As I have been wasting time in between being insanely busy, I came across this great animation. I first want to Introduce you to the kickass Super Baozi.



Here is the first great Video of him beating up Sushi Man.

Super Baozi vs Sushi man from sun haipeng on Vimeo.

Dragon Fist from sun haipeng on Vimeo.

This is a proverb that is in use in many cultures. It is often used in circumstances where things are in short supply, such as limited edition things in shops. It also means that there is no preferential treatment or reservations for people that may have a better relationship.

This is a saying from Lao Zi's (老子), Dao De Jing (道德经). It follows on from my thoughts about silence yesterday.

Here are the 31 Daily Chinese Proverbs I published and translated into English, Hanyu Pinyin and Mandarin during August. I have compiled the here for your ease.


August 1st

This 4 character Chinese proverb is most often used in circumstances where it is thought that saying nothing is preferable to speaking. It can also used to describe the meditative thoughts of a person, that emptiness in the mind, which is useful or 'golden'.

In China reputation is extremely important. This proverb tells us not only is reputation important in humans but for everything to be. Face here is used metaphorically as in not loosing face (social custom). The Chinese, value reputation highly, thus creating this proverb.

You might use this proverb when someone behaves dishonorably (once or repeatedly), it can be said directly to that person giving advice or a warning in order to rectify or avoid something more.

I keep finding the odd phrase which when said makes me smile. It isn't that it is actually funny, nor that it sounds funny when in English, or that it is one of the funny things you will have seen written down.

It is just a nice sounding phrase that makes me smile, much like the previous post where I talked about my favourite sounding phrase, here is another one that similiarly is nice to my ears.

我是老师
wǒ shì lǎoshī

It means, I am a teacher. Funnily this week I got an email from someone telling me how much they had learnt through this site, and made me proud that I am making a difference to other people, (and not just helping myself motivate and learn Mandarin). So I guess in fact, wǒ shì lǎoshī. I am a teacher (of kinds). Though I still have a hell of a lot to learn myself, and thank everyone that has bee helping me along the journey so far.

-I am also not as good looking as the picture of a teacher that I found. :D

The way that phrase flows is what makes me smile. I think it must be the two third tones, followed by the homophone 'shi' that makes it so pleasant. To my ears, the third tone is still one of the best things about the language. Which is something I really struggled to get to terms with intially, but have grown to love it already. I will continue to post here my favourite phrases, and hopefully some of them will be better than this one.

This proverb is about how an animal, and by implication a person, will only do what it/he wants to do.

你可以牵着马去找水，但你不能强迫它去喝
nǐ kě yǐ qiān zhe mǎ qù zhǎo shuǐ, dàn nǐ bù néng qiǎng pò tā qù hē
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink

This proverbial saying is used to describe someone who is selfish and greedy. This idiom originates from Mencius, and is used in stark contrast to the philosophies of Yáng Zhū (杨朱) which according to Mencius is very much ‘Each for himself’.

一毛不拔
yī máo bù bá
'Stingy'

楊子為我, 拔一毛而利天下, 不為也.
Yáng Zǐ wéi wǒ, bá yī máo ér​ lì tiānxià, bù wèi yě .

Yang Zhu teaches to do things purely for the benefit of oneself. If plucking, bá (拔) ,a single feather, yī máo (一毛), would benefit the world, he would not, bù (不), do it.

- He is a stingy person. Don’t even think about asking him to lend money to help someone.

There is only one real formal way to say hello in Mandarin Chinese, and whilst you can translate literal meanings from many English greetings the only one that is used is 你好 (nǐ hǎo). Below are some introductory sentences, greetings, how to introduce yourself and how to say bye. There is a lot to take in here, but I hope it useful. Please suggest ways to continue conversations below in the comments.

I am...
我是...
wǒ​ shì​...

How are you?
你好吗
nǐ hǎo ma?

How are you doing?
你怎么样?
Nǐ zěnme yàng?

How are you today?
你今天好吗？​
nǐ jīntiān hǎo ma?

Did u sleep well last night?
昨晚睡得睡的好吗?
zúo​ wǎn shùi de hǎo ma?

I am Good
我很好
wǒ hěn hǎo

And You?
你呢？
nǐ ne?

Good Thank You
好谢谢你.
hǎo xiè​xie​ nǐ.

Nice to meet you!
幸会
Xìng huì!

The weather is nice today, isn't it?
今天的天气真好,是不是?
jīn​tiān​ de tiān​qì​ zhēn​ hǎo​, shì​bù​shì​?

Saying Hello at Different Times of Day


Good Morning
早上好
zǎo​shang​hǎo​

or

早安
zǎo ān
(literally 'early peace')
- mainly used in Taiwan

Good Afternoon
下午好
xià​wǔ​hǎo​

or

午安
Wǔ ān
- mainly used in Taiwan

Good Night
晚上好
Wǎnshàng hǎo

or

晚安
Wǎn ān
- mainly used in Taiwan


Saying Goodbye in Mandarin


I have to go now.
我必须走了。
wǒ bì xū zǒu le.

Goodbye
再见
zài​jiàn​

Byebye
拜拜
Bàibài

See You Later
回头见 jiàn
huí​tóu​

or

待会儿见
dài huìr jiàn

I need to go to sleep
我需要睡觉
wǒ​ xū​yào​ shuì​jiào​

See you Tomorrow
明天见
míng​tiān​ jiàn

A Chinese boy has stunned medics with his ability to SEE in pitch black with eyes that GLOW in the dark. Nong Youhui’s dad, Ling, was always concerned that Nong's eyes weren't 'normal'.

“They told me he would grow out of it and that his eyes would stop glowing and turn black like most Chinese people but they never did,” said Ling.

Medical tests conducted in complete darkness show Youhui can read perfectly without any light and sees as clearly as most people do during the day.

Experts believe he was born with a rare condition called leukodermia which has left his eyes with less protective pigment and more sensitive to light. The precise cause of leukodermia is very complex and not fully understood. It is known that as a result of this auto-immune disorder, eyes are more sensitive to light and without as much protective pigment as would be found in normal eyes.

Although this proverb brings up thoughts of English King 'King Canute' who tried to stop the tide by ordering it to. Although tide in this case refers to a period of time, remember the saying 'good tidings', the same is of course true of the sea, unless as a man your job is to build sea defences... in which case you could be said to be stopping the tide.

This proverb relaes to the idea that something is easily forgotten or dismissed as unimportant if it is not in our direct view. I have started to write down my goals more often so that I can regualrly remember what my goals are, and achieve them. I don't like letting myself down.

Qixi Festival (七夕節 qī xī jié) literally "The Night of Sevens" is also known as Magpie Festival or in more modern times Chinese Valentine's Day. It falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar, which this year happens to fall today.

On the Chinese Valentine's Day, people in love like to go to the temple of Matchmaker and pray for their love and the possible marriage in China. People still single will do the same thing to ask their luck of love in the Matchmaker temple.

The Chinese Valentine's Day is also called The Daughter's Festival. Long ago, Chinese girls always wanted to train themselves having a good handcrafting skill like the Weaving Maid. The skill is essential for their future family. Young girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband.

According to Chinese legend the love story is about the 7th daughter of Emperor of Heaven (织女 zhī nǚ) and an orphaned cowherd (牛郎 niú láng). They were separated by the Emperor. The 7th daughter was forced to move to the star Vega and the cowherd moved to the star Altair. The beloved couple, a cowherder and a weaver, are allowed to meet only once a year in heaven on this day.

In true Chinese style where superstition of numbers is incredibly strong; In Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, a large-scale festival will be held at the Huaqing Pool. Residents have been invited to contribute love stories, with 77 pieces, representing the seventh day of the seventh month, being read aloud. 77 couples will participate in a collective wedding ceremony, Tang Dynasty style.

Qixi Fesitval (七夕 qī xī "The Night of Sevens") sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar
and thus its name. The traditions of the Qixi Festival day follow this legend:

On the night sky of the late summer days the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky and the Chinese tell the following love story, of which there are many variations:

A young cowherd named Niu Lang (牛郎, "the cowherd", the star Altair) happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen next. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhi Nü (織女, "the weaver girl", the star Vega) to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niu Lang sees her naked she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niu Lang a good husband, and they are very happy together. But the Goddess of Heaven (in some versions Zhi Nü's mother) finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. (In another version, the Goddess forced the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to the mortal.) Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way separating Altair and Vega).

Zhi Nü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niu Lang watches her from afar and takes care of the two kids (his flanking stars β and γ Aquilae).

But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (鵲橋, "the bridge of magpies", Que Qiao) over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon.

Picture Source: AsiaThings