The Fishes in the Sea and the Birds in the Sky: Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 9.

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海咸河淡, 鳞潜羽翔。
hǎi xián hé dàn, lín qián yǔ xiáng

海 (sea) 咸 (salty) 河 (river) 淡 (fresh),

The sea water is salty while the river is fresh. 淡 dàn by itself also means dilute, weak or thin and in this case refers to the fresh water.

鳞 (fish scale) 潜 (submerge) 羽 (feather) 翔 (soar)

The fish swim in the sea and birds fly in the sky. 潜 qián also means latent, to hide. Nathan considered this to be the end of the first chapter which begins with the heavens and earth and conclude with common knowledge about nature. However, other researchers separate the 125 lines of 千字文 by other forms.

(I'll be going to the Bridge over River Kwai early tomorrow for a week, see you when I get back).

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Plums & Crab Apples, Mustard Greens & Gingers: Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 8.

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果珍李柰, 菜重芥姜。
guǒ zhēn lǐ nài, cài zhòng jiè jiāng

果 (fruit) 珍 (precious) 李 (plum) 柰 (crab- apple),

The most precious of the fruits are the plums or peaches and apples. I do not know why crab apples are so important to the Chinese except they can be used as sour condiment, can anyone enlighten me?

菜 (vegetables) 重 (important) 芥 (mustard) 姜 (ginger)

The most valuable of the vegetables are the mustard greens and gingers. They are not only valued as food but also for their medicinal values. The mustard is believed to be good for the eyes and the ginger reduces the gas in the body system.

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老张和小黄 Of Communist Chang & Pregnant Yellow – Part II

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At about the same time I made the boo boo on the color yellow 黄 (see earlier post by same title), I made another one regarding my own name! That was during my first trip to China many years ago. During that period it was fashionable to address someone by 老 lǎo or 小 xiǎo for e.g. 小黄 or 老张 according to whether she is younger or older than you. It is also fashionable to call someone by their profession such as General Manager (总经理 zǒngjīnglǐ) Wang or 王总 wángzǒng. But it sure sounds odd to me when an engineer (工程师 gōngchéngshī) I knew with a surname of 朱 zhū is addressed as 朱工 zhūgōng. For it sounds exactly like 猪公 zhūgōng which means male pig.

This was what threw me off. I was often asked "how should I address you?" when they are asking for my surname. And I of course reply "我姓张" or my name is Zhang or Chang as it was written prior to 拼音 pīnyīn. Their response at that time puzzled me for they would say what sounds to me like 共产张 gòngchǎnzhāng or Communist Chang! I was wondering why the hell would they call me Communist Chang when I'm a 华侨 Huáqiáo or overseas Chinese but I never questioned them. It was later when my mandarin was better before I realized that they were actually refering to the components of my surname 张. For you see, 张 is made up of 弓 (gōng) 'bow' and 长 (cháng) 'long'. But to my untrained ears then, it sounded like 共产 which I recognized. No wonder they said a little knowledge is dangerous!

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“Legendary Sword & Luminous Pearl”. - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 7.

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剑号巨阙, 珠称夜光。
jiànhào jù què, zhū chēng yè guāng.

剑 (sword) 号 (named) 巨阙 (JuQue),

Of all the swords, the most famous was named 巨阙 jùquè (巨 is huge 阙 no meaning as a single syllable word). It was one of 5 swords that King Goujian of Yue 越王勾踐 yuè wáng Gōu Jiàn (reigned 496 BC - 465 BC) presented to the King of Wu after his defeat but he was insulted and humiliated during his imprisonment. Later after his release, he used this sword 巨阙 jùquè to defeat the King of Wu and exacted his revenge. This happened during the end of the Spring and Autumn Period 春秋时代 hūnqiū shídài. I will be telling this tale in greater details in a later post.

This sword was buried for more than 2000 years and when it was found there was no rust at all! It is a delicately made bronze sword measuring 55.6 cm in total length (slightly less than 2 feet). There are eight Chinese characters on the sword “越王鸠潜，自乍用剑" (yuè wáng jiū qián, zìzhà yòng jiàn), which means that this sword is belong to King Goujian of Yue.

珠 (pearl) 称 (called) 夜光 (YeQuang)。

The most famous pearls are known as 夜光 yè guāng or “Gleam of the Night”. (夜 is night 光 is bright). Nathan Sturman wrote that the “Gleam of the Night” was a legendary pearl which was once the eye of a whale and also referred to as 明月珠 míngyuèzhū “Bright Moon-Pearl”.

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"Gold in River Li, Jade in Kunlun Hill" - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 6

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金生丽水, 玉出崑冈。
jīn shēng lì shuǐ, yù chū kūn gāng。

http://www.internationalrivers.org/china/jinsha-river

金 (Gold) 生 (exist) 丽水 (River Li),

Gold was found in 丽水 lì shuǐ, the ancient name for Lijiang 丽江 lìjiāng prefecture in Yunnan province, China. It more specifically refer to Jingsha River 金沙江 jīnshājiāng or River of Golden Sand. The existence of gold was important as it was used as a basic commodity for trading in ancient China.

http://kunlunacupuncture.com/kunlun.aspx

玉 (jade) 出 (appear) 崑 (Kunlun) 冈 (ridge)。

Jade was found in the Kunlun mountain 昆仑山 Kūnlún Shān which is on the southern border of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Kunlun mountain was famous for their high quality jade. Jade is considered to be even more valuable that gold as an ancient Chinese proverb said "You can put a price on gold, but jade is priceless.".

According to legend, jade is said to be created during a storm hence it is also called "Stone of Heaven". Jade symbolize virtue and Confucius was reputed to have said "Men of olden days regarded it as a symbol of the virtues. Its gentle, smooth, glossy appearance suggests charity of heart; its fine close texture and hardness suggests wisdom; it is firm and yet does not wound, suggesting duty to one's neighbor; it hangs down as though sinking, suggesting ceremony; struck, it gives a clear note, long drawn out, dying gradually away and suggesting music; its flaws do not hide its excellences, nor do its excellences hide its flaws, suggesting loyalty; it gains our confidence, suggesting truth; its spirituality is like the bright rainbow, suggesting the heavens above; its energy is manifested in hill and stream, suggesting the earth below; as articles of regalia it suggests the exemplification of that than which there is nothing in the world of equal value, and thereby is Tao itself."

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老张和小黄 Of Communist Chang & Pregnant Yellow – Part I

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In March this year, I was one of the guests of honor in a company annual dinner. After we were seated as is the Chinese dining culture, the toasting begun. I had a headache after lecturing the whole day and was trying to politely fend off all the toasts when an elegant lady came to make me one I could not refuse.

“Do you remember me?” she asked. I did not, cursing my poor recognition of faces.

“You once asked me what was my name and when I told you it was huáng ...”

This brought back memories of one of my most embarrassing mistake in learning the language. It was a terrible faux pas on my part. For when she told me her name was 黄 huáng, I innocently added “Oh, is it 黄色 huángsè 的黄?” She shyly corrected me “Oh, you should not say that! It is 大肚 dàdù (meaning big stomach or pregnant woman) 黄.” {The shape of the 黄 character has a big center looking like a big stomach. As the same pronunciation can stand for different Chinese characters, the Chinese devised creative ways to describe characters to clarify which they meant}.

This of course left me all confused as I did not know then why it was wrong to describe 黄 with黄色. What is wrong with yellow color? It was only later that I found out that 黄色 also means decadent, obscene and pornographic. It is the oriental equivalent of blue as in “blue film”. It is interesting to note that the Chinese word 色情 sèqíng for pornography is made up of the characters 色 [sè] meaning color and 情 [qíng] meaning feeling or emotion. Specifically yellow or 黄 was the color chosen to represent the decadent. So I found out the hard way that a gentleman never uses yellow to describe a lady.

(Check out Part II for another similar mistake involving my own surname 张)

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"From Clouds to Rain, from Dew to Frost" - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 5

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云腾致雨, 露结为霜。
yún téng zhì yǔ, lù jié wèi shuāng。


云 (clouds) 腾 (rise) 致 (cause) 雨 (rain),

When clouds rise and meet the colder atmosphere, condensation will take place and this will result in rain. This is a succinct and very clear explanation of how rain is formed considering this is written in only the 5th century.


露 (dew) 结 (form) 为 (become) 霜 (frost)。

Dew drops crystallize to become frost. Evelyn Lip added that ‘When water crystallizes in an area and appears as frost in the late autumn morning, it is called 早霜 zǎoshuāng (early frost). But if it appears in spring, it is called 晚霜 wǎnshuāng (late frost).'