My friend, Zhang M., has commented on my post about Google's possible pull out of China and its directing the Mainland China's search traffics to Hong Kong. Zhang shares my view what Google is doing is "covering one's ears to steal a bell" 掩耳盗铃. Having said that, Zhang does not agree with China's policy of censoring internet contents. Again, he and I share the same view. Zhang asked me to write about the Chinese idiom "自欺欺人" (literally means "cheating yourself, cheating others") referring to the authorities' censorship. What Zhang is afraid of is that one day he would not have access to international social nets like this one (Weebly)， like what is happening to Facebook, Wordpress, Bloggers, YouTube and etc.. Frankly, I do not intend to do that because I do not want to annoy the Chinese authorities and get myself into trouble. The reason I moved my blog from Wordpress (WP) to here is that WP is blocked in the Mainland. My fellow Chinese friends cannot have access to my WP blog. If my blog here gets too political you know what would happen. The worst case scenario is that I may cause Weebly to become another Wordpress.What I do instead is to write about one of the famous 36 strategems (三十六計) of the South Qi Dynasty (479-502), which one foreign scholar aptly called them "smart-ass strategies". These strategies were at the time meant to be used in politics, wars and civil interactions, often through unorthodox or deceptive means. The one strategem that I am going to write is the 26th strategem, which is 指桑骂槐 (zhǐ sāng mà huái). It literally means pointing at the mulberry tree but cursing the locust tree. Metaphorically, it means that you criticise John but in fact you are criticising Mary, or in simple English, innuendo or insinuation. This strategy is applicable when a person intends to criticize the authorities, or another person more senior than him, or to whom he has a special relation, he names another person as the subject in order to avoid direct confrontation or retaliation.My friends, I will make it a rule that when you want to criticise our motherland or the authorities please don't mention names, instead substitute it with "you-know-what" or "YKW" in short. This is akin to 指桑骂槐. This "smart-ass" term was used by Zhang in his comments to my post. When I replied to his comments I used the same term. It seems to work well and interesting too. Having said that, please note this is an academic blog and should not be used as a forum to air your political grievances, please keep the tone down. 我早前在这里写了一篇有关谷歌可能退出中国市场及将国内搜索服务转到香港之文章， 我的好友小张同意我该文章所讲谷歌其做法是掩耳盗铃 ，话虽如此，小张对国内审查互联网内容与我看法一致同样亚不支持，他担心这一网站(Weebly) 命运跟其他国际社交网站 Facebook，WordPress, Blogger, You Tube 一样，到时他看不到这网站，他提议我写写「自欺欺人」这句中国成语，反映有关当局做法是自欺欺人， 我才不自找烦恼，我刚由wordpress 搬过来，就是因为那边被中国封锁，我的中国朋友上不到该网站，如果我在这里得罪有关方面，你们知道后果如何， 最坏的情况是，我可能会导致Weebly成为另一个WordPress。我想较好的方法是偷偷古人三十六计其中一计指桑骂槐，英文是 innuendo 或 insinuation, 中国朋友对这一计都耳熟能详，我不再多讲。好吧，认我定下一规则，当你批评祖国或有关当局，不可提名字，取而代之用英语 “You-know-what" 或简写“YKW”，类似指桑骂槐。这一词我是从小张处学的，在他的评论他是用这一代语， 当我回答他时我用同样的代语，似乎效果良好和有趣。尽管如此，请注意这是一个学术博客，不应该被用来作为一个舒發政治不满的平台，请保持低调。
Meaning 意义
Speak of the devil (and in he walks). This idiom means “talk about certain person and he appears”. A similar Spanish idiom is “”Hablando del Rey de Roma, por la ventana se asoma” (Speaking of the King of Rome, through the window he appears). In Chinese, it is 说曹操,曹操到 (“shuō Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo dào”), which translates as “Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives. Cáo Cāo is the a well known historical figure of ancient China during the Three Kingdom Period (220-265CE).
Example 例子
- Hey, I haven’t seen Bob for a long time. Speak of the devil, here he comes.
- Hola. hace tiempo no he visto a Bob. Mira, hablando rey del Roma, aquí viene Bob ahora.
- 喂，我很久没有见过Bob. 说曹操,曹操到, 他正走过来！
On 24th of March I posted an article written by a Bloomberg correspondent entitled “Google Faces No Hong Kong Censors After China Retreat” at my blog at Wordpress. It seems that Google has upheld its stance on internet freedom. The fact is that Google only passes the ball to China’s court. It is now the China authorities who are doing the censorship. It is confirmed that China has screened Google’s contents and blocked those topics which they do not like. The Chinese netizens (net users) still do not have access to such sensitive topics on Tiananmen Massacre, Tibet,, Dalai Lama, Falun Gong etc. I am a big Google fan and I am all for Google’s intent and purpose. However, I have reservation the way they handle the matter. What Google doing is akin to an ancient Chinese metaphor, 掩耳盗铃. More on this below.
The metaphor
掩耳盗铃 (yan er dao ling) literally means “covering one’s ears to steal a bell” in English or “Taperse los oídos al robar una campanilla” in Spanish. It actually means “deceiving oneself” or “engañarse a sí mismo“. It has similar meaning to “bury one’s head in the sand” or “esconder la cabeza debajo del ala“
The origin of the metaphor can be traced back to the ancient China’s Spring and Autumn Period (476BC to 770BC). History had it that a thief at the time tried to steal a big and heavy copper bell from a house. He could not move it so he had to break it into pieces. The thief found a big hammer and tried to do so. He realized that it would produce a very loud noise and would draw others’ attention. To avoid that he stuck some fabrics into his ears. He thought others, like him, could not hear it when he hit the bell with the hammer. Needless to say that was not the case and he got caught.
This Chinese metaphor 虎头蛇尾 (hŭ tóu shé wĕi) literally means "tiger head, snake tail". In Chinese tradition, tiger symbolizes, among other things, invincibility, might, power and snake sneakiness. Another explanation is that a tiger head is big and a snake tail is small and skinny. 虎头蛇尾 refers to events which start out big and end up small. Its has similar meaning to the English expressions: - Starts with a bangs ends with a whimper 虎头蛇尾
- Much ado about nothing 雷声大雨点小
Por la traducción al español de este proverbio, nos dice que es algo que empieza con un estallido, y termina en un leve sonido, o algo que al parecer empieza con mucha fuerza y termina mal, por eso lo de "Cabeza de tigre y cola de serpiente". Por tanto, podríamos relacionarlo con varios del refranero español, como por ejemplo:.- Partida de caballo inglés y llegada de burro 虎头蛇尾
- Mucho ruido, y pocas nueces 雷声大雨点小
Examples
- The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit started with a bang and ended with a whimper or it was much ado about nothing.
- La Conferencia Cumbre de Cambio Climático en Copenhague finalizó con mucho ruido y poca nueces.
- 哥本哈根气候峰会虎头蛇尾 ，雷声大雨点小。
- The Houston Rockets started the 2009 season with a bang, but ened with a whimper at they won the first 20 games but could not make into the playoff. (not true)
- Los Rockets de Houston comenzó la temporada 2009 con un golpe al ganar los 20 primeros partidos, pero no pudo hacerlo en el desempate. Fue "partida de caballo inglés y llegada de burro. (no es cierto).
- 休斯顿火箭队2009季初连赢二十场但是进不到季后賽，真是虎头蛇尾。(不确)
Background
There was a frog that lived in a shallow well.
” Look how well off I am here ! ” he told a big turtle from the Eastern Ocean. ” I am master of the water and lord of this shallow well, What more can a fellow ask for? Why do I want to leave the well ? “
It was only until the turtle took the frog outside of the well (or told the frog what were outside) that the frog realized how big the world was.
Meaning
It means a person who cannot see the world or things in big picture
Examples
- A son who was born and raised in a small place like Hong Kong told his father ”I do not want to be a frog in the well. I want go t o a university in the United States to further my studies and see what life is like outside Hong Kong.”
- A member of Italki or LiveMocha wrote in his profile “I do not want to me a frog in the well. I am learning Chinese so that I get to know more about the Chinese culture and the people of China”.
- A New Yorker laughed at a man from a small town “You are a frog in a well. You don’t know how big New York is.”
- A teacher told his students “You must study hard and read more otherwise you will be a frog in the well.”
- A person thought the bank of his country was the biggest bank in the world. He was told “You are a frog in the well. Don’t you know that the three largest banks in the world by capitalization are Chinese banks”.
This proverb was originated from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, which is a Chinese historical novel based upon events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era of China, starting in 169 and ending with the reunification of the land in 280.
It is acclaimed as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, with a grand total of 800,000 words, nearly a thousand characters, most of them historical, in 120 chapters.
Background
The background of this proverb is rather complicated which involves one chapter of the novel. In a nutshell, the person at the centre stage was Liu Bei, a governor of one of the provinces of China at the late Eastern Han Dynasty. On the other side was Sun Quan, who had an uneasy alliance with Liu. Sun enticed Liu to marry his sister intending to kill Liu at his territory. However, that did not work. Liu married Sun’s sister and decided to flee without letting Sun know. Sun sent an army to chase the couples, who were saved by boats waiting for them at the shore. Just as the boats were sailing away, the general of the army overhead from the boat these words “賠了夫人又折兵” which literally means losing the wife (although it was Sun’s sister) and the army returned empty handed. However, it is commonly accepted as meaning “losing your wife and the army”
Meaning
A double whammy. Making double losses in a deal or losing on both sides of it.
Example
Tiger Woods’ alleged extra-marital affair is likely to cause him to lose his wife and on top of that millions of dollars of commercial endorsements.
The subject of this post is shown in the title. However, one should note that the literal translation of 望梅止渴 (wàngméizhǐkě) should be "The sight of plums quenches thirst". It is a direct Chinese metaphor which the author borrowed an object to convey a meaning as opposed to an insinuating metaphor whereby the author borrowed an indirect object to convey a message to the hearer without offending him.
Background
During the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), a general, Cao Cao 曹操, was leading his troop of soldiers across a desert under the scorching sun. The soldiers. were moving very slowly. even though they were close to the destination, due to the running out of body water and strength. Cao Cao tried all means to 0rder the soldiers to expedite, but to avail. As a last resort Cao Cao claimed that there was a plum forest ahead of them and the sweet and sour plums would relieve their thirst. When the soldiers heard that, saliva came up to their mouths and their thirsts were said to have cured.
Meaning
The are some scientific bases in this metaphor. It is likely that the presence of a pickled plum will bring saliva to one's month. As to whether it would quench a thirst that is besides the issue. However, this metaphor, if effectively used, is a good icebreaker line, and will help you make a lot of sales and friends.
Examples
- If you can't buy your son a Ferrari, buy him a model.
- In a sales competition, when your team members run out of steam, as a humor, you showed them a picture of a bonus check and say this metaphor. This would on the one hand relax them and on the other hand get them back on track.
- When your wife goes on a trip for a long period of time, you tell her that you are looking at her picture to quench your thirst. She will love you more.
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