Lost in Chinese / Found in Translation.

. (oops. I mix up the lines - line 4 is in the earlier post) . 寒来暑往, 秋收冬藏。 hánlái-shǔwǎng, qiūshōu dōng cáng。 寒 (cold) 来 (come) 暑 (heat) 往 (...

. . 闰余成岁, 律吕调阳。 rùn yú chéng suì, lǜ Lǚ tiáo yáng。 闰 (intercalary) 余 (extra) 成 (turn into) 岁 (year) Intercalary means inserting days...

. . 日月盈昃, 辰宿列张。 rìyuè yíng zè, chén xiù liè zhāng。 日 (sun) 月 (moon) 盈 (wax) 昃 (set) This refers to the cycle of the universe as in the ...

. 天地玄黄, 宇宙洪荒。 tiāndì xuánhuáng, yǔzhòu hónghuāng。 天 (sky) 地 (earth) 玄 (black) 黄 (yellow) This has been interpreted as the sky is blac...

. The Thousand Character Classic (千字文) was composed by 周兴嗣 Zhōu Xìngsì in the Liang Dynasty ( 梁朝 ; Liáng cháo ) (502-557). He was order...

. I was reading a book “Wit and Humour from Ancient China” 古趣集 gǔqù jí depicting 100 cartons of the famous Chinese artist Ding Cong 丁聪 ...

. In that car journey from Dongguan (see last post), my friend narrated his last meeting with his friend who questioned the life he had been...

. We were cruising along the highway from Dongguan to Shenzhen, China to attend an Annual Dinner. I have not met this friend of mine for man...

. Wanderlust asked what has the content of the poem Picking Mulberries 采桑子 cǎisāngzǐ got to do with the title. (see last post). I believe...

Tonight (written last night) I was kind of melancholy so I searched for a poem to reflect my gloom. With my limited command of the language...

Last week I was having breakfast with three new friends in Beirut 贝鲁 bèilǔ . We were among sixteen strangers from diverse backgrounds but...

Last weekend, I was standing at the edge of the crater ( 火山口 huǒshānkǒu ) staring into the mouth of the majestic Mt. Bromo ( 婆罗摩火山 póluó...

. If you watched Malaysian TV during this period, you may come across a man and a woman who kept repeating these four Chinese words 礼仪廉耻 lǐ...

During the Southern Song dynasty, there lived two Song brothers who were intellects. However, they did not want to work for the government c...

The first night in Hángzhōu 杭州 , we went to its most famous restaurant serving not only authentic Hangzhou dishes but also cooked in the 正...

. I’ll be going to Hangzhou 杭州 Hángzhōu tonight and spent a couple of days there before going to Suzhou and Shanghai. It is on company bus...

I am not much of a drinker and my capacity for liquor 酒量 jiǔliàng is not good. I do not enjoy getting drunk because I do not believe one ...

It has been some time since I was entertained to a formal dinner in China and things have changed. That night in Dongguan we were seated luc...

. In the past, when I saw someone wearing a T-shirt with a large 忍 in the middle of it, I used to think that he is a man who values patienc...

What my taxi driver said (refer to previous post) made me recalled the Chinese word 忍耐 rěnnài which means “to exercise patience” or “to ...

20 April, 7.30 a.m.: Ben, my regular taxi driver was ferrying me to KLIA to catch a flight to attend the Food Hotel Asia Trade Show in Singa...

. It is not easy learning another language. Especially Chinese which is universally acknowledge as one of the most difficult in the world. B...

. I waited in a long queue to have the book I bought signed. When it was my turn, I told Dr. Hsu that of the 19 books he wrote this was the ...

Sitting in the large hall with a few hundred other participants, the thought I must have bitten off more than I could chew 贪多嚼不烂 tānduō ji...