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:
📖📄📘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 & 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.
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!
Citing national security concerns, the American government recently passed a law banning the popular social media app TikTok. Ironically (some would say hilariously), many American TikTok users, whom many are calling “TikTok refugees” (“TikTok nànmín
(nàn·mín
calamity · {persons of a certain occupation} →[refugees]
难民
難民)”), have defiantly responded in protest by migrating to an even more overtly Chinese social media app, Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) (also called RedNote), in such numbers (more than 700,000 in just two days) that Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) became the most-downloaded free app on Apple’s US App Store for a while.
On Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書), many regular Chinese people have found it moving and rewarding to be able to make friends with regular American people, and vice versa. Many Americans have even expressed and shown interest in learning Mandarin to better connect with their new Chinese wǎngyǒu
(wǎng·yǒu
{net → [network] → [Internet]} · friends
网友
網/网友) (Internet friends).
With all this happening on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書), the topic of “Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華)”, this week’s MEotW, has come up. This expression is a person’s name, with “Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)”, which literally means “Plum”, being the surname, and a very common one at that. “Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華)” is an interesting expression that is discussed in the MEotW post on “Huáyǔ
(Huá·yǔ
{Magnificent; Splendid; Flowery; Florescent → [Chinese]} · Language →[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Singapore)]
华语
華語)”.
So, why are people on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) talking about Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華)?
Imaginary Pen Pals Magically Coming to Life
Here is a TikTok video containing this week’s MEotW, that explains how many Chinese Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) users feel about all the American people who have recently joined the app:
(For any who cannot access this video, the gist is that when taking exams, students in China often encounter a question that asks them to assume the role of Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華) and write a letter in English to an imaginary foreign pen pal, perhaps about Chinese cuisine or some other topic related to China. So, for many Chinese people, encountering so many Americans and their comments on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) recently feels like the imaginary foreign pen pals they wrote to so many times over the years as Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華) magically came to life and finally wrote back. She concludes by saying, “Thank you for coming over, trying to post in our language, talking to us, interacting with everyone. It makes us feel like we’re not alone in this world. After all, we’re all human, and deep down, humans are more alike than we’re different.”)
After a while, I was also able to find the same video on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書), so here it is coming from there, as a backup in case TikTok really ends up going away and not coming back for users in America or other places:
Here are some of the comments on TikTok in response to this video:
Many of us spent our childhoods “digging to China” in sandboxes, on beaches and in backyards. We were always meant to be friends, Li Hua. 🩵 so much love from all of us
Dear Li Hua, sorry we couldn’t write back sooner! Our bosses are kinda jerks. But we’re working on that! We’re all really happy to see your lives and pets and culture! Love, your American pen pal ❤️
Why am I crying so much at this story 🤧 I felt it would be disrespectful to invade your space but hearing this other side of things, I’m gonna join rednote now and start learning mandarin.
I’m learning mandarin on Duolingo. So far, I can only order hot water and soup. I’m so excited to one day be able to speak your language as beautifully as you speak mine. 🥲
Here is a video I found on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書), with a reply from the American side to Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華):
As an example of the cross-cultural exchange taking place, here is another video that I found on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書), by a fellow who very likely had often written letters as Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華) when he was in school:
[The original post can be found here. Here is a rough translation of the introductory blurb: “40-year-old middle-aged retired military officer’s only post-retirement joy; among family members who understands?”]
Wild Beasts and a Great Wall
Unfortunately, as alluded to above, the politics of this Devil-ruled world, with its bitter and sometimes murderous power struggles, work to divide people, in spite of how people naturally desire to make friends and live in peace (and enjoy music). While many Chinese people on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) feel like a Lǐ
({Plum (surname)}
李)Huá
(Flower →[Magnificence; Glory; Splendour; Florescence | Best Part; Cream | Times; Years | China] | Flowery →[Magnificent; Splendid; Glorious; Florescent | Prosperous; Flourishing | Flashy; Extravagant | Chinese]
华
華) who after many years actually got replies from foreign pen pals, and while many American people who just joined Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) feel like they finally got to China and met some really nice, friendly people after digging holes to China as kids, their respective governments are in God’s eyes like wild beasts competing for territory and influence, warily circling each other, and preparing for vicious, bloody battle. (Indeed, even in the world, the USA is often symbolically portrayed as an eagle, and China is often symbolically portrayed as a dragon.)
The proud human cultural tradition mandating the use of the abnormally difficult-to-learn-and-remember Chinese characters to write Mandarin also puts a Great Wall between Chinese people and Mandarin learners in other nations who would like to write text messages to each other, leave comments on social media posts, etc. Many turn to tools like Google Translate for help, but these are really just coping mechanisms, band-aid solutions, while the basic problem of the characters remains.
Chinese characters continue to act as a Great Wall dividing people who naturally want to be friends.
Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) technically works as a simple, easy-to-learn full writing system for reading and writing Mandarin, so it is technically ideally suited for texting, commenting, etc. Unfortunately, though, the stubbornly embedded traditional cultural primacy of characters and the related cultural prejudice against Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) will dissuade most people from beneficially using Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) in these ways. (Question: As Mandarin field language learners who are trying to walk on the narrow road to life, and who are doing a life-saving work to help other people also get on this narrow road, should we always limit ourselves to being like most people?—Matthew 7:13, 14.)
(In my limited time so far on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書), I have happened to come across a couple of comments containing Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音). One of these comments (from a user in the United States) renders the same message in English on one line, in simplified Chinese characters on another line, and then in Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) on yet another line, Rosetta Stone-style. The Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) is even well-formatted, not just as with a pronunciation aid, but as with a full writing system, with tone marks, word separation, and punctuation.)
As shown above, audio and video technology also now enable people to just talk (and sing!) to communicate across distance and time. However, even in this regard, many Mandarin learners have allowed the visually intricate characters to stunt their Mandarin speech skills by distracting them from properly focusing on invisible sound, which is what Mandarin speech (and singing!) is actually made of. As discussed in other MEotW posts, this is effectively linguistic idolatry.
Spiritual Family in the Mandarin Field
As Mandarin field language learners, this whole situation with regular Chinese and American people enjoying meeting and making friends with each other on Xiǎohóngshū
(Xiǎo·hóng·shū
Little · Red · Book →[a Chinese social networking platform, commonly known in English as RedNote]
小红书
小紅書) may remind us of all the wonderful new friends we made when we joined the Mandarin field. As Jehovah’s people serving in the Mandarin field, or in any congregation or group with people from different cultural backgrounds, we are not only aware of the possibility of making friends with people of other nations and cultures, we also know that every human being is really part of the one human family descended from the same ancestors and created by God. Additionally, we know that Jehovah has assigned us to help people from all the nations to join us in his spiritual paradise, in which they can become our spiritual brothers and sisters and live in peace with us forever on a paradise earth. (Matthew 28:19, 20) Let us, then, not let the world’s politics or human traditions prevent us from doing this life-saving, uniting, God-assigned work as well as we ought to.
zǒuxiàn
(zǒu·xiàn
walk · {[(on)] thread → [line]} →[take the journey taken by Chinese migrants, esp. across the Darién Gap to reach the USA]
走线
走線/綫) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
I recently listened to an episode of the Drum Tower podcast entitled “Why Chinese migrants are crossing dangerous jungle to reach America” (posted on Oct. 8, 2024). In it, Alice Su, senior China correspondent for The Economist, explains that “zǒuxiàn
(zǒu·xiàn
walk · {[(on)] thread → [line]} →[take the journey taken by Chinese migrants, esp. across the Darién Gap to reach the USA]
走线
走線/綫)”, this week’s MEotW (which has its very own Wikipedia page), is the expression used by certain Chinese migrants to refer to their intended journey, which for many involves flying to Ecuador in South America, crossing the wild stretches of the Darién Gap, and carrying on to the United States of America. As said in the podcast:
News anchor [00:01:03] The infamous Darien Gap on the border between Colombia and Panama is the only route between South and North America. Those attempting to cross it risk robbery and death.
Alice Su [00:01:17] This route is taken by many desperate migrants from countries torn apart by war, crime, and poverty. But in the last few years, more and more Chinese people have been taking this route to reach the U.S. too. Last year, there were more than 37,000. That’s nearly ten times more than the year before, and 50 times more than the year before that. And that surprised me, because China is a superpower. It’s the second largest economy in the world. It’s at peace, and it’s strong enough to challenge America for global dominance. I wanted to understand who are these Chinese migrants? What is driving them out of China, and what awaits them in America?
[Note 2024-12-19: As SB points out in the comments below, evidently “zǒuxiàn
(zǒu·xiàn
walk · {[(on)] thread → [line]} →[take the journey taken by Chinese migrants, esp. across the Darién Gap to reach the USA]
走线
走線/綫)” “can also apply to other illegal immigration routes into other countries”, and so this post has been revised accordingly. Still, apparently people are mostly using it to refer to taking the journey through the Darién Gap to reach the USA, to the point that the Wikipedia page about this phenomenon currently only mentions this route. Of course, as many know, while Wikipedia often provides a useful starting point for research, it is neither completely comprehensive nor always right.]
The Same Words, Different Meanings
On a certain level of literalness, the morphemes in “zǒuxiàn
(zǒu·xiàn
walk · {[(on)] thread → [line]} →[take the journey taken by Chinese migrants, esp. across the Darién Gap to reach the USA]
走线
走線/綫)” mean “walk (the) line”. This may remind country music fans of the Johnny Cash song “I Walk the Line”, in which the protagonist sings of his determination to remain faithful to his wife. This accords with one of the English meanings of “walk the line”:
To behave in an authorized or socially accepted manner, especially as prescribed by law or morality; to exercise self-control.
The contrast of this meaning with that given by the above-mentioned Chinese migrants to “zǒuxiàn
(zǒu·xiàn
walk · {[(on)] thread → [line]} →[take the journey taken by Chinese migrants, esp. across the Darién Gap to reach the USA]
走线
走線/綫)” is a classic example of how the same words can have different meanings in different cultural and historical contexts. That’s one reason why communicating with Mandarin-speaking people and reaching their hearts involves more than just learning vocabulary words and memorizing characters.
“Sheep Without a Shepherd”
As a Mandarin field language learner, listening to some of the experiences of the Chinese migrants interviewed in the above-mentioned podcast may remind you of Jesus’ words at Matthew 9:36:
On seeing the crowds, he felt pity for them, because they were skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd.
Whether they know it or not, these people need to hear the good news of God’s Kingdom! Let us continue to do our best, then, to join in and to help answer the call that Jesus included in his next words, recorded in verses 37 and 38 of the same chapter:
Then he said to his disciples: “Yes, the harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
