User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

There is a phrase in Confucius:

不孝有三，無后為大.

It basically means that of the three major ways of being a bad son, the worst is to leave no heirs. Historically, this has been used as a condemnation of homosexuality.

Funny how modern people can be so heavily influenced by thousand year old codes of behavior. Californian poddies, you have my sympathy over the recent passage of Proposition 8.

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Hi crandles,

Thanks for your insights. We're delighted to benefit from your erudition.

I haven't heard of the Hinsch book you mentioned, but I guess the English title comes from the phrase  断袖之癖 -- duan4xiu4zhi1pi3, in which I would translate 癖 more as a craving or compulsion.

In any case, it's based on a story about the Emperor Han Aidi 汉哀帝. Waking up from a nap, he discovered that his long shirtsleeve was pinned underneath his male lover. Rather than awaken his lover, he gently snipped the fabric away, and let the boy sleep. These days, 断袖之癖 refers to male or female homosexuality.

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Hi all,

It's wonderful to see all the positive feedback and mutual support.

A good compromise for poddies uncertain about whether to learn traditional or simplified characters is to study simplified characters, and also the 214 traditional radicals. There are a lot of shared elements. And learning vast numbers of characters is far more manageable if you know the radicals.

The books I used to study radicals were Peng's Chinese Treasury Series. I'd give them an 8/10 for being effective but a bit dry. If other poddies have used better ones, we'd all be glad to hear about them.

Posted on: Agreement on Exclusive Representation

Hi reen,

Your dictionaries are right. This is a 多音字. Here are the official pronunciations by usage.

雇佣(verb.)   gùyōng
佣工(n.)    yōnggōng
女佣 (n.)   nǚyōng

俑金（n.)    yòngjīn

However, the rules are not hard and fast. A quick, unscientific poll of ChinesePod's staff revealed that some people prefer 1st tone, others 4th.

Posted on: Going to Church

Hi stanimal

To our English-trained ears, the 每个...都 construction does often seem excessive. But it sounds very weird in Chinese to leave the 都 off. The 都 gives emphasis. I guess we could point to similar cases of "overkill" in French, for example, with "ne...pas."

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 5: Wang Tries to Excel at the Office

Hi rash

Good suggestion, duly noted. A lot of Chinese people, especially those who have studied abroad, do prefer to use the English versions of software because the Chinese translated terms can be very unclear. But there is surely value in being able to intelligently discuss these effects, processes, etc. in Chinese.

Thanks for the idea. Keep 'em coming!

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 5: Wang Tries to Excel at the Office

Hi emberswift

The “eh" for 吧 is fine. If the sentence used 吗 it would totally be a question (疑问）. The use of 吧 shows what you think should have happened. You are asking for confirmation, instead of just plain asking. 

To find a Chinese approximation of ”desktop publishing,” Connie，Jiaojie and I 绞尽脑汁了. The best we could come up with was 打开那个设计软件 or 画图软件. Although publishing was invented in China, the vocab for desktop publishing is a little cumbersome.

Finally, 说不清 is not another way of saying 说得不清楚。说不清 means "unable to explain （or be explained) clearly" as opposed to the statement 说得不清楚 "did not explain it clearly."

Thanks for your questions. Keep 'em coming!

Posted on: Sound Check

Hi tage

We aim to please!

Posted on: 义气

Hi tvan

Yes, the point of the Advanced and Media lessons is to challenge poddies who are already very proficient. There are also many listeners whose Chinese is better than their English, and who enjoy this kind of Chinese-focused environment.

I understand your concerns, haikeyi and nice84. But there are hundreds of lessons at levels newbie through upper-intermediate. Surely there is something useful for you there. And if you have a specific request about a lesson or grammar form you'd like to learn, please just ask! 

Hi ivanearnest,

You raise an interesting question, but I will stick by "brotherhood." The reason is that a lot of the behavior that is described as 讲义气 actually falls into a (dark) grey area of ethics. For example, take the guy in the dialogue smashing the car and beating the boss. Those actions are done out of solidarity or brotherhood, even vengeance, not so much from a sense of objective justice or "what is right". Righteousness in my mind is more like calm confidence that what you are doing is for the greater good. For example, civil rights protestors refusing to fight back when racists taunt or harass them.

Thanks for your comment, and we'll all look forward to seeing you around the boards.

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Hi wjeffrys

Thanks for your insights. It would have been so frustrating to learn Chinese in the sixties when the country was behind the Bamboo Curtain, and also torn by internal chaos. 

Hi kevina

River Town was great. I had no idea that Leslie Chang was Hessler's wife, but I was already interested to read Factory Girls. I'll try to get a copy during my Christmas trip back to the States.

Hi christine30550

There are definitely a handful of simplified characters with more strokes than their traditional counterparts. The reasons are usually cloudy.

As for multiple variants of traditional characters, there definitely are some of these. One scholar I have read suggests that scribes would adorn their writing with an occasional extra flourish, to make the day more interesting, perhaps. I don't feel comfortable speculating more on that, but it is an interesting idea.