This is another chapter of Lao Zi's Dao De Jing (Formerly Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching). This is chapter 9, and talks about how overdoing things causes the reverse action of what was initally intended. Lao Zi talks about how it is better to withdraw or retire when satisfied with the results. Carrying on, or pushing for more than what was originally desired; that is both arrogant and will cause your cup to spill.

This is a proverb that Daoists take seriously and the French call Laissez-faire, which in English literally means "Let it be". Leave things to their own devices, get on with life and let everything be as it will be, without stressing.

A 41 year old Chinese man says he likes to relax by eating live snakes and washing them down with beer. Wen Xide of Wangzhuang village, Zhumadian, says he has been eating live snakes for 10 years.

He started by eating one to win a bet with friends for a packet of cigarettes.

"From then on I became addicted to eating live snakes," he said.

Wen demonstrats his habit in the street, chewing down two live snakes bit by bit over a bottle of beer.

"It's a bit smelly, but they're very delicious," Wen said.

Wen says his son is now following his lead and has eaten eight live snakes this year.

But Wang Tianming, a doctor specialising in digestion at a local hospital, said Wen could suffer nerve problems and risked infection from parasites.

This proverb talks of how one can be modest and create low expectations whilst delivering highly on promises. Yet again Confucius (孔夫子) is very wise, and says things that are picked up time and time again. As a marketer myself, the idea that you can overdeliver on promises and expectations is a powerful notion.

- Confucius

This proverb comes directly from Mark's China Blog in yesterday's post. It is about uphill struggles and challenges in one's life. Everyday I find new things which re-affirm in my mind that learning Mandarin is truly one of these struggles. But worth every second of it.

Todays proverb means to solve two problems through one action. This promotes effiency and the saying relates to adding value to certain decisions when it has extra or hidden benefits.

When a leader loses power, their followers become disorganised and often lose faith in the cause. The following phrase is now used to refer to people who ditch a lost cause because they weren't committed to it. The creators of a cause would however try and keep the cause afloat whereas the followers just there for the ride would just ditch it.

This proverb is likely to be used to describe fair weather friends, although in both cases is applicable.

树倒猢狲散
shù dǎo hú sūn sàn
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter

This is a quick post to help with your vocabulary when talking about things in time. This post relates to weeks, months and years. If you are wanting to talk about things in terms of Days please check my previous post.

This is a quote that summarises, the importance of snap decisions. People with good judgement and experience usually have an edge over others as they know the right time to start and finish, to buy or sell, to plant or harvest. People that make these decisions see the opportunities in front of them and seize them.

This is rather embarressing, and I feel like I have ruined a beautiful language. Whilst on the subject of reviewing my progress thus far. This was my first attempt at Chinese characters. Try and make out what it says. It is a fairly basic sentence. I will put the answer in white font, underneath the photo below of my handywork so you can check it.








Higlight the next few lines to see if you were right or if my writing was legible:

Whilst going over my first couple of lessons again tonight, I revisited some of the first things I learnt, and laughed when I realised my favourite Mandarin Phrase to say (so far) is the following, fairly menial sentence. The reason for it being my favourite is that it just flows nicely and sounds wonderful. This is my (anticlimatic, but) favourite spoken phrase in Mandarin.

The Chinese yo-yo (扯鈴 : chě líng) is a toy from China found dating back to the Ming dynasty; roughly 1386-1644 A.D. The Chinese yo-yo consists of two equally-sized discs connected with a long axle. It is kept spinning on a string tied to two sticks at either end. Each stick is held in one hand, and the yo-yo spins on the string inbetween.

In modern times, it is more commonly used as a children's toy and as a performance tool in juggling and sometimes in Chinese ethnic dance. It is possible to perform a large variety of tricks with the Chinese yo-yo which can be as easy as throwing the yo-yo up into the air or tossing it around the user's back.




The Chinese yo-yo has travelled around the world and even adapted to become a craze in the West, where it is called a diabolo in the UK and US and is commonly misspelled as diablo.

The diabolo is usually made of a rubbery plastic and is fairly flexible as opposed to its Chinese counterpart which was traditionally bamboo (although this made complex tricks difficult as it was so fragile) though more recently it's adapted a hard grooved plastic, much harder than we are used to with diabolos.



Aside the material, there are two main differences between the Chinese yo-yo and the diabolo. Firstly, the axle of the Chinese yo-yo is much longer than that of the diabolo. And secondly, the Chinese yo-yo has wheel-shaped discs, whereas the diabolo consists of two bell-shapes.

Some circus acts have adapted Chinese yo-yo within routines, Cirque du Soleil in their show Quidam had four young girls performing the Chinese yo-yo, incorporating backflips, dance and choreographed synchronisation of multiple Chinese yoyos. Culminating in the four young ladies clad in futuristic, silver-metallic dresses twirling them through the air while the acrobats themselves perform flips. I include a video of them performing from that show.

This is a quote that really questions the age of consumerism that we live in. Things cannot make us truly happy, it is ourselves that decides whether we are happy. Some people who have nothing are happier than people that have everything they could ever want will ever be. Most importantly they are content with what they have.