[Please read all the way to the bottom of this post. There are some big surprises here, including references to a book and an article on linguistics by the novelist Tom Wolfe (1930-2018), who's clearly on the wrong side of the political fence. Despite the spate of mostly unremittingly anti-Wolfe comments, many important issues about […]
So everybody knows what we're talking about: Baozi (Chinese: 包子), Pao-tsih or bao, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings (meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steamed. They are a variation of mantou from Northern China. (source) Early on in […]
Long article by Josephine Quinn: Alphabet Politics:What prompted the development of systems of writing? The New York Review (1/19/23 [online 12/19/22]) This is a detailed review of these two books: The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts by Silvia Ferrara, translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz Farrar, Straus and […]
No "lying flat" or "coiling up" for us! Here are Japanese words (not characters) of the year for 2022. No Time to Waste: “Taipa” Chosen as One of Japan’s Words of 2022 nippon.com (12/16/22) Quite a different set of attitudes from what young people in China are feeling nowadays. You will note that extreme abbreviation […]
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Danielle Abril, "Gen Z came to ‘slay.’ Their bosses don’t know what that means.", WaPo 12/12/2022: When 24-year-old Mary Clare Wall read a message that said her colleague would be “out of pocket,” she and her young co-workers giggled. As Generation Z workers, Wall and her peers interpreted the phrase to mean that their colleague […]
Matt Jenkins writes: I am hoping you'll indulge a question that's been bugging me. I have been trying to improve my fluency by watching as many Chinese online dramas as possible, and sóng (U+2AA0A) comes up in show after show. But the character is always quite obviously "cut-and-pasted" into the subtitles. I'm (generally) familiar with the character as […]
It'sssssssssssss finally out! ✨ The Hanmoji Handbook: Your Guide to the Chinese Language Though Emoji ✨ — by me, An Xiao Mina & @jenny8lee, published by @MITeenPress — appears in bookshops across the US and Canada today! pic.twitter.com/sTkudPAwxb — Jason Li (@jasonli) August 30, 2022
As seen on Weibo: Shanghai residents go to their balconies to sing & protest lack of supplies. A drone appears: “Please comply w covid restrictions. Control your soul’s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.” https://t.co/0ZTc8fznaV pic.twitter.com/pAnEGOlBIh — Alice Su 蘇奕安 (@aliceysu) April 6, 2022
New article in the Wall Street Journal: "‘The Greatest Invention’ Review: Written communication was a remarkable breakthrough, made in many different places and at different times." By Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ (March 11, 2022) There are a number of assumptions and speculations packed into just this title. When we look at the book itself, we find far […]
Trying to clear up the confusion between the two is a battle we have been waging for decades, and nowhere is the problem more severe than in the study of Sinitic languages and the Sinographic script. The crisis (not a "danger + opportunity"!) has come to the surface again this month with the appearance of […]
Even those who are not China watchers will remember the savage satire directed against the pathetic River Crab (= Harmonious Society) and the Grass-Mud Horse (= *uck your mother"). There's always something the censors have to block on the Chinese internet. It wouldn't be the Chinese internet if a large part of it were not […]
Because of the scandal surrounding the illicit, involuntary relationship between female tennis star, Peng Shuai 彭帅, and top CCP official, Zhang Gaoli 张高丽, which became a hot button issue around the world beginning about a month ago, the Chinese government went into overdrive to censor all trace of it from the internet (see here). The […]