”, “letter”, and “document”. For example, “shūxiě (shū·xiě write | writing 书写 書寫)” means “write” or “writing”, “Yǐsàiyàshū (Yǐsàiyà·shū Isaiah · {Writing → [Book]} 以赛亚书 以賽亞書)” is the Book of Isaiah, and a “qíngshū (qíng·shū {feelings; affection; emotion → [love]} · {writing → [letter]} 情书 情書)” is a love letter. Yet another effective meaning of “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)”, that can be derived from its meaning of “writing”, is “style of calligraphy”, or “script”.

The “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” in “fāngfǎ (fāng·fǎ direction · method 方法)” can mean “methods; ways”, and when it’s combined with “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)”, we get this week’s MEotW, “shūfǎ (shū·fǎ writing · methods; ways → [calligraphy; penmanship] 书法 書法)”. This expression literally means “writing methods/ways”, and it is used to effectively mean “calligraphy”.

Eastern and Western Calligraphy

Calligraphy that involves the artistic writing of Chinese characters, as practised in Asian cultures, is well-known and highly esteemed. However, does calligraphy only exist in Asian cultures? Are beauty, artistry, and craftsmanship the exclusive province of Chinese characters? Is Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) only able to be cold, efficient, and artless, since it lacks the arguably self-indulgently complex visual designs of Chinese characters? No, no, and no! The fact is that there is a long history—and yes, tradition—of calligraphy involving the Latin alphabet, the alphabet that was deliberately chosen for Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) by the Chinese team that developed it.

This reminds us that while the Latin alphabet used by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) may have originated outside of China, its adoption for use in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) for writing Mandarin Chinese makes it part of Chinese culture. As the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Is a Good, Workable Writing System on Its Own” puts it:

While Pīnyīn uses the Latin alphabet, it does so because the Chinese developers of Pīnyīn of their own free will purposely chose to base it on this international alphabet (it’s not just the English alphabet) so that users of Pīnyīn would benefit from its familiarity. This Chinese design decision has caused the international Latin alphabet to be adopted as part of Chinese culture. As Zhōu Ēnlái (the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China) said, ‘When we adopt the Latin alphabet, in which we make necessary adjustments to suit the needs of the Chinese language, it becomes the phonetic alphabet of our language and is no longer the alphabet of ancient Latin, still less the alphabet of any foreign country.’

So, since Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) has both Eastern and Western aspects, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) calligraphy would be both Eastern and Western calligraphy.

Calligraphy and Computer Fonts

In the modern world of computing, handwritten calligraphy has been augmented by computer fonts, which enable the billions of users of desktop and laptop computers and mobile devices to enjoy and benefit from the work of artists and designers who work with text and typography.

Incidentally, some of you may have noticed that there are way fewer fonts available for Chinese characters, compared to the overflowing cornucopia of fonts available for the Latin alphabet. This is undoubtedly yet another negative consequence of the simple fact that there are literally thousands of characters in common use that would have to be supported by any font for Chinese characters that’s intended to be usable in daily life, never mind the tens of thousands of Chinese characters that exist in total.

An interesting thing that some may not know is that calligraphy influenced the development of modern computer font design and technology. Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, maker of the iPhone, the iPad, the Macintosh personal computer, etc., said the following in the Stanford Commencement address that he gave in 2005:

Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.

Time-Lapse Videos of Calligraphed MEotWs

Another way in which modern computing has augmented handwritten calligraphy is by supplying new tools for this ancient craft. A while ago, I acquired the app Procreate for my iPad, and more recently, I also bought an Apple Pencil on sale. As time allows, I hope to be able to put my old hobby of calligraphy to use, and use Procreate to create time-lapse videos, like the one near the beginning of this post, of certain MEotWs being hand-calligraphed. Hopefully these amateur efforts of mine will add a little artistry and craftsmanship for readers of this blog to enjoy.

The Truly Precious Things of All the Nations

The calligraphy produced of Chinese characters is a major aspect of what some fear would be lost if the hypothetical total replacement of characters with something as “mundane” as an alphabet were ever to take place. However, first of all, with how proud and stubborn worldly Chinese people are when it comes to their precious characters, there is little likelihood of that actually happening in the little time that this old system has left. (There’s probably just about as much likelihood that all the Catholics or all the Buddhists will come into the truth before the end comes!) As the MEotW post on “Yànwén (Yàn·wén {Proverb (Korean: Vernacular)} · Writing → [Hangul/Hankul (modern Korean writing system)] 谚文 諺文)” (the modern Korean writing system) said:

If Hangul took hundreds of years to become the dominant writing system in Korea, even with the added nationalistic motivation of it having been invented in Korea to be used instead of the characters invented in China, then Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) could take even longer to become the dominant writing system for Mandarin, if it ever does, and if this old system were hypothetically allowed to last that long—the supporters of invented-in-China Chinese characters are even more proudly and stubbornly resistant to the idea of changing away from Chinese characters in China itself.

At this rate, the current government of China, as long as it lasts, will probably never explicitly officially approve of using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as a full writing system for Mandarin in China, even if it’s just as an alternative to the characters instead of as a total replacement for them. Even if it actually wanted to do so, even this government would hesitate to approve of something like this that would probably be opposed by many of the people of China. (As a historic comparison, in 1977, the PRC promulgated a second round of simplified Chinese characters, but this was rescinded in 1986 following widespread opposition.)

The existence of much calligraphy based on the Latin alphabet that is used by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and many other writing systems reminds us that art and beauty do exist apart from Chinese characters. As for the precious things of China and Chinese culture, while humans may point to Chinese characters and the calligraphy based on them, what is truly precious about China in Jehovah God’s eyes? This quote from the September 2021 issue of The Watchtower reveals the answer as it discusses Haggai 2:7–9:

He tells us that as a result of the shaking, “the precious things [honesthearted people] of all the nations will come” to worship Jehovah.

Yes, to Jehovah God, the truly precious things of China are the honesthearted people in it, not the cultural products of any part of this old world that is passing away.—1 John 2:15–17.

While culture can definitely influence the people that are exposed to it, ultimately, people don’t come from culture. Rather, culture comes from people. So, let us focus on helping to save honesthearted Chinese people, not on trying to save the old world’s Chinese culture. Then, we will be able to enjoy the beautiful cultural products that these people will produce for eternity, as they live forever in paradise in God’s new system. Those cultural products will greatly surpass anything ever produced by this old world’s Chinese culture in its relatively brief (compared to eternity) and troubled existence, as the Chinese people who are able to live in the new system join the rest of God’s universal family in being “taught by Jehovah”. (Isaiah 54:13) As Haggai 2:9 says, “the future glory…will be greater than the former”.