Tag: Ukraine War

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bǎixìng

bǎixìng (bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓) ← 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.]

With the deadly shooting wars now being fought in places like Israel and Ukraine, jw.org recently featured an article with the following title:

English:

Who Will Save the Civilians?—What Does the Bible Say?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zhànhuǒ (Zhàn·huǒ War · Fire → [Flames of War] 战火 戰火) Wúqíng (Wú·qíng {Not Having} · Feeling → [Being Heartless] 无情 無情), Shéi (Who 谁 誰) Lái ({Will Come} 来 來) Zhěngjiù ({to Save} 拯救) Wúgū (Wú·gū Without · Guilt → [Innocent] 无辜 無辜) de (’s 的) Bǎixìng (Bǎi·xìng {Hundred → [All]} · Surnames → [Common People] 百姓)?

This week’s MEotW is the last word in the above Mandarin title, “bǎixìng (bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓)”, which corresponds to “civilians”, or “common people”. And, as the Wikipedia page for this expression says:

The word “lao” (Chinese: 老; lit. ‘old’) is often added as a prefix before “baixing”.[source]

Origins?

“Bǎixìng (Bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓)” literally means “hundred surnames”. Regarding how a hundred surnames came to represent the people of China, the above-mentioned Wikipedia article claims:

A confederation of tribes living along the Yellow River were the ancestors of what later became the Han ethnic group in China.[source][source] Several large tribes, including the Huangdi tribes (Chinese: 黄帝族), Yandi tribes (Chinese: 炎帝族), and the Yi tribes, formed an alliance that consisted of roughly 100 tribes. This alliance is the origin of the baixing () or the “hundred surnames.”

Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but 19 of these surnames are used by about half of the Han Chinese people. About 87% of the population shares 100 surnames.[source][source]

Logically, as the population of the grouping of tribes that eventually became China grew, for a time there were fewer than one hundred surnames, for a relatively brief time there were exactly one hundred surnames, and then there were over a hundred surnames. Whether the particular claim above about there having been about a hundred early tribes is accurate, somewhere along the line, the idea may have taken root that one hundred surnames were generally representative of the people of China, especially if it’s true, as claimed above, that a hundred surnames covers about 87% of China’s population.

Another possibility is that the “bǎi (hundred [→ [numerous; all [kinds of]]] 百)” in “bǎixìng (bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓)” is used to effectively mean “all”, like it does in “bǎiwù (bǎi·wù {hundred → [all]} · things 百物)”. A similar expression is “wànwù (wàn·wù {ten thousand → [all]} · things 万物 萬物)”, in which “wàn ({ten thousand} [→ [all; a very great number of]] 万 萬/万)”, which literally means “ten thousand”, is used to mean “all”, or “a very great number of”.

Either way, as we can see from the above Mandarin jw.org article title, besides being used to refer to the common people of China, “bǎixìng (bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓)” is now also used to refer to the common people of other nations as well.

The Book of Family Surnames

The expression “bǎixìng (bǎi·xìng {hundred → [all]} · surnames → [common people | all existing surnames] 百姓)” is apparently referenced in the title of the classic Chinese text Bǎijiā Xìng ((Bǎi·jiā {Hundred → [Many; Various; All]} · Families’ 百家) (Xìng Surnames 姓) → [Hundred Family Surnnames/The Book of Family Names (classic Chinese text listing common Chinese surnames)]), which is the subject of the following summary from Wikipedia:

The Hundred Family Surnames (Chinese: 百家姓), commonly known as Bai Jia Xing,[source] also translated as Hundreds of Chinese Surnames,[source] is a classic Chinese text composed of common Chinese surnames. An unknown author compiled the book during the Song dynasty (960–1279).[source] The book lists 507 surnames.[source] Of these, 441 are single-character surnames and 66 are double-character surnames.[source] About 800 names have been derived from the original ones.[source]

In the dynasties following the Song, the 13th-century Three Character Classic, the Hundred Family Surnames, and the 6th-century Thousand Character Classic came to be known as San Bai Qian (Three, Hundred, Thousand), from the first character in their titles. They served as instructional books for children,[source] becoming the almost universal introductory literary texts for students (almost exclusively boys) from elite backgrounds and even for a number of ordinary villagers.

An example of the Chinese poem “Hundred Family Surnames” written in Chinese characters and in ʼPhags-pa script
Creative Commons Public Domain logo
An example of the Chinese poem “Hundred Family Surnames” written in Chinese characters and in ʼPhags-pa script (For more information on the ʼPhags-pa script, see the MEotW post on “cuò ({[is] alternating; staggered} [→ [[is] wrong; mistaken; incorrect; erroneous | missed | grinding; rubbing | moving to the side | mistake; error; blunder [→ [fault]]]] | {[is] interlocked and jagged} [→ [intricate]] 错 錯)”.)

Help for Dealing With the Easily-Offended?

Years ago, in the door-to-door work, I called on a Chinese man who had a double-character surname. Being a Chinese person who had grown up in Canada and who had not even heard of Qín Shǐhuáng ((Qín {Qin (dynasty)} 秦) (Shǐ·huáng Beginning · Emperor 始皇) (the founder of the Qín dynasty and the first emperor of China)) until I saw a movie about this remarkable historical figure when I was an adult, I was not familiar with the background of the relatively rare double-character surnames, so I innocently asked him about it. However, rather than being flattered by the interest and politely enlightening me, he chose to be offended that I didn’t know something about his background and culture that he had known since his childhood and just—unhelpfully—said something like, ‘Don’t you know about the history of China?’

Well, dear reader, after learning of Bǎijiā Xìng ((Bǎi·jiā {Hundred → [Many; Various; All]} · Families’ 百家) (Xìng Surnames 姓) → [Hundred Family Surnnames/The Book of Family Names (classic Chinese text listing common Chinese surnames)]) and the double-character surnames in it, perhaps you may be spared a similarly dreary experience in the ministry. (Since we seek to reach everyone in our territories, we can end up meeting all kinds of people, like Jesus did. Some of them may be proud, petty, and unpleasant, but then again, some of them may be sheeplike, hungry for the truth, and appreciative of our imperfect efforts.)

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Culture Current Events History Language Learning Science Technology

xuānchuán

xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Several MEotW posts, including last week’s post on “cì’ěr (cì’·ěr {stabs; pricks → [irritates; pierces]} · ear → [grating on the ear; jarring; ear-piercing] 刺耳)”, have mentioned propaganda. So, it seems that it’s about time to consider the Mandarin expression “xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳)”, which is often used to translate “propaganda”.

Morphemic Breakdown

The “xuān (declare; proclaim; announce 宣)” in “xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳)” means “declare; proclaim; announce”, and it also appears in expressions like “xuānbù (xuān·bù declare; proclaim; announce · declare; spread; announce; publish; proclaim 宣布 宣布/佈)”, “xuānjiǎng (xuān·jiǎng declare; proclaim; announce · {speak of → [explain]} 宣讲 宣講)”, “xuānyáng (xuān·yáng declare; proclaim; announce · {raise → [make known]} 宣扬 宣揚)”, etc.

The “chuán ({pass on}; {hand down}; spread; transmit [→ [summon]] 传 傳)” in “xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳)” means “pass on; hand down; spread; transmit”, and it also appears in expressions like “chuándào (chuán·dào spreading · way → [preaching] 传道 傳道)”, “Chuándàoshū (Chuán·dào·shū Spreading · Way · Book → [Ecclesiastes] 传道书 傳道書)”, “chuánjiǎng (chuán·jiǎng spread · {speak of; say; tell} [(that)] 传讲 傳講)”, “chuántǒng (chuán·tǒng {passed on} · {gathered together (things) → [interconnected system]} → [tradition | traditional] 传统 傳統)”, etc.

The above-mentioned morphemes in “xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳)” are both basically verbs, and “xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳)” itself is also basically a verb. However, it’s also used as a noun, making it a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun, in those cases.

How Bad Is It?

As mentioned in the excellent Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE) resource, “it seems 宣传 [xuānchuán] is a neutral word in Chinese (can be either positive or negative)”. Indeed, the morphemes that make up “xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring; proclaiming; announcing · {passing on}; spreading; transmitting → [conducting propaganda; propagating; disseminating; publicizing | propaganda] 宣传 宣傳)”, mentioned above, are themselves both morally neutral. Like any technology, whether the things that these morphemes represent result in good or harm depends on how they are used. Unfortunately, we are now living in the last days of a world ruled by Satan the Devil, a world filled with self-seeking people who totally would misuse anything that would potentially enable them to exert influence over other people.—2 Timothy 3:1–5; 1 John 5:19.

It should not be surprising, then, that the worldly Chinese governing authorities may at times disseminate what many would recognize as propaganda—biased, misleading distortions of the truth meant to promote certain viewpoints, political or cultural objectives, etc. Add to that how Eastern culture generally encourages people to conform to the group and not question authority, and it’s not surprising that many who grew up marinated in Chinese culture have come to just accept such propaganda as fact, as just the way things are in the Chinese world.

As for the West, even though it has more of a culture of questioning authority, it, along with the world in general that the Internet can reach, has been experiencing a rise in misinformation and disinformation. Social media and other technologies that have become available have given people more power to select what information they want to take in, and, egged on by engagement-seeking algorithms, many have unfortunately chosen to just focus on information sources that tell them what they want to hear, whether it’s true or not. As the Bible foretold long ago:

For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the wholesome teaching, but according to their own desires, they will surround themselves with teachers to have their ears tickled. They will turn away from listening to the truth and give attention to false stories.
—2 Timothy 4:3, 4.

As Jehovah’s people, we especially need to be wary of any worldly propaganda, because we want to be the true worshippers spoken of by Jesus, ones who “must worship with spirit and truth”.—John 4:23, 24.

Unfortunately, these days, even something as basically human as language gets politicized, so even just being language learners in the Mandarin field, we still need to watch out for worldly propaganda. Below are a couple of commonly accepted beliefs about the Chinese languages that are actually propaganda, not truth.

Propaganda About “Dialects”

“Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc. are just dialects of the one Chinese language.” The truth is that being mutually unintelligible, Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc. are really different languages, like French and English are different languages. The erroneous belief that Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc. are just dialects of the one Chinese language has been promoted by the worldly central governing authorities in China to bolster the idea that China is indeed one big happy political entity that should have a central government—them.

Historically, though, it wasn’t always the case that there was just one government over the land that China now occupies. That didn’t become the case until Qín Shǐhuáng ((Qín {Qin (dynasty)} 秦) (Shǐ·huáng Beginning · Emperor 始皇) (the founder of the Qín dynasty and the first emperor of China)) conquered the other Warring States—which were peers of his own state of Qín ({Qin (one of the Warring States)} 秦)—and became the first emperor of a forcefully unified China. If it wasn’t for this, China could conceivably have become like modern-day Europe, with several peer states which are recognized as having their own distinct languages and cultures.

So, there is no need to allow the idea that Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. are just dialects to sabotage our efforts to learn Mandarin well by making us think that we can just take Cantonese, etc. and twist it a little to get Mandarin—all we would get then is a twisted mess!

Propaganda and the Characters

“Chinese characters are the primary aspect of the Chinese languages.” The truth is that when it comes to human language, speech is primary, not writing.

However, given how so many people around the world are so enchanted with the visually intricate Chinese characters, some may feel that the characters give China a certain amount of cultural—and maybe even political—soft power. Many also feel that characters have a unifying effect on Chinese people, since they use characters to write even if they speak different Chinese languages, as explained above. Thus, many may also feel that there may be some political advantages to characters for China’s worldly central ruling authorities. So, they may thus be motivated to promote Chinese characters over, say, a system like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) that doesn’t have the same perceived visual and cultural pizzaz that the characters have, and that is only for Mandarin.

The truth is, though, that there is really no technical requirement for any language, Chinese or otherwise, to be written using Chinese characters—Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) works fine as a writing system for Mandarin without incurring the extraordinary costs in time and effort that the characters do, and separate but similar alphabetical systems can conceivably be designed and used for other Chinese languages as well.

Re the supposed unifying effect of the Chinese characters, there is not necessarily really much of a unifying effect among the Mandarin-speakers, Cantonese-speakers, Japanese-speakers, Korean-speakers, etc. who may use characters to write, any more than the use of the Latin alphabet unifies English-speakers, French-speakers, Italian-speakers, Mandarin-speakers, etc. who may use it to write. An especially stark current example of the relative insignificance of any unifying effect that a script or writing system may have is that unfortunately, Russia and Ukraine have hardly been unified because of their both using the Cyrillic script.

We who are Jehovah’s people in particular don’t need a product of human culture like the Chinese characters to unite us—we are united by the culture of spirit and truth from Jehovah God himself!—John 4:23, 24.

Don’t Be a Gullible “Tourist”!

As Jehovah’s people, let us make sure we are advancing the interests of God’s Kingdom, and not unwittingly serving the interests of worldly Chinese governments. As missionaries and rescue workers in the Mandarin field, and not just tourists (email me for login information, and include information on who referred you and/or what group/cong. you are in), let us be focused on what really helps us to do our God-honouring and life-saving work better. Let us not be misled by the self-serving xuānchuán (xuān·chuán declaring · spreading → [propaganda] 宣传 宣傳), the propaganda, from Satan’s world.

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Current Events History Theocratic

jūn

jūn ({armed forces}; army; troops [→ [military]] 军 軍) ← 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 the article “World Military Spending Surpasses $2 Trillion—What Does the Bible Say?”. Interestingly, the Mandarin version of this article uses a few different expressions to translate the sense of “military spending”:

  • jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) zhīchū (zhī·chū supporting · out → [spending] 支出)
  • jūnfèi (jūn·fèi {armed forces → [military]} · {expending → [expenditures]} 军费 軍費) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支)
  • jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支)
  • jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) huāfèi (huā·fèi {flowering of → [spending of]} · {expendings → [expenditures]} → [spending] 花费 花費)
  • jūnfèi (jūn·fèi {armed forces → [military]} · {expending → [expenditures]} 军费 軍費) zhīchū (zhī·chū supporting · out → [spending] 支出)

These all have in common the morpheme “jūn ({armed forces}; army; troops [→ [military]] 军 軍)”, which is this week’s MEotW.

Usage Examples

Here are a couple of examples of how the above expressions are used in the above-mentioned article:

English:

World military spending reached a record high of 2.24 trillion dollars (U.S.) in 2022, largely in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 2022 nián (year 年 年/秊) quánqiú (quán·qiú whole · globe → [worldwide] 全球) jūnfèi (jūn·fèi {armed forces → [military]} · {expending → [expenditures]} 军费 軍費) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支) yǐ (already 已) chuàng ({achieved (for the first time)} 创 創/刱/剏/剙) 2.24 wàn ({ten thousand} 万 萬/万) yì ({hundred million} 亿 億) (2.24 zhào ({trillion (traditional/Taiwan)} 兆)) Měiyuán (Měi·yuán American · {yuan’s (monetary unit of China) → [dollars’]} 美国 美國) xīn (new 新) gāo (high 高); zuì (most 最 最/㝡) zhíjiē (zhí·jiē {being straight} · connecting → [direct] 直接) de (’s 的) yuányīn (yuán·yīn origin · reason 原因) shì (was 是) Éluósī (Russia 俄罗斯 俄羅斯) rùqīn (rù·qīn entering · invading → [invading] 入侵) Wūkèlán (Ukraine 乌克兰 烏克蘭).

English:

“The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world”

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 “Jìnnián (Jìn·nián {close → [recent]} · years 近年) lái ({coming from} → [since] (them) 来 來), quánqiú (quán·qiú whole · globe → [worldwide] 全球) jūnshì (jūn·shì {armed forces → [military]} · affairs 军事 軍事) kāizhī (kāi·zhī {opening → [paying]} · supporting → [spending] 开支 開支) chíxù (chí·xù {has held} · {has continued} 持续 持續) zēngzhǎng (zēng·zhǎng increasing · growing 增长 增長), biǎomíng (biǎo·míng showing · {to be clear} 表明) wǒmen (wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) shēnghuó ({are living} 生活) zài (in 在) yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) yuè‐lái‐yuè ((yuè {jumping over} 越) (lái coming 来 來) (yuè {jumping over} 越)) → [more and more]) bù (not 不) ānquán (ān·quán safe · whole → [secure] 安全) de (’s 的) shìjiè (shì·jiè {generation → [world]} · extent → [world] 世界) zhōng (within 中).”

Jehovah of Armies

In the Bible, Jehovah God is sometimes called “tiānjūn (tiān·jūn heaven’s · armies 天军 天軍) de (’ 的) Tǒngshuài (Tǒng·shuài {Gathered Together (Things) → [Whole System]} · Commander-in-Chief 统帅 統帥) Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華)” (“Jehovah of armies”), which incorporates the “jūn ({armed forces}; army; troops [→ [military]] 军 軍)” used in the expressions listed above. For example, when he faced Goliath, David used this expression to show that he trusted in Jehovah God, not in human weapons.—1 Samuel 17:45 (English, Mandarin).

“tiānjūn de Tǒngshuài Yēhéhuá” in 1 Samuel 17:45 (NWT (nwtsty), WOL CHS+Pinyin)

Jehovah causes himself to become what he needs to be, and when he needs to lead his armies of angels into battle, he is invincible. In fact, the Bible records that one time, just one of Jehovah’s angels wiped out 185,000 enemy soldiers in one night. (2 Kings 19:35) When the time comes for “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”, all the prodigious military spending of all the human nations will not prevent them from being destroyed to clear the way for God’s Kingdom to make the earth into a peaceful paradise.—Revelation 16:14.