STANDARD CHINESE: A MODULAR APPROACH

OPTIONAL MODULE: CUSTOMS SURROUNDING MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND DEATH

Before starting the MBD Module, you should have at least completed the Arranging a Meeting Module.

August 1979

Copyright (c) 1980 by Lucille A. Barale, John H. T. Harvey and Thomas E. Madden

PREFACE

Standard. Chinese: A Modular Approach originated in an interagency conference held at the Foreign Service Institute in August 1973 to address the need generally felt in the U.S. Government language training community for improving and updating Chinese materials to reflect current usage in Taipei and in Peking.

The conference resolved to develop materials which were flexible enough in form and content to meet the requirements of a wide range of government agencies and academic institutions.

A Project Board was established consisting of representatives of the Central Intelligence Agency Language Learning Center, the Defense Language Institute, the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, the Cryptologic School of the National Security Agency, and the U.S. Office of Education, later joined by the Canadian Forces Foreign Language School. The representatives have included Arthur T. McNeill, John Hopkins, and John Boag (CIA); Colonel John F. Elder, III, Joseph C. Hutchinson, Ivy Gibian, and Major Bernard Muller-Thym (DLl); James R. Frith and John B. Ratliff, III (FSl); Kazuo Shitama (NSA); Richard T. Thompson and Julia Petrov (OE); and Lieutenant Colonel George Kozoriz (CFFLS).

The Project Board set up the Chinese Core Curriculum Project in 197^ in space provided at the Foreign Service Institute. Each of the six U.S. and Canadian government agencies provided funds and other assistance.

Gerard P. Kok was appointed project coordinator, and a planning council was formed consisting of Mr. Kok, Frances Li of the Defense Language Institute, Patricia O’Connor of the University of Texas, Earl M. Rickerson of the Language Learning Center, and James Wrenn of Brown University. In the Fall of 1977 > Lucille A. Barale was appointed deputy project coordinator. David W. Dellinger of the Language Learning Center and Charles R. Sheehan of the Foreign Service Institute also served on the planning council and contributed material to the project. The planning council drew up the original overall design for the materials and met regularly to review their development.

Writers for the first half of the materials were John H. T. Harvey, Lucille A. Barale and Roberta S. Barry, who worked in close cooperation with the planning council and with the Chinese staff of the Foreign Service Institute. Mr. Harvey developed the instructional formats of the comprehension and production self-study materials, and also designed the communicationbased classroom activities and wrote the teacher’s guides. Lucille A. Barale and Roberta S. Barry wrote the tape scripts and the student text. By 1978 Thomas E. Madden and Susan C. Pola had joined the staff. Led by Ms. Barale they have worked as a team to produce the materials subsequent to Module 6.

All Chinese language material was prepared, or selected, by Chuan 0. Chao, Ying-chi Chen, Hsiao-jung Chi, Eva Diao, Jan Hu, Tsung-mi Li, and Yunhui C. Yang, assisted for part of the time by Chieh-fang Ou Lee, Ying-ming Chen, and Joseph Yu Hsu Wang. Anna Affholder, Mei-li Chen, and Henry Khuo helped in the preparation of a preliminary corpus of dialogues.

Administrative assistance was provided at various times by Vincent Basciano, Lisa A. Bowden, Beth Broomell, Jill W. Ellis, Donna Fong, Judith J. Kieda, Renee T. C. Liang, Thomas Madden, Susan C. Pola, and Kathleen Strype.

The production of tape recordings was directed by Jose M. Ramirez of the Foreign Service Institute Recording Studio. The Chinese script was voiced by Ms. Chao, Ms. Chen, Mr. Chen, Ms. Diao, Ms. Hu, Mr. Khuo, Mr. Li, and Ms. Yang. The English script was read by Ms. Barale, Ms. Barry, Mr. Basciano, Ms. Ellis, Ms. Pola, and Ms. Strype.

The graphics were produced by John McClelland of the Foreign Service Institute Audio-Visual staff, under the general supervision of Joseph A. Sadote, Chief of Audio-Visual.

Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach was field-tested with the cooperation of Brown University, the Defense Language Institute, the Foreign Service Institute, the Language Learning Center, the United States Air Force Academy, the University of Illinois, and the University of Virginia.

The Defense Language Institute printed the preliminary materials used for field testing and has likewise printed this edition.

CONTENTS

OBJECTIVES

UNIT 1 Part I

Part II ....

Part III

Vocabulary

UNIT 2 Part I ....

Part II

Vocabulary

UNIT 3 Part I

Part II

Vocabulary

UNIT 4 Part I

Part II

Vocabulary ....

UNIT 5 Part I

Part II

Vocabulary

UNIT 6 Part I

Part II

Vocabulary

APPENDIX Unit Vocabulary Characters

OBJECTIVES

General

The purpose of the Module on Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth and Death is to furnish you with the linguistic skills and cultural background information you need to take part in conversations about changing attitudes and practices with regard to courtship, marriage, birth, divorce, death and funerals in China, and to conduct yourself in a culturally appropriate manner when you come in contact with Chinese people at the time of one of these significant events in their lives.

Before starting the MBD module, you should have at least completed the Arranging a Meeting Module. You may, of course, use this module at any later point in the course.

Specific

When you have finished this module, you should be able to:

• 1. Ask about the age when most people get married.

• 2. Ask about how a wedding is celebrated and what differences there are in marriage practices between the city and the country.

• 3. Ask about the current local customs regarding gifts for weddings, births, and funerals.

• U. Ask about the frequency of divorce.

• 5. Talk about the functions and statuses of the people who play a role in arranging a present-day traditional marriage.

• 6. Ask questions about the bride, the groom, and the ceremony in a modern-day wedding.

• 7. Ask about population control efforts, changes in population control policy, restrictions on young people having children, what factors are taken into consideration in family planning, and how old most couples are when they have children.

• 8. Congratulate a new mother. Ask about a new-born infant’s health, appetite, and weight, and describe the baby in terms of traditional values.

• 9. Talk about the traditional beliefs and practices with regard to the mother’s health before and after giving birth.

• 10. Present condolences to someone whose relative has died, comfort and

express concern for that person.

• 11. Ask, after deciding if appropriate, about the circumstances of the death and the funeral.

• 12. Apologize for not being able to attend a funeral.

• 13. Ask what attire and behavior are appropriate when attending a funeral.

. Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth, and Death: Unit 1

PART I

NOTES ON PART I

Notes on No. 1

tíchàng: ’to advocate, to promote, to initiate, to recommend, to encourage’

Zhè shi shéi tíchàngde?            Who advocates this?

nianqìng: ’to be young’ (literally, ’years-light’ or ’years-green’. There are two different characters with the same sound used for the second syllable.)

Tā zhènme niánqìng, zhènme         She’s so young and so beautiful!

piàoliang!

Wǒ niánqīngde shíhou, bù           When I was young, I didn’t like

xǐhuan kàn shū.                     to read.

Zhèixiē niǎnqing rén dōu ài        These young people all love to go

kǎn diànyīng.                       to the movies.

Nèige niǎnqīngde Zhōngguo          That young Chinese person speaks

rén, Yīngwén shuōde bú cuò.        pretty good English.

jiéhūn: ’to get married’, also pronounced jiēhūn. Notice that in Chinese you talk of ’getting married', while in English we talk of 'being married'. And it follows grammatically that jiehūn is a process Verb, not a state verb. Jiéhūn will always be seen with an aspect marker such as le or will be negated with méi.

Tāmen jiéhūnle méiyou?             Have they gotten married yet? (This

is the equivalent of 'Are they married?)

Nǐ jiéhūn duo jiǔ le?              How long have you been married?

Jiéhūn is a verb-object compound, literally meaning 'to knot marriage*. Jié and hūn can be separated by aspect markers, such as de or guo.

Nǐ shi shénme shíhou jiéde hūn? When did you get married? or Nǐ shi shénme shíhou jiéhūnde?

Wang Xiānsheng jiéguo sāncì        Mr. Wang has been married three

hūn.                                times.

To say 'get married to someone' use the pattern gēn ... jiéhūn.

To whom did he get married?

Note on No. 2

wǎnliàn wǎnhūn: 'late involvement and late marriage'. Wǎnliàn is an abbreviation for wan liàn’ài, 'mature love*, (liàn’ài means 'romantic love, courtship'), and wǎnhūn is an abbreviation for wan jiéhūn, 'late marriage'. This policy has been promoted since the 19éOs, but only actively enforced since the 1970s. It is difficult to^-generalize about the required minimum marriage ages, as they differ from city to city and might be nonexistant in certain rural and national minority areas, where the government is trying to increase the population. The minimum age has been progressively raised over the years, until 1978 when the rules were eased a bit. In general, if the combined ages of the couple exceeds fifty years (or the female's age exceeds the male's), then the marriage is allowable.

Note on No, 3

qīngnián: ’youth, young person’. Do not confuse this noun with the adjectival verb niánqīng, ’to be young’. (See Notes on No. 1)

Zhèiwèi qīngnián lǎoshī yīnggǎi This young teacher should go to a dào dàxué qù jiao shū.             university to teach.

In this sentence, the noun qīngnián is used to modify the noun lǎoshī, ’teacher’.

• A: Wo jìde sānshiniǎn yīqiǎn I remember that thirty years ago nǐ tèbié ài chī tang.          you especially loved to eat candy.

• B: Shi a, nèi shíhou women dōu Yes. Back then we were all young háishi qīngnián. Xiǎnzài      people. Now I’m old, and my

lǎo le, yá bù xíng le.         teeth aren’t good any more.

nulì: ’to be hardworking, to be diligent’, or as an adverb, ’diligently, hard*.

Tā suīrán hen null, kěshi tāde Although he’s very hardworking, his Yīngwen háishi bù xíng.            English is still not good enough.

Wo děi null xué Zhōngwén.          I have to study•Chinese very hard.

Notes on No. 5

cheng: ’to constitute, to make, to become’.

His studies have been good all along, so after he graduates, setting up a job for him won’t constitute a problem.

My daughter has become an older sister. She really likes her little sister.

There are a lot of young people now who don’t want to sell things in shops. This practice is really bad.

Now in China there is again a general atmosphere of study.

Notes on No. 6

he: ’with’. You have seen he used between two nouns or pronouns as a conjunction meaning ’and’. Here you see it used as a prepositional verb meaning ’with’. The word gēn, which you have seen, also has both meanings, ’and* and ’with’.

Formerly, gēn was the most frequently used word for ’with’ or ’and’ in the Mandarin spoken in North China, and he was more often written. But he has come into wide conversational use in pùtōnghuà. In addition to this variation, school children in Taiwan are sometimes taught to say hàn instead of he, which is the same character with another pronunciation.

Generally speaking, if you use he or gēn you should not have any problem being understood by any speaker of Standard Chinese.

liàn’ài: ’to fall in love, to be in love; romantic love, courtship’. This is the socially acceptable way to describe a romantic relationship between two people. Notice that liàn’ài can be used both as noun and as a verb. (Liàn’ài is written with an apostrophe to show where the syllable division is: liàn ài, not lià nài.)

Tāmen liàn’àile hǎojiniǎn le. They’ve been in love for quite a few years now.

Tāmen xiànzài kāishī liàn’ài le. They’ve just started to fall in love.

Wōmende liàn’ài zhī you sāntiān, Our love is only three days old and jiu bù xíng le.                     already it’s over.

The noun liàn’ài is often used in the phrase tǎn liàn’ài, ’to be romantically involved’ or more literally ’to talk of love’.

Tāmen liǎngge tan liàn’ài yǐjīng The two of them have been in love for

In China young people tend to go out in groups. When two people are seen going out alone, then it is assumed that they have serious intentions for the future.

Notes on No. 7

kě: ’really, certainly*. This is an adverb which intensifies state verbs. Kě can be used before a negative.

Tāmen liǎngge kě hǎo le’.           The two of them are very good friends.

Kě bú shi ma’.                        Isn’t that so! (Really! or No kidding!)

Nà kě bù xíng!                      That really won’t do!

Nà kě bú shi yíjiàn hǎo shi.       That’s really not a good thing.

Nǐ kě yào xiǎoxīn!                  You’ve got to be careful!

Although some Chinese are fond of using the word kě, to other Chinese it may sound too full of local color with which they do not identify.

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

...zài èrshiwǔliùsuì yǐhòu cái jiēhūn: This is quite a change from Imperial times, when females might be married off at age thirteen and males at age six so as to insure the family fortunes or fend off economic difficulties later. Nontheless, regulations are less strict in the countryside today, where one can marry perhaps at age twenty.

PART II

NOTES ON PART II

Notes on No. 8

yíshì: ’ceremony, function’ This can be used to refer to a range of different ceremonies, from the signing of a treaty or agreement to the taking of marital vows.

In old China, marriages were celebrated extravagantly. It was not uncommon to find families going into debt because of the joyous occasion, which marked a new generation added to the family line. This elaborate ritual served to strengthen familial bonds and the newlyweds’ feeling of obligation owed to the family.

In PRC cities of today, lack Of extra money and coupons to purchase food for guests, celebration space, and free time for preparation limit the celebration often to procedural formality alone—registration with the local police bureau. Wedding dinners may still be enjoyed in the countryside, where there are fewer restrictions on time and food.

Notes on No. 9

qīnqi: ’relatives’ Qīnqi is slightly different from the English word ’relatives’ in that it does not include one’s immediate family, that is parents or children, but is used to refer to all other relatives. (One’s immediate family are called jiāli ren.)

Nīmen jiā qīnqi duō ma?            Do you have a lot of relatives

in your family?

Women jiā qīnqi kě duo le!         We have lots of relatives in

our family.

sònggei; ’give (a gift) to ...’ The verb song has several meanings. One is ’to send’, as in Wo bǎ nīde xíngli sòngshangqu le, ’I sent your luggage upstairs.’ Another is to give someone something as a present.

Here you see sòng with the prepositional verb gěi ’for, to’ after it. You have also seen jiāogei, ’to hand over to ..., to submit to...’. When gěi is used after the main verb as a prepositional verb, it must be followed by the indirect object, that is, the person or thing to whom something is given. Gěi can also be used this way with jì ’to send’, and mài ’to sell’.

Wo bǎ zhèijiǎn yīfu jìgei wǒ I sent this piece of clothing to my mèimei le.                          younger sister.

Tā bǎ fǎngzi mǎigei wǒ le.         He sold his house to me.

In these examples the direct object, clothing or house, is up front in the sentence, making it necessary to use gěi to put the indirect object after the main verb. This usually happens in sentences where the object is specific and the bǎ construction is preferred. When song is followed by an indirect object, however, the gěi is usually optional.

Wo yào song ta yíge xiǎo līwù.     I am going to give him a small present.

Wǒ yào sònggei ta yíge xiǎo        I am going to give him a small present,

līwù.

...sònggei ni shénme līwù?: Wedding gifts for friends and relatives in the PRC are generally ’’useful” items. Common among these are nuǎnpíng, hot water jugs; huāpíng, vases; tǎidēng, table lamps; bī, pens; liǎnpěn, wash basins; or cǎnjù, kitchen items.

zuò: ’to act as, to serve as’. Tāmen sònggei wo yìxiē xiǎo līwù zuò jìniàn. is literally ’They gave me a few small presents to serve as mementos.’

Zhèige xuéxiào bìyède xuésheng, A lot of students who graduated from hěn duō dōu zuò lǎoshī le.         this school have become teachers.

Yòng zhèiběn xīn shū zuò līwù, Would it be okay to use this new hǎo bu hǎo?                         book as a present?

Zuò, ’to act as, to serve as’ is often seen used with yòng, ’to use’ as in the example above, yòng ..■ zuò ..., ’to use (something) as (something) else’.

jìniàn: ’memento, remembrance; to commemorate’.

Wo gěi ta yìzhāng zhàopiàn zuò I’ll give him a photo as a memento, jìniàn.

Notes on No. 10

xǔduō: ’many; a great deal (of), lots (of)’. Xǔduō is used as a number (it can be followed by a counter) to modify other nouns.

Xǔduō. has several things in common with hen duō, in addition to similarity of meaning. Used as modifiers in front of nouns, both xǔduō and hen duō can (1) be used alone, (2) be used with de, and (3) be

Hen duō is probably more common than xǔduō. Some speakers feel that they do not use xǔduō in conversation; many speakers, however, do not feel any restriction about using it in conversation.

V

...zhùdao nǔjiār qu: ’to go live with the wife’s family’ You’ve seen the prepositional verb dào used after main verbs, as in nādao loushàng qu, ’take it upstairs’. Following verbs expressing some kind of motion, the use of dào is fairly straightforward. But in the above example from the Reference List, dào is used with a verb which is not usually thought of as expressing motion, zhù, ’to live, to inhabit’. Here is another example of zhù used in a phrase expressing motion:

Tā shi zuotiān zhùjinlaide.        He moved in yesterday.

Due to the lack of housing, which might involve a wait of from one to three years for newlyweds, it is not infrequent now to find the groom join the household of his new bride. This is in contrast to former tradition, which stated that the woman became part of the man’s family, and of course, moved into his family’s house.

In the past, for the groom to join the household of his new bride carried special significance. It was called rù zhuì and might take place when a family had only female children and the father wanted his daughter’s husband to take his last name in order to carry on the family line.

qūbiě: ’difference’ When expressing the difference between two things, use ... gēn ... you qūbié.

There is a big difference between this dictionary and that one.

Kě bū shi ma*. : ’Yes, indeed’., I’ll say!’, or more literally, ’Isn’t it so’.’ Ke bū shi ma! is often used in northern China to indicate hearty agreement, or to indicate that something makes perfect sense to the speaker, something like English ’Well, of course!’ or ’Really.’’.

bù shǎo: Literally ’not a little’, in other words, ’quite a lot’.

. fírqiě is often used, in the pattern bú. dan.. .érqiě.. ., ’not only... but also...’ or ’not only...moreover...’:

Tā bú dan xuéguo Zhōngwén,

Wo bu dan méiyou hé tā tan liàn’ài, érqiě wo yě bú dà xǐhuan ta.

Peking:

The American exchange student and her language teacher continue their conversation:

PART III

NOTES ON PART III

shuāngfāng: ’both sides, both parties’

Zhèijiàn shìqing shi Zhōngguo This matter is known to both hé Měiguo shuāngfāng dōu          America and China,

zhīdaode.

bǐcǐ: ’the one and the other; each other, mutually’

Suīrān women méiyou shuō huà, Although we didn’t say anything, we kěshi bǐcǐ dōu zhīdao,             both knew. There was nothing

tāde bìng méiyou bànfa le.         that could be done for his illness.

Some college students like to give each other gifts when graduating.

Have a nice weekend!

You too!

to try to understand’

Note on No. 13

... líhūnde bú tài duō: 'There aren't many people getting divorced ... Líhūnde, 'those (people) who get divorced', is a noun phrase in which líhūn is nominalized by -de.

Notes on No. 1U

fūfù: 'husband and wife, married couple'.

bú zài yíge dìqū gōngzuò: 'do not work in the same region*. Yíge, 'one', is frequently used to mean 'one and the same'. Here are some more examples:

Women dōu zài yíge xuéxiào niàn shū.

Tāmen liǎngge dōu shi yíge lǎoshī jiāochulaide.

Note on No. 15

tànqīnjià; 'leave for visiting family'. Tàn qǐn means to visit one's

a spouse, or children.

Tomorrow he’s going to Shanghai to visit his family.

This adverb may also occur as zǒng.

He always loves to go to the Huáměi Coffeehouse.

This is a synonym of néng.

Notes on No. 17

Jīngguo: ’to pass by or through, to go through’. Jīngguo can mean 1) to pass by or through something physically, or 2) to go through an experience.

As a result of this study, I see things a lot more clearly.

Wǒ měitiān xià bān huí jiāde       Every day on my way home from work

shíhou, dōu jīngguo Bǎihuō         I pass by the Bǎihuō Dàlóu.

Dālóu               ...dōu

jīngguo Bǎihuō Dālǒu.)

Nǐ jīngguo zhèige wūzide           When you passed by this room,

shíhou, nǐ méiyou kànjian          didn’t you see us working inside?

women zài lǐtou gōngzuō ma?

xiāngdāng: ’quite, pretty (good, etc.); considerable, a considerable degree of’.

Tāde shēntǐ xiāngdāng hǎo.         His health is quite good.

kǎolu: ’to consider; consideration’.

Wǒ yǐjīng kǎolùguō le, tā          I have already given it consideration

háishi yīnggāi shàng dàxué.        he should still go to college.

danshi: ’but’, a synonym of kěshi.

Wǒ yǐjīng qùguo le, dànshi         I already went there, but I didn’t

wo méiyou kàndao ta.                see her.

Notes on No. 18

nannū: ’male and female’.

Nánnūde shìqing zuì nan shuō. Matters between men and women are the hardest to judge.

yīngdāng: 'should, ought to'. Yīngdāng is a less-frequently heard word for yīnggāi. These two words share in common the following meanings:

• (1) ’should’ in the sense of obligation or duty.

Zánmen shi tongzhì, yīngdāng We two are comrades, we should help (or yīnggāi) bīcī bāngmáng.        each other.

• (2) ’ought to' in the sense of 'it would be suitable to'.

Wàitou lěng, nǐ yīnggāi (or        It's cold out, you should put on

yīngdāng) duō chuān yìdiǎnr.       some more clothing.

• (3) 'should* in the sense of 'it would be desirable to'.

Nǐ yīnggāi (or yīngdāng)           You should try this, it’s fun.

shìyishi, zhēn hao wánr.

(U) 'should' in the sense of 'it is expected'.

Shídiān zhōng le, tā yīnggāi It's ten o'clock, he should be here (or yīngdāng) kuài dào le.         soon.

Tā xué Zhōngwén xuéle sānnián He's been studying Chinese for three le, yīnggāi xuéde bú cuò le.       years, he should be pretty good

by now.

bǐjiào: 'relatively, comparatively, by comparison'. Also pronounced

You may sometimes hear Chinese speakers use bǐjiào before other adverbial expressions like bú tài 'not too', bu zěnme 'not so', bú nàme 'not so' or hen 'very'. Careful speakers, however, feel that bǐjiào should not be used in such cases.

Notes on No. 19

huì: ’will; might; be likely to’. The auxiliary verb huì is used to express likelihood here.

Míngtiān tā huì bu hui lái?       Will he come tomorrow?

Wo qù bǎ men guānhǎo, nǐ huì       If I go close the door, will you

bu hui juéde tài rè?               feel too hot?

jiějué: ’to solve, to settle (a problem), to overcome (a difficulty)*.

Nǐ bú yào jí, qiánde wèntí         Don’t get anxious, the problem of

yǐjīng jiějué le.                  money has already been solved.

Washington, D. C.

A graduate student in Chinese studies from Peking.

• A: Women rènshi zhǐ you liǎngge

duō xīngqī, kěshi yǐjīng shi lǎo péngyou le.

• B: Duì. Women tiantiān zài

yíkuàir, zhēn hǎoxiàng shi lǎo péngyou le.

• A: Wǒ yìzhí xiǎng wènwen ni nǐ

shi shénme shíhour jiéhūnde ne?

• B: ō! Wǒ shi qiǎnniǎn jiehūnde.

• A: Nǐ èrshibǎsuì le. Nǐ àiren

ne?

• B: Tā sānshièr le.

• A: Nǐmen jiéhūnde shíhou kě bù

xiǎo le! Zhōngguo niánqīng rén dōu shi zhèige yàngzi ma?

• B: Duì le. Zhèngfǔ tíchàng wǎn-

liàn wǎnhūn. Nianqīng rén yě dōu yào nǔlì xuéxí, nǔlì gōng-zuò, bū yào zǎo jiēhūn.

w

• A: Chengshili nude duo da

jiéhūn?

• B: Chàbuduō èrshiwǔsuì zuǒyòu.

• A: Nǎnde ne?

• B: Dàgài èrshibāsuì zuǒyòu.

• A: Jiéhūnde shíhour you shénme-

yàngde yíshì?

• B: Méiyou shénme yíshì. Būguò jiēhūn nèitiān qǐng qīnqi péngyou lai hēhe chǎ, chī diǎnr tǎng, diǎnxin shenmede. Yě you rén song dianr xiǎo lǐwu zuò

talks with an exchange student

We’ve only known each other for two weeks or so, but we’re old friends already.

Yes. We’re together every day; it really is as if we’re old friends.

I’ve been meaning to ask you all along when you were married.

Oh. I was married the year before last.

You’re twenty-eight years old. How about your spouse?

He’s thirty-two.

You certainly weren’t young when you were married! Is it this way for all Chinese young people?

Yes. The government promotes late involvement and late marriage. Also, all young people should study hard and work hard, and shouldn't get married early.

At what age do most women get married in the cities?

After about twenty-five.

And men?

After about twenty-eight.

What kind of ceremony is there when someone gets married?

There is no ceremony. But on the day of the marriage relatives and friends are invited to come and drink tea, eat a little candy, snacks and so forth. Some people also give a

jìniàn.

• A: Nongcūnlīde niǎnqǐng rén yě

shíxíng wǎnhūn ma?

• B: Duì. Zài néngcūnli wǎn

liàn’ài wǎn jiehūn ye yǐjīng chéngle yìzhǒng fēngqì.

• A: Néngcūnli nūhǎizi jiéhūnde

shíhou nǎnjia hǎi yào song xúduō lǐwù ma?

• B: Bú yào le. Érqiě xiànzài you.

xiē nǎn qīngniǎn jiéhūn yǐhòu hǎi zhùdao nūjiār qu. Zhè gēn yǐqiǎnde fēngsú you hen dàde qubié.

• A: Kě bú shi ma! Zhēn shi

gǎibiànle bù shǎo.

Xiànzài Zhōngguo líhūnde duo bu duo?

• B: You, kěshi bǐjiǎo shǎo._v

Yīnwei jiēhūn yǐqiǎn nǎnnū shuāngfǎng bǐcǐ bǐjiǎo liǎojiě, yòu jīngguo xiāngdāngde kǎolū, suéyi líhūnde bú tài duō.

• A: Wo tīngshuō Zhōngguo you

yìxiē fūfù bú zài yíge dìqū gōngzuò, bú zhùzai yíge dìfang, zhè huì bu hui you wèntí ne?

• B: Fūfù bú zài yíge dìfang

gōngzuò, suīrǎn měiniǎn you bànge yuède tànqīnjià, dànshi hǎi you hěn duō bù fǎngbiàn. Suéyi wèile ràng tamen gèng hǎode gōngzuò hé xuéxí, yīng-dāng bang tamen jiějué zhèige wèntí.

A: Duìjíle. Fūfù zongshi nénggòu zài yìqǐ bījiào hǎo.

small gift as a memento.

Do the young people in rural areas also practice late marriage?

Yes. Late involvement and late marriage have already become a common practice in the rural areas.

In the farm villages does the family of the husband still have to give a lot of presents when a girl gets married?

Not any more. Furthermore now , there are even young men who live with the wife’s family after they get married. This is very different "from the customs of the past.

I’ll say! It’s really changed a lot.

Are there many people who get divorced in China now?

Yes, there are, but relatively few. The man and the woman know each other rather well before they get married, and they give the matter quite a bit of consideration, so not too many people get divorced.

I hear there are some couples in China who don’t work in the same place. Do problems ever come about because of this?

If the husband and wife don’t work in the same place, even though they get half a month’s leave every year to visit family members, it’s still very inconvenient. So in order to let them work and study even better, we should help them solve this problem.

You’re so right. It’s always better if the husband and wife can be together.

NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE

...nanjia hái yào song xǔduō lǐwù ma?: In traditional China, the groom’s family gave gifts to the "bride’s family to compensate for the loss of their daughter. (For the loss of the daughter might also entail a substantial loss of property and servants.) In Taiwan, it is still the man’s family who in most cases pays for the wedding arrangements. In the PRC today, these customs no longer exist.

Xiànzài Zhōngguō líhūnde duō bu duō?: Although allowed by law with the mutual consent of both parties, it is not easy to obtain a divorce in the PRC. With the exceptions of one party being either politically questionable or terminally ill, the majority of couples are asked to resolve their differences via study and group criticism.

...you yìxiē fūfù bú zài yíge dìfang gōngzuò: Many couples still have to be split up in order for each to have work. (Jobs are arranged for and assigned by the local government.) This is, of course, a great hardship since it is improbable that either will be able to arrange a transfer of job to the other’s work-place. The splits are arranged in order to increase rural population and provide labor for rural jobs. The partner left in the city, usually the woman, can go to the countryside to join her spouse, but rural life is so difficult that this is not likely.

...suīrán měinián you bànge yuède tànqǐnjià: There are two types of leave for visiting one’s family in the PRC. One is for unmarried children to return home to see their parents, the other is for couples who are assigned to different places for work. These trips are paid for by one’s work unit (but communes have no family leave provisions). If the person on leave is working relatively near his home, he is allowed a fifteen day visit once per year and a worker who is located relatively far from home can take a thirty day visit once every two years.

PART I

NOTES ON PART I

Notes on No. 1

xiáojie: ’daughter’. You have seen xiáojie meanirfg ’Miss’ or ’young lady’. Here it is used to mean ’daughter’. Note, however, that it is used only in referring to someone else’s daughter, not in referring to one’s own daughter(s).

Tā you jǐwèi xiáojie?              How many daughters does he have?

Nǐmen xiáojie zhēn piàoliang. Your daughter is really pretty.

Xiáojie, meaning either ’Miss’ or ’daughter’, is not in current usage in the PRC.

dà xǐde rìzi: ’wedding day’, literally ’big joyful day’. Xǐ ’to be glad, Joyful', is used in several expressions having to do with weddings. The character for xǐ is often used as a decoration. For weddings, two xǐ characters together are used as a decoration.

Notes on No. 2

ren hen lǎoshi: ’he's very honest'. Ren, 'person', can be used to refer to a person's character. It can be used with a noun or pronoun before it, for example Tā ren hen lǎoshi, literally 'As for him, his person is very honest'. The wording Tā ren ... is often used to talk about the way someone truly is:

Tā rén hěn āi'bāngzhu bié rén. He (is the sort of person who) likes to help others.

Liu Xiānsheng rén hěn tebié, Mr. Liu is a different sort of shénme shìqing dōu yào wen         person, he has to ask 'why' about

yige wèishenme.                     everything.

Tā rén hěn kèqi.                    He's a very polite sort of person.

Sometimes rén refers to a person's mental state of being:

Wǒ hēde tài duō, rén hái you I had too much to drink and I'm still diǎnr bu qīngchu.                   a little foggy.

Ren also sometimes refers to a person's physical self. This meaning is mostly used in situations where a contrast is implied, something like 'And

In the PRC jiāowāng is not used this way; use rènshi, ’to know (a person)’ or jiāo péngyou, ’to make friends’ instead. In the PRC, you will hear jiāowāng used in phrases such as "lǐangguo rénmínde jiāowāng”, ’the contact (association) between the peoples of these two countries*.

Notes on No. U

nánfāng: ’’the bridegroom’s side”, a phrase which often refers to the bridegroom himself, and sometimes refers to the bridegroom’s family, relatives, and friends collectively. Nanfāng, "the bridegroom’s side", happens to be a homonym of nánfāng, ’the South’.

Zhōngguo rén jiéhūnde shíhou, When Chinese get married, the groom’s nánfāng dà qǐng kè.                 family hosts a big feast.

Jiéhūn yǐqián nánfāng nūfāng Before a marriage, the groom’s side bicǐ song lí.                       and the bride’s side give each

other gifts.

LNūfāng means "the bride’s side, referring either to "the bride" herself, or to ’the bride’s family, relatives, and friends collectively’.]

shou: ’to be familiar with ...’ Also pronounced shu. Shou is used with hé for people and with duì for places.

Wǒ hé tā hen shou.                 I know him very well.

Tā duì Táiběi hěn shóu.            She knows Taipei very well.

Shóu also means ’to be cooked sufficiently' and ’to be ripe*.

zǎo: You’ve learned this as the verb ’to be early’, now you see it used to mean ’long ago’.

Wǒ zǎo zhīdào nǐ bù huílai.        I knew long ago that you wouldn’t

come back.

Wǒ zǎo tīngshuō le.                I heard about it long ago.

Zǎo is usually followed by jiù to stress the idea of ’as early as that’.

tíqǐn: ’to bring up a proposal of marriage’ Traditionally, the man’s parents would visit the parents of the woman they wished their son to marry in order to bring up the subject of marriage. The situation in Taiwan is changing rapidly today, but some marriages are still proposed in this way. More frequently, however, the children simply inform their parents of their own arrangement.

Dāyjng can also mean ’to answer’.

Tā Jiao ni, nī zěnme méi dāying? He called you, how come you didn’t answer?

Notes on No. 5

tánlai tánqù: ’to talk over’.

juédìng: ’to decide’.

Notice that when you want to say ’I can’t decide whether (to do something)’ or ’I haven’t decided whether (to do something)’, the object of juédìng is a choice-type question.

hòulái:  ’afterwards, later *. You have already learned another word

which can be translated as "afterwards” or ’’later": yǐhòu. Yǐhòu and hòulái are both nouns which express time. Here is a brief comparison of them.

(1) Yǐhòu can either follow another element ’in which case it is translated as "after ...’’) or it can be used by itself.

Tā láile yǐhòu, women jiù zou After he came, we left, le.

Yǐhòu, tā méiyou zāi láiguo. Afterwards, he never came back again.

Hòulái can only be used by itself.

Hòulái, tā shuì jiao le.           Afterwards, he went to sleep.

(2) Both yǐhòu and hòulái may be used to refer to the past. (For example, in the reference list sentence, yǐhòu may be substituted for hòulái. But if you want to say ’’afterwards" or "later" referring to the future, you can only use yǐhòu. When it refers to the future time, yǐhòu can be translated in various ways, depending on the context:

Tā zhǐ xiěle yìběn shū, yǐhòu He only wrote one book, and hasn't zài méi xieguo.                     written any since.

Ránhòu stresses the succession of one event upon the completion of a prior event.

Wǒ shàngwū zhǐ you liǎngjié        I have only two classes in the

kè, ránhòu jiù méi shì le, morning, and after that I don't women kéyi chuqū wánr.           have anything else to do, so we

háishi: 'in the end, after all' You have seen háishi meaning 'still', that is, that something remains the same way as it was. Here háishi is used to mean that the speaker feels that, all things considered, something is the case after all.

Note on No. 6

jūxíng: 'to hold (a meeting, banquet, celebration, ceremony, etc.)' For this example you need to know that diǎnlǐ means 'ceremony'.

Míngtiān jǔxíng hìyè diǎnlǐ.       Tomorrow the graduation ceremony-

will he held.

Notes on No. 8

hái: ’even, (to go) so far as to’ You have seen hái meaning ’still’"as in Nǐ hái zài zhèr!., ’You’re still here.’’. You’ve also seen hái meaning ’also, additionally’, as in Wǒ hái yào mǎi yǐpíng qǐshuǐ., ’I also want to huy a hottie of soda.’ Here you see hái meaning additionally in the sense of additional effort. The sentence Nǐmen hái song huār lai, hái expresses the speaker’s feeling that sending flowers went heyond what was expected or necessary.

zhēn shi tài xièxie le: ’I really thank you so much.’’ You have seen tài used to mean ’very, extremely’, as in Tài hǎo le!, ’Wonderful!’. Notice that here it is used with xièxie.

Taipei:

A woman goes to visit her old friend her daughter and future son-in-law.

• A: Gōngxǐ, gōngxǐ! Zhège Xīng-

qītiān jiù shi nǐmen èr xiáo-jiede dàxǐde rìzi! Zhèli shi sònggei xīnláng xīnniángde lǐwù.

• B: Xièxie! Xièxie! Nǐ tài

kèqi le.

• A: Yìdiǎn xiǎo yìsi. Nǐ yídìng

hen mǎng ha! Hūnlǐ dōu zhǔnbèi-hǎo le meiyou?

• B: Zuì mǎngde shíhou yǐjīng guò

le, xiànzài chàbuduō dōu zhǔn-bèihǎo le.

• A: Xīnlǎng shi nǎli rén a? Zài

nǎli gōngzuò?

• B: Xīnlǎng shi Héběi rén, zài Tǎiwān Yínhǎng gōngzuò. Tā rén hen lǎoshi, ye hen shàngjìn.

• A: Xiùyun gēn tā shi biéren

jièshào rènshide háishi zìjī rènshide?

• B: Shi Xiùyunde lǎoshī jièshàode.

Xiùyun gēn tā jiāowāng dào xiànzài yǐjīng liǎngniǎn le, duì ta hen mǎnyì.

• A: Nīmen gēn nǎnfāngde fùmǔ

yǐqiǎn shéu bu shéu?

• B: Bù shéu, keshi women zǎo jiù

tīngshuōguo tamen le. Tāmen liǎngwèi dōu zài TǎiDà jiāo shū. Tāmen yì lǎi tíqīn women jiù dāying le.

• A: Wǒ kànjian qǐngtiēshang xiězhe

hūnlǐ zài Guōbīn Dàfàndiàn jǔxíng. Nàli dìfang you dà you piàoliang. Zhēn hǎo.

and to present her with a gift for

Congratulations! This Sunday is your second daughter’s big day! Here’s a present for the bride and groom.

Thank you! That’s so nice of you.

It’s just a little something. You must be busy! Is everything all ready for the wedding?

The busiest time has already passed; almost everything is ready now.

Where is the groom’s family from? Where does he work?

The groom’s family is from Hopei. He works at the Bank of Taiwan. He’s very honest and ambitious.

Were Xiuyun and he introduced by someone else or did they meet by themselves?

They were introduced by Xiuyun’s teacher. Xiuyun and he have been seeing each other for two years now, and she’s very pleased with him.

Did you know the groom’s parents well before?

No, but we had heard of them long before. They both teach at Taiwan University. As soon as they came to propose the marriage, we agreed to it.

I saw on the invitation that the wedding is being held at the Ambassador Hotel. It’s very spacious and beautiful there. That’s great.

• B: Shi a! Women gēn nǎnfāngde

fùmǔ tánlái tǎnqù tánle hǎo jiu, bù zhīdào zài náli juxíng hūnlī zuì hǎo. Hòulǎi hǎishi wǒ juēdìng zai Guóbīn Dàfàndiàn jǔxíng.

• A: Ng! Guóbīn Dàfàndiàn bù zhī

shi dìfang piàoliang, nàlide cài ye tebiě hǎo.

• B: Duì le.

• A: Xīnniǎngde jiěhūn līfú zài

nǎli mǎide?

• B: Bú shi mǎide, shi Xiùyún zìjī

zuòde.

• A: Nǐmen èr xiǎojie zhēn nènggàn.

Tiān bù zǎo le, wo gǎi zǒu le.

• B: Nǐ hǎi zìjī song līwù lai, zhēn

shi xièxie! Xīngqītiān yídìng lǎi, ǎ!

Yes. We discussed it back and forth for a long time with his parents. We didn’t know where it would be best to hold the wedding. Afterwards I was the one who decided that we would have it at the Ambassador Hotel.

Oh! Not only is the Ambassador Hotel a beautiful place, but the food there is especially good too.

That * s right.

Where did you buy the bride’s wedding gown?

It isn’t bought. Xiuyun made it herself.

Your second daughter sure is capable.

It’s getting late, I ought to be going.

You even brought the gifts yourself. Thank you so much. Be sure to come on Sunday!

NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE

Guóbīn Dàfàndiàn bù zhī shi dìfang piàoliang, nàlide cài yě tèbie hǎo. Traditional wedding foods included huāshēng, peanuts; liǎnzǐ, lotus seeds; and zǎozi, dates, all of which symbolize fertility in that shēng(zī) means ’’give birth to’’ (a son); liǎnzǐ sounds like part of the phrase liǎnshēng guìzī, ’’have sons consecutively”; and zǎozi sounds like part of zǎoshēng guì-zǐ, ’’have an early son.” The wedding marked the beginning of that generation’s carrying on of the family line. Today few adhere to these symbols and food is served according to family preference.

Bú shi mǎide, shi Xiùyún. zìjǐ zuòde: Wedding gowns in Taiwan these days are frequently hand-made or tailor-made, as tailoring is affordable and the quality of work surpasses that of ready-made items. Brides may wear two gowns: a white one for the ceremony (which may be in a church nowadays) and a traditional Chinese red one at the celebration.

PART II

NOTES ON PART II

Notes on No. 9

xìn JieLujiao: ’to believe in (Protestant) Christianity* This is one way of saying ’to be a (Protestant) Christian’.

Notes on No. 10

xìn Fo: ’to believe in Buddha’ This is one way of saying ’to be a Buddhist’.

Notes on No. 11

zài fǎyuàn: ’in court’ Zài is the verb ’to be in, at, or on’, in other words ’to be located (someplace). Zài must be followed by a place word or a place phrase. Just what is considered to be a place word or phrase may be difficult for the non-native speaker to figure out. Words which are not considered to be place words or phases must have a locational ending such as -li or -shang added to them. (Nǐ zài chēshang mǎi piào., ’You buy the ticket on the bus.’)

The names of institutions in Chinese are considered to be place words. The phrase ’in court’ does not need a locational ending, zài fǎyuàn. Here are some other words which can function as place words by themselves. Many of these end with syllables such as -shi (shǐ) ’house, apartment’, -Ju ’office, shop’, -diàn ’inn, shop’, -chǎng ’field, open ground’, -ting ’hall, room’, -suǒ ’place, room’, -jiān ’house, rooms’, guan ’public office, hall*.

Jīntiān xiàwu zài bàngōngshì See you at the office this afternoon! j iàn ’.

Zài běnshì you wuge yóuzhèng- There are five post offices in this

gōngzhèng: 'notarization, government witness'. A gōngzhèng ren is a notary public.

Note on No. 12

rù xí: 'to take one's seat at a banquet', literally 'to enter the mat(ted area)'.

Women kuài diǎnr zhǔnbèi,          Let's get ready a little faster,

tāmen liùdiǎn zhōng jiù            the banquet starts at 6:00.

yào rù xí le.

Note on No. 13

fùzá: 'to be complicated, to be complex'. Questions, problems, or situations can be fùzá if there are many pieces or factors figuring into the problem. It is also possible to use fùzá to imply that the situation is messy, problem-ridden.

Fùzá can also be used in a complimentary way. (For this example you need to know that slxiǎng means 'thinking, thought'.)

Tāde sìxiǎng hen fùzá.             His thinking is very complex.

This sentence might be said of an Einstein. The opposite of fùzá in this case -would be jiǎndān ’to be simple’, as in ’simple-minded’.

Fùzá is also pronounced fùzǎ.

Note on No. 1H

yìjiàn: ’idea, view, opinion, suggestion’.

I’d very much like to know what the Chinese government's view is on this question.

I’d like to go to Shanghai first and then to Wuhan, what’s your opinion?

My opinion is to first go to Wuhan, then to Shanghai, because after a month, Wuhan will be extremely hot.

Note on No. 15

zhènghūn: ’to witness a marriage*. Witnesses formerly were persons of good reputation and venerable old age. Today, familiarity is most important. The witness makes a brief speech during the ceremony and stamps the marriage certificate with his name seal. He receives no remuneration for this service, but is honored to have been asked.

Notes on No. 16

dù mìyuè: ’to spend one’s honeymoon’. Dù is the verb ’to spend, to pass (something which is an amount of time, like a holiday). Mìyuè is literally ’honey-moon’.

huimen: ’the bride’s first visit to her own family on the third day after the wedding’, literally ’return to the door’. When the newlyweds return home for this first visit, the family of the bride is given a chance to entertain the couple. More friends and relatives are invited and introduced to them. (It is the groom’s family which arranges the marriage ceremony.)

Note on No. 17 .

xījiū: ’wedding banquet’. Notice that in the Reference List sentence the phrase lai chī xījiǔ is translated as ’to come to the wedding banquet’. A more literal translation might be ’come to eat a wedding feast!. The verb chī could also be rendered into English by ’attend* or ’take part’, as in ’Be sure to come take part in the wedding banquet the day after tomorrow’.

Notes on No. 18

hūnlīshàng: ’at the wedding*. Notice that in English you say ’at the wedding’ while in Chinese you say hūnlīshàng, literally ’on the wedding’. -Shang would also be the locative ending to use for ’at the meeting (huìshang).

jièshaorén: ’introducer*. This is one person in the cast of people who play a part in getting two people together in marriage. Originally, the ’’introducer” functioned in much the same way as match-makers - finding a good mate for a friend or relative. Today, most young people find their own mates. The ’’introducers”, however, still have a ceremonial function. They accompany the bride and groom during the ceremony (one for the bride and one for the groom).

zuò méi; ’to act as the go-between for two families, whose children are to be married’. This person arranged the details of the match. He acted as a go-between for the families of the bride and groom, settling points which were usually of a financial nature. Often the zuò méide was also the jièshaorén. Traditionally, the go-between was an older woman who made a profession of it. She was paid for her services in money if the family was wealthy or in the best pork legs if they were poor. Today any adult can act as the go-between, although the practice is becoming less and less common. During the wedding ceremony, the go-between places his stamp on the wedding certificate.

Wǒ gěi ni zuò méi, hǎo bu hǎo? I’ll act as go-between for you, all right?

Zhang Tàitai qīng wo tī tǎde Mrs. Chang asked me to act as go-nūér zuò méi.                       between for her daughter.

Notes on No. 19

jūzhǎng; ’head of an office or bureau’. Júzhǎng is only used when the Chinese name of the office or bureau ends with the syllable -jú, as in youzhèngjú, ’post office’. You’ve also seen bùzhǎng, ’minister of a bureau* and kēzhǎng, ’section chief*.

duōniǎn: ’many years*. Here are some examples:

Women duōniǎn bú jiàn le.          We haven’t seen each other for many

years.

Notes on No. 20

tándao: ’to talk about, to speak of’. This is used to refer to something that was just brought up in conversation. You have seen dào used as a main verb meaning ’to go to, to arrive at’, and as a prepositional verb meaning ’to towards’. Now you see that dào is also used as a verb ending. Literally, it means ’to, up to’, but its translation into English sometimes changes, depending on the meaning of the verb it is used with. When used with tan, ’to talk, to chat’, -dào can be translated as ’about’ or ’of’. Here are some other examples of -dào used with verbs you’ve already studied:

Notice that in the Reference List sentence, tándao is used at the beginning of the sentence to introduce a topic, like we use ’speaking of ...' in English. Here are some other examples:

yě: ’really, after all’. You have seen yě meaning ’too, also’. Another common meaning of yě is ’(even though) ... nevertheless, still’. For example:

In addition, yě often is used to contrast the thought expressed in the sentence with another thought. This meaning can be paraphrased something like this:- ”in spite of anything which might be believed to the contrary, indeed what I am saying is true." Sometimes, however, yě is used when there is not much to contrast it with, and means little more than ”we really ought to agree that what I am saying is true.”

There are many different possible ways to translate this yě into English. The following examples are meant to show some of its range of meaning and some of its possible translations.

Taipei:

The day before a young couple is to be married, a friend pays a visit to the mother of the bride:

• A: Gōngxǐ, gōngxǐ! Míngtiān shi

nǐmen xiáojie dàxǐde rìzi! Xīnláng shi shénme rén a? Tāmen shi zěnme rènshide?

• B: Shi péngyou jièshàode.

Nánfāngde fùqin gēn wǒ xiān-sheng zài youzhèngjú shi téngshì, búguò yǐqián bú tài shou. Hòulái lìngwài yíge xìng Lǐde téngshì jiù lai zuò méi, jièshào tamen rènshi. Tāmen jiāowǎng dào xiànzài yě yìnián duō le. Nàge nánháizi xiànzài àrshibāsuì, rén hen lǎoshi, yě hěn shàngjìn. Xiànzài zài Táiwān Yínháng gōngzuò. Tā bàngōngshìlide rén dōu shuō tā nénggàn. Xiùyún duì ta hěn mǎnyì, érqiě Xiùyún yǐjīng èrshisìsuì le, yě dàole gāi jiéhūnde shíhou le, suoyi nánfāng yì lai tíqīn women jiù dāying le.

A:   Wǒ kàn qǐngtiēshang shuō

wǔdiān zhōng zài Guobīn Dàfàndiàn jǔxíng hūnlǐ, liùdiǎn zhōng rù xí. Nà dìfang hěn dà, cài yě hěn hǎo, míngtiān yídìng hěn rènao.

B:   Tándao jǔxíng hūnlǐ a, yìjian

duō le. Zhēn fùzá. Xian shi liǎngge háizi yào dào fǎyuàn gōngzhèng jiéhūn, kěshi nánfāngde fùmǔ bù dāying. Tāmen xìn Jīdūjiào, yídìng yào dào jiàotáng qù. Women jiā xìn Fo, zěnme kéyi ràng tamen dào jiàotáng qù jǔxíng hūnlǐ ne! Hòulái, liǎngjiā tánlái tánqù, zuìhòu cái juédìng háishi zài Guóbīn Dàfàndiàn

Congratulations! Tomorrow’s your daughter’s big day! Who’s the bridegroom? How did they meet?

They were introduced by friends.

The father of the groom is a colleague of my husband’s at the post office, but they didn’t know each very well before. Afterwards, another colleague by the name of Li camé to act as the go-between and introduced them. They have been seeing each other for over a year now. The young man is twenty-eight years old now. He’s very honest and ambitious. He works at the Bank of Taiwan. The people at his office all say he’s very capable. Xiuyun is very pleased with him, and besides, she’s twenty-four years old; she has reached the time when she should get married. So as soon as his family came to propose the marriage, we agreed to it.

I see it says on the invitation that the ceremony will be held at the Ambassador Hotel at five o’clock, and that the banquet starts at six. It’s a very big place, and the food is very good. It should be very lively tomorrow.

As far as the wedding ceremony is concerned, there were a lot of different opinions. It was really complicated. At first the two children wanted to go to court and have a civil marriage, but the parents of the groom didn’t agree to that. They’re Christians, and insisted on going to a church. Our family is Buddhist; how could we let them go to a church to hold the wedding! Later, our two families discussed it back and

juxíng hūnlǐ.

• A: Shi qǐng shénme rén zhènghūn

a?

• B: Zhènghūnrén shi Youzhèngjū

Zhang Júzhǎng. Tā gēn nǎnfāngde fùqin shi duōniǎnde lao péngyou, suéyi yì qǐng ta, tā mǎshàng jiu dāying le.

• A: You méiyou jièshàorén? Jièshàorén shi shéi ya?

• B: Nánfāngde jièshàorén jiù shi lǎi zuò méide nàwèi Lǐ Xiān-sheng. Women zhèhiān jiù qǐngle Zhāng Zǐmíng Jiàoshòu. Tā shi Xiùyun niàn dàxué shíhoude lǎoshī.

• A: Xīnniǎngde jiéhūn lǐfú shi zài shénme dìfang zuòde?

• B: Bu shi zuòde, shi zūde.

• A: Tāmen jiēhūn yǐhòu yào dào

nǎli qù dù mìyuè?

• B: Tāmen jìhua yào dào Alǐ Shān

qù wan yíge xīngqī, húguò tāmen jiéhūn yǐhòu bù néng mǎshàng zou, yào děng huí mén yǐhòu cai qù.

• A: 0, hǎo hǎo hǎo. Wo xiǎng

nǐmen yídìng hen mǎng. Wo yīnggāi zǒu le.

• B: Nǐ name kèqi, hai zìjǐ lai

song līwù lai. Xièxie, xièxie! Míngtiān yídìng lai chī xījiǔ.

• A: Hǎo, míngtiān jiàn.

forth, and finally we decided it would be best to hold the wedding at the Ambassador Hotel.

Whom did you ask to witness the marriage?

The witness is Postmaster Zhang. He’s an old friend of many years of the groom’s father, so as soon as we went to ask him, he agreed right away.

Are there any introducers? Who are they?

The introducer for the groom’s side is the Mr. Li who was the go-between. For our side we asked Professor Zhang Ziming. He was a teacher of Xiuyun’s when she was in college.

Where was the bride’s wedding gown made?

It wasn’t (specially) made, it’s rented.

After they’re married, where are they going to spend their honeymoon?

They’re planning to go to Mt. Ali for a week, but they can’t leave right after the wedding. They have to wait until after the bride’s first visit to her new parents’ home before they go.

Oh, okay. Well, you must be very busy, so I should be leaving now.

You’re so polite, you even brought presents over in person. Thank you! Be sure to come to the banquet tomorrow.

Okay, see you tomorrow.

NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE

...liangge háizi yào dào fǎyuàn gōngzhèng .jiéhūn: Traditional wedding ceremonies were held at home or in ancestral halls (not in temples or pagodas). Modern ones are likely to be held in hotels or restaurants, as there is more room and food is then easier to prepare.

Tāmen jìhua yào dào Ālǐ Shān qù: Ālǐ Shān and Rìyuè Tán (Sun-Moon Lake) are the two most popular honeymoon spots on Taiwan. An average honeymoon stay might last one week.

PART I

NOTES ON PART I

Notes on No. 1

Notes on No. 2

zuòdao: ’to achieve, to make (a goal)*. In Unit 2, Part II, you saw tándao ’to talk about, to speak of’, with the ending -dào meaning literally ’to, up to’. Here you see -dào used as an ending after the verb zuò ’to make’. You may think of -dào in zuòdao as conveying the meaning of reaching a goal.

Zhèijiān shi, wǒ yǐjīng zuòdào I have already succeeded in doing le.                                   this.

Nǐ shuōguo, zuótiān nǐ yào qù, You said that you wanted to go nǐ zuòdào le ma?                   yesterday. Did you do so?

sān tōngguò; ’the three approvals’. The ’three approvals’ have been in effect since 1973/7^. At that time, the minimum marriage age was pushed upward, but most recently it has been relaxed to ages twenty-five for males and twenty-three for females. Most couples must still wait a number of years before they can have a child. The sāntōngguò guiding for city residents effectively means that, without these three approvals for a child, a pregnancy must end in abortion or else the child will have to live without food rations. (A government slogan is Yíge zuì hǎo, liǎngge gòule, "One is best, two is enough.’’) Applications to have children are reviewed and permission granted or denied by one’s work unit, based on the total allowable city quota. A third child is strongly discouraged and life would be very difficult for it should it be born. Special gifts, privileges, and awards are given to one-child families. In the countryside, one can find four to six children in a household, but they of course could not easily move to the city.

Notes on No. 3

ye jiùshi shu5: ’to mean; in other words, that is to say’.

tōngyì: ’consent, agreement; to agree, to agree with (what someone says or thinks)’.

• B: Wo bù tóngyì.                   I don’t agree.

Wo bù tóngyì nǐde huà.             I don’t agree with what you say.

Although in English we can say *1 agree with you’, in Chinese it is wrong to say either Wǒ gēn nǐ tóngyì or Wo tóngyì ni. Tóngyì can be used in two ways: without an object, or with an object like tā shuode ’what he said*, tāde huà ’what he said’, tāde jìhua *his plan*, tāde yìjian ’his opinion’. If you want to say *1 don’t agree with you', you can say Wǒ bù tongyì, Nǐ shuode, wǒ bù tongyì, Wǒ bù tongyì nǐde huà, Wǒ bù tóngyì nǐde yìjian, etc.

Notes on No. U

dānwèi: ’(work) unit'. This word is used in the PRC as a cover term for any organization or department of an organization. It may, for instance refer to a factory, a school, a government organization, a store, or an army unit.

Nǐ zài něige dānwèi gōngzuò? is a common way of asking where someone works; compared with Nǐ zài nār gōngzuò?, the question Nǐ zài něige dānwèi gōngzuò? sounds more official.

Women dānwèi you hěn duō nū        There are a lot of women teachers in

laoshī.                             our unit. (Here, dānwèi refers to

a school.)

To specify that you are talking about a place of work, you can say gōngzuò dānwèi, as in the Reference List sentence.

jūmín wěiyuánhuì: ’neighborhood committee'. The official duties of-a neighborhood committee are diverse, ranging from sanitation maintenance^ to political study. Its actual role and duty remain ambiguous, as well as its relationship with the government. Although the government pays a committee’s elected delegates, there is no official connection between the two. The power of the committee in local affairs remains large.

pàichūsuǒ: 'local police station'. The local police station is the lowest level of the Bureau of Public Security. In addition to taking care of matters of a criminal nature, the pàichūsuǒ is familiar with the history and political situation of every one of its residents. Along with the gōngzuò dānwèi and the jūmín wěiyuánhuì, it affects the daily life of each citizen.

Notes on No■ 5

gēnju: 'according to, on the basis of; basis*.

Nǐ gēnju shénme shuō zhèige        On what basis do you say this?

huà?

Nǐ shuōde huà you méiyou           Is there a basis for what you’re

gēnju?                              saying?

pizhǔn: ’to give official permission (to someone to do something)*.

Dānwèi pīzhǔn ta jiēhūn le.        Her unit gave her permission to

marry.

Xuéxiào pīzhǔn ta qù Shanghai His school gave him permission to go le.                                 to Shanghai.

Wǒ māi zhèige diànshì shi dédao I got permission to buy this pīzhǔnde.                           television.

*

funūmen: ’women*. -Men is a plural ending for norms and pronouns. You have seen it in the pronouns women, zánmen, nǐmen, and tāmen. After a noun, however, -men is never obligatory. It is usually used with nouns which designate humans (although in literature you may sometimes see it used with nouns referring to animals as well)•

Nǔshimen, xiānshengmen.            Ladies and gentlemen.

Note that the group referred to by a norm phrase with -men must be of unspecified number; it is wrong to say liāngge fùnǔmen or sānge jiàoshòumen, etc.

zēngjiā: ’to increase; to increase by (such-and-such an amount)’.

yídìng: ’specific, certain, definite, set’. In addition to the meaning of yídìng which you already know, namely ’certainly, surely’, it can also mean ’set (hy regulation, decision, or convention), fixed, particular,’ as in

Notes on No. 7

shìqū: ’city proper, municipal area’, the area within a chéngshì where population and buildings are relatively concentrated. Shìqu is used when you are emphasizing the city proper or contrasting it to the suburbs IjiāoqūJ. It is an administratively more exact term than chengshì. CThe Peking municipal area, Beijing shìqū, is made up of eight urban districts, chéngqū.J

N

chūshēnglū: ’birth rate’. Chūshēng means ’to be born’. The chūshēnglū is usually considered to be the number of births per one thousand population in one year.

Notes on No. 8

fēnpèi: ’distribute; allot; assign; distribution’.

Tīngshuō tā fēnpèi dào Dōngběi I’ve heard that he has been assigned qù gōngzuò le.                      to go work in Manchuria.

míng’ě: ’the number of people assigned or allowed; quota of people’. Míng’ě does not exactly correspond to ’quota’. ’Quota’ is a fixed number of places which must be filled. Míng’ě is (1) a fixed number of places which must not be exceeded, or (2) one such place. Bābǎige míng’ě is literally *800 name given-numbers’, i.e. ’a quota of 800 names.’

Note on No. 9

bìyùn: Literally, ’avoid-pregnancy’, i.e. ’contraception’. Shíxíng bìyùn 'to carry out (the government policy of encouraging) contraception, to practice birth control*.

Note on No. 10

miǎnfèide: Literally 'exempt from charge', i.e. 'free (of charge)'.

yìjiān xǐn fángzi: 'a new room'. Notice that although you have seen fángzi meaning 'house', it is being used here in the wider sense of 'a place to live'. In this phrase it is preceded by the counter for rooms of a house, jiān. Thus the whole phrase means 'a new room', not 'a new house'.

Living quarters in Peking and many other Chinese cities are very scarce. (Housing in Shanghai is more critical than Peking.) When a newly married couple applies for housing, they will be assigned a room that does not exceed 8-10 square meters. Rarely do living quarters have private baths, toilets, or kitchens. Later, when children come along, they will continue to live in the same size room.

Peking:

A Canadian tourist talks with her guide:

PART II

NOTES ON PART II

Notes on No. 12

chǎnjià: ’maternity leave*. The syllable chǎn, literally ’to give birth to* is used in compounds meaning ’maternity, delivery, birth’. It can also be used outside the context of human reproduction in compounds meaning ’to produce, production', as in chǎnpǐn ’product’.!

gōngzī: ’wages, pay’, literally ’labor-capital’.

...you chǎnjià, hái you gōngzi: For a normal birth, a woman is given fifty-six days of paid leave; for a difficult birth, seventy days; and for twins, ninety days after the birth. After this period, one hour per day is allowed off in order to nurse the baby.

bìyùn gōngju: ’contraceptive devices’. This does not refer to birth control pills. CBìyùnpǐn ’birth control products’ includes both bìyùnyào ’birth control pills’ and bìyùn gōngjù.I

jìhuà shēngyù: ’family planning, planned parenthood’. Jìhuà means ’plan; to plan’. Shēngyù literally means ’to give birth to and raise’.

Notes on No. 1U

juéyù: ’sterilization,’ or ’to sterilize, to be sterilized,* applies to operations for men and women. Sterilization for women is still much more common than for men; and more prevalent in the cities than in the countryside.

Tā juédìng juéyù.                   He has decided on sterilization.

Juéyù shi jiějué Zhōngguo          Sterilization is one good way to

rénkǒu wèntíde yíge hǎo bànfa. solve China’s population problem.

shǒushù: ’surgery’.

réngōng liúchān: ’abortion’, more literally, ’artificial miscarriage’.

dào yīyuàn qu zuò réngōng liúchān: ’go to the hospital to have an abortion performed’. Zuò réngōng liúchān here means ’to have an abortion done’, not of course ’to do an abortion’. Compare the following two sentences:

Yīshēng gěi ta zuòle réngōng The doctor performed an abortion on liúchān.                            her.

Tā zuòle réngōng liúchān.          She had an abortion.

In the first sentence, the subject of the sentence (yīshēng) performed the abortion. In the second sentence, the subject of the sentence (tā) had the abortion performed. In some cases, a verb-object in Chinese can mean either ’to do something’ or ’to have something done’. Here are some more examples:

Zhènme hāode yīfu, shéi gěi nǐ Who made such nice clothes for you? zuòde?

Zài Měiguo zuò yīfu hěn guì.       It’s really expensive to have clothes

made in America.

jià: ’leave, vacation’. You have seen this as part of the word chānjià ’maternity leave’. Here you see it used by itself.

Notes on No. 16

shāoshù mínzú: ’minority natiionalities’, often translated as ’national minorities’. Besides the Han people, China has over fifty national minorities which are spead out over fifty to sixty percent of the land area and make up six percent of the total population of the country. The largest minorities are the Mongols (mostly in the Nèi Menggú Zìzhìqū, ’Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region*), the Hui (Chinese Muslims), Tibetans, Uighurs (in the Xīnjiāng Wéiwú-ěr Zìzhìqū, ’Xinxiang Uighur Autonomous Region’), and the Miao (found in several southern provinces).

Shǎoshù mínzúde yīfu dōu hěn hǎo kǎn.

Zhōngguo you wǔshijige shǎoshù-mínzú.

Notes on No. 17

xiāngxìn: ’to believe (that), to trust (someone), to believe in, to have faith in’.

Wo xiāngxìn, women liǎngguo        I believe that the friendship between

rénmínde yōuyì yídìng huì          the people of our two countries

búduàn fāzhǎn.                      will constantly grow.

Compare xiāngxìn to the verb xìn, which you learned in the last unit. For the second example you need to know you is a verb meaning ’it’s up. to...’.

Bié xìn tāde huà.                   Don’t believe what he says.

Xìn bu xìn you nǐ.                  Believe it or not, as you like.

hōngtāng: ’brown sugar’, literally ’red sugar’. The Chinese often use brown sugar in cooking and for medicinal purposes. For example, a common remedy for colds is a hot drink made by boiling ginger root and brown sugar in water Ejiāngtāng], or simply brown sugar water Ctāngshuǐ].

chǎnfù: ’a woman who has given birth within the last month’. ["Contrast this word with yùnfù ’a pregnant woman’.] The birth of a child is celebrated on the successful completion of the first month.of life.

yíngyǎngpǐn: ’a nutritional food item’. Yíngyāng means ’nutrition*, for example:

Doujiāng hěn you yíngyāng.         Soy bean milk is very nitritious.

-Pin is a syllable used in many words to mean ’item, article, product’, Efor example jìniànpǐn ’souvenir’, yòngpǐn ’item of use’, chǎnpǐn ’produce’, gōngyèpǐn ’industrial product’].

As the Reference List sentence shows, the mother’s health continues to be an important consideration even after the child is born. Both mother’s and baby’s health are carefully attended to after birth, while Western medicine emphasizes the mother’s health only as long as she is carrying the child.

Notes on No. 18

bù tong: ’to be not the same, to be different*. This is often used in

the pattern ...he ... bù tong,

Bù tong can also be used as a noun as in

Tāde dānwèi he nǐde you hěn       There is a big difference between

dàde bù tong.                       his work unit and yours.

You should be aware that tong ’same’, cannot be used as the main verb of a sentence to mean ’to be the same’. To say, ’These two things are the same’, you must say Zhèiliǎngge dōngxi shi yíyàngde.

qīnjìn: ’to be close (to), to be on intimate terms (with)*.

Zhèiliǎngge rén hěn qīnjìn.        These two are on intimate terms.

Dàjiā dōu yuànyi qīnjìn ta.        Everyone wants to be friends with him.

Notes on No. 19

shouxiān: ’first (of all), in the first place, first; first, before anyone/anything else*.

wānjù; ’(children’s) toy’.

Míngtiān érzi guò shēngrì, gěi Tomorrow is our boy’s birthday, ta mǎi ge wānjù.                    let’s buy him a toy.

Note on No. 20

gèdì: ’each place; various places’. Here you see the specifier -gè ’each’ used in another compound. Here are some more examples:

Peking:

A Canadian student in Peking interviews a population control worker:

A: Wǒ zài Jiānádàde shihou jiù tīngshuō Zhōngguo kòngzhi rén-kǒude gōngzuò zuòde hen chénggōng. Nǐ néng hu néng gěi wo jiǎngyijiǎng nǐmen shi zěnme zuòde?

C:   Shǒuxiān, zhèngfǔ tíchàng

wǎnhūn. Érqiě, yìbānde shuō, zài chéngli jiéle hūnde rén liǎngniǎn yǐhòu cai yào haizi. Tāmen yào xiǎohǎir yīqiǎn yīng-gāi zuòdao sān tōngguò.

A:   ’Sān tōngguò’ shi shénme

yìsi ne?

C:   ’Sān tōngguò’ yě jiùshi shuō

yīnggāi dédao nǐ gōngzuò dānwèi, nǐ zhùde dìfangde jūmín wěiyuǎnhuì hé pàichūsuō zhèi-sānge dìfangde tóngyì.

A:   Gè dānwèi gēnju shénme biāo-

zhǔn pīzhǔn fùnūmen shēng xiǎohǎir ne?

C:   Gè chéngshì dōu you yídìngde

rénkou chūshēnglū, měiniǎn měige chéngshì zhǐ kéyi zēngjiā yídìng shùmude haizi. Zhèixie míng’é jiù fēnpèigei gègè shìqūde xiǎng shēng haizide nutōngzhì. Fùnū dōu shi dédao pīzhǔn yǐhòu cai huǎiyùnde.

Bù xiǎng yào hǎizide kéyi shíxíng bìyùn; hìyùn gōngjù he bìyùn yào dōu shi miǎnfèide.

A:   Rǔguo bìyùn shībàile zěnme

bàn?

C:   Kéyi dào yīyuàn zuò réngōng

liúchān, shǒushù búbì zìjǐ gěi qiǎn, hai you liǎngge xīngqīde

When I was in Canada I heard that population control* work is being done very successfully in China. Could you explain to me what you do?

First, the government promotes late marriage. Furthermore, generally speaking, in the city, married people don’t have children until after two years. Before they have a child they should have the ’three approvals*.

What does the ’three approvals’ mean?

The ’three approvals’ means that you should have the consent of your work unit, the neighborhood committee of the place you live, and the local police station.

According to what criteria do the various units give official permission to women to have children?

All the various cities have set population birth rates, and each year they can only increase by a certain number of children. These quotas are apportioned among women comrades in all the various cities who want to have children. Women do not become pregnant until they receive official permission.

Those who do not want to have children can practice birth control; all contraceptive medicines and contraceptive devices are free.

What is done if birth control fails?

One can go to the hospital to have an abortion. À person doesn’t have to pay for the operation herself, and

jià, you you gōngzī.

A:   Wǒ hǎoxiàng tīngshuō Zhōngguo

fùnū shēng háizide shihou you wǔshiliùtiānde chanjià, érqiě kéyi duō mǎi yìxiē yíngyǎngpǐn, shi hu shi?

C:   Duì le, chǎnjià you gōngzī.

Chǎnfù hái kéyi mǎi yìliǎngjīn hǒngtáng, duō mǎi yìliǎngjīn jīdàn. Zhōngguo rén dōu xiāngxìn hongtáng duì chǎnfù hěn hǎo.

A: Renmen shēng háizide shihou, qīnqi péngyou song hu song līwù?

C:   Qīnqi hé qīnjìnde péngyou

háishi huì song yìxiē xiǎo līwù, xiàng xiǎoháizide yīfu la, xiǎo tǎnzi la, xiǎo màozi la, wánjù shenmede. Yě you rén huì song yìxiē shuīguo huòzhě xiānhuā.

A:   Yíge jiātíng kéyi you jīge

xiǎoháir?

C: Zài chéngshìli niánqīng fūfù zuì duō yào liǎngge háizi.

A:   Nǒngcūnde qíngkuàng zěnmeyàng?

C:   Gèdì nongcūnde qíngkuàng hù

tong. Rénkǒu duōde dìfang zhèngfǔ tíchàng jìhuà shēngyù. Nōngcūnlide rén yě yòng gè-zhǒng bìyùn gōngjù. Bù shǎo rén youle liǎngge háizi yǐhòu jiù zuò juéyù shoushù, nánde zuò, nude zuò, dōu kéyi. Nōngmín juéde zuò juéyù shoushù bī yòng bìyùn gōngjù fāngbiànde duō.

there is two weeks’ leave with pay.

It seems to me I’ve heard that when Chinese women have children they get 56 days’ maternity leave, and they can also buy extra nutritional food items. Is that so?

That’s right. The maternity leave is paid. In the month after delivery, a woman can also buy one or two catties of brown sugar, and one or two extra catties of eggs. Chinese believe that brown sugar is very good for women during the month after delivery.

When someone has a baby, do relatives and friends give presents?

Relatives and close friends will still give a few small gifts, like clothes for the baby, little blankets, little hats, toys, and so forth. There are also people who will give a little fruit or fresh flowers.

How many children can one family have?

In the city young couples have two children at the most.

What’s the situation like in the rural areas?

The situation in rural areas is different in different places. Where there’s a large population the government promotes family planning. People in the rural areas also use all the various kinds of contraceptive devices. Quite a few people undergo contraceptive surgery after they’ve had two children. Either men or women may have this done. The peasants feel that having contraceptive surgery performed is much more convenient than using contraceptive devices.

Kěshi zài shǎoshù mínzu dìqū, yīnwei rénkǒu shǎo, zhèngfǔ bù tíchàng jìhuà shēngyù, suoyi yìbānde jiātíng kéyi duō you jǐge xiǎoháir.

But in the areas populated by minority nationalities, because the population is smaller, the government doesn’t advocate family planning, so the average family can have a few more children.

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

Rénmen shēng háizide shíhou, qìnqi péngyou song bu song lǐwù?: As stated in the dailogue, friends and relatives in the PRC give useful items for the baby, like clothes, hats, cups, or perhaps a chicken for the mother. These are presented casually.

Customs Surrounding

Marriage, Birth, and Death: Unit U

• PART I

  • 1. Nīde fúqi zhēn hǎo.

  
  

  • 2. Zhang Tàitaide xífu tóuyìtāi Jiù gei ta shēngle yige da sūnzi.

  • 3. Wǒ zhèli you yíge hǒngbāo shi gěi xiǎo bǎobaode.

  • U. Bù gǎn dāng!

  • 5. Nī zhēnshi tai kèqi le. Hěbì pofei ne?

  • 6. A: Nīde nūer shēngxialaide shihou you duo zhong?

  • B: Qībǎng ban.

  • 7. A: Wǒ gang wèile ta bù Jiǔ, tā you kū le.

  B: Dāgǎi you yǎo chī nǎi le.

  • 8. Tā zhǎngde hěn piāoliang.

  • 9. A: Nī zhège haizi hěn you fúxiǎng, ěrduo zhǎngde zhēn da.

  • B: Tuǒ nínde fú ’.

  
  

  You are really blessed with good fortune.

  Mrs. Zhang’s daughter-in-law in her first pregnancy presented her with a fine grandson.

  I have a "red envelope” for the baby.

  I’m flattered. You shouldn’t have!

  You’re too polite.. Why should you spend so much money?

  How much did your daughter weigh when she was born?

  Seven and a half pounds.

  I Just fed him not long ago, and now he’s crying again.

  He probably wants to nurse again.

  She is very pretty.

  This child of yours has a lucky physiognomy. His ears are really big.

  It’s because of your lucky influence.

  
  

NOTES ON PART I

Note on No. 1

fúqi: ’blessings, good fortune, luck’.

Wǒ hěn you fúqi, ěrzi bāng wo I’m very fortunate, my son helps me bù shǎo máng.                       a lot.

You really have bad luck. You just leave on a trip and then it rains.

Notes on No. 2

xífu: ’daughter-in-law, son’s wife’.

Tā xífu hǎo piǎoliang!             Her daughter-in-law is so beautiful!

Wo xífu gōngzuò mángjíle.          My daughter-in-law is very busy.

tōu-: ’first’, (literally ’head*) as in tōuyitiān, ’the first day’.

Tōu- is used much like dì-: before a number and a counter, which may or may not be followed by a noun.

the first time

the first person

the first two people

the first three volumes

In tōuyige, tōu- is stressed and yi is in the neutral tone. Also notice that the word for ’two’ is liǎng- (not èr as is usually the case when a counter follows).

Now here is a comparison of tou- and dì-:

• (1) Touyige rén and dìyíge rén are both translated as ’the first person’, and touyige is for the most part interchangeable with dìyíge.

• (2) Although the yì in touyige is unstressed and written without a tone mark over it, the yī in dìyíge is stressed and said with a second tone (or sometimes with a first tone).

• (3) The word for ’two’ is liǎng after tōu-, but èr after dì-. Dìèrge means ’the second one’, while téuliǎngge means ’the first two*.

(H) Tōu- must be used with a counter, but dì- can be used with just a number after it. Here are some examples of dì- used with a number but no counter after it:

I’m going to buy this. First, it’s very well made; second, it’s inexpensive.

He is first, I’m second.

But tōuyī-, tōuliǎng-, tōusān- always have a counter word after the number.

tāi: This is the counter for pregnancies, whether carried to term or not. Literally tāi means ’embryo’. The expression tōuyitāi can also be said tōutāi.

The first three babies were all girls; it wasn’t until the fourth that she had a boy.

When she had her first baby, she was still in pretty good health. But when she had her second, it wasn’t good any more.

shēng: ’to give birth to...* Notice that the Chinese verb shēng is used in an active sense which is not always reflected in the English. Compare the various translations of shēng in the Reference List, the above examples and the dialogue.

sūnzi: ’grandson*. This only refers to the son of one’s son. The son of one’s daughter and son-in-law is called wàisūnzi. Here is a chart showing how these terms relate to each other.

wǒ

érzi xífu

(son daughter-in-law)

(grandson) (granddaughter)

sūnzi       sūnnū

(grandson) (granddaughter)

Notes on No. 3

hǒngbāo: ’a red envelope with money in it, given as a gift or bribe*. These gifts of money may be given to children by people at least a generation older. This usually happens at festive occasions, like New Years or a birthday. The amount given varies greatly but there is one thing to remember: ‘Do not give an amount with the number four in it! The number four, si, closely resembles the verb ’’to die," si, and is therefore considered unlucky. Chinese youth were without any real opportunity to make money in the past, so this is one way that it is made up for.

xiǎo bāobao: Literally-’little treasure’, in other words ’the little darling’ or ’the baby’. This word is usually used by women. Some people use the word bǎobao (with or without xiǎo) in addressing or speaking about babies or children.

The second bāo in bǎobao is neutral tone; even though it was originally also third tone, it does not make the first bǎo change to a rising tone, as you might expect (e.g. nāli). The first bǎo in bǎobao is pronounced low, without any rise in pitch. (Some people also say bǎobǎo and, xiǎo bǎobǎo.) CThere are many other words used to refer to babies. Some terms used by both men and women include (xiǎo) bēibì, (xiǎo) guāiguai, xiǎo jiǎhuo. Some terms used mostly by men include xiǎo bēibei and xiǎo budiǎnr.I

Note on No. U

bù gǎn dāng: ’I’m flattered’. Literally, this means 'I dare not assume (the honor you pay me)’. This is a polite response to a compliment (such as ’You speak Chinese very well’), to a respectful gesture (such as helping someone put on their coat), or to a respectful phrase (like ’Qǐngjiào*).

Note on No. 5

Notes on No. 6

you duo zhòng: ’how heavy?’ Zhòng is the adjectival verb ’to be heavy’. Notice the similarity between asking age, weight and height. In each the pattern is literally ’have how much (of some quality)’.

Nǐ you duo dā?                      How old are you?

Nèizhāng zhuōzi you duo zhòng? How heavy is that table?

Tā you duǒ gāo?                     How tall is she?

This pattern is usually confined to measurements of some sort.

bang: ’pound (unit of weight)’. In addition to the traditional Chinese units of weight such as dan ’picul (100 liters approximately)’, jīn ’catty (1 1/3 lbs.)’, liǎng ’tael (105 grams approximately)’, and the metric system of weights, such as gōngliǎng ’100 grams’ and gongjin ’kilogram’, you also find customary American units such as ’pound’ used.

Notes on No. 7

gang wèile tā bù jiǔ: This means ’It’s only been a short while SINCE I fed him.’, NOT ’I fed him for only a short while.’ Chinese can distinguish between the duration of a continued activity and the duration of something not happening by putting these two types of duration phrases in different places in the sentence.

Let’s review time when and time spent, and take a look at how you express TIME WITHIN WHICH something didn’t happen and TIME ELAPSED since something happened.

• 1. Simple duration phrases, that is phrases telling how long an activity went on, follow the verb. These contrast with phrases telling the time when something happened, which come before the verb.

Simple duration

Time when

Tā shi zuótiān dàode.         She arrived yesterday.

• 2. The amount of time something did not happen, that is the TIME WITHIN WHICH the activity has not taken place, is expressed in negative sentences with time phrases before the verb.

Time Within with a Negative Verb

We haven’t seen each other for a year.

I haven’t been going there for a month now.

• 3. To express the time elapsed since an activity took place the duration phrase is again placed after the verb.

Time elapsed in an affirmative sentence

Note on No. 7

chī nǎi: ’to eat (mother’s) milk’, in other words, ’’to breastfeed" and by extension ’to drink milk*, even from a bottle. Similarly, wèi nai can mean ’to feed milk (to a baby)’ without specifying mother’s milk or otherwise. To distinguish between breast feeding and bottle feeding, one can say chī māmade nǎi, ’to eat mother’s milk’. And from the mother’s point of view, one can say mama zìji gěi hǎizi wèi nǎi, ’the mother nurses the child herself.’

Note on No. 8

Tā zhǎngde hěn piǎoliang: ’She’s very pretty.’ Zhǎngde piàoliang literally means ’grow pretty’, but it should be translated simply as ’is pretty*. Zhǎngde ... is often used in descriptions of the appearance of living things. In these cases, zhǎngde ... is absent of any meaning such as ’has grown ...’, ’has come to be ...* or ’has become ...’; it simply means ’is, are’.

Tā zhǎngde hěn hǎokàn.             She is very beautiful.

Tā zhǎngde gēn wǒ yíyàng gāo.      She is Just as tall as I am.

Tāde liǎn zhǎngde gēn wǒ mèi-     Her face looks just like my little

mei yíyàng.                         sister.

There is almost no difference in meaning between Tā hěn piàoliang and

Tā zhǎngde hěn piàoliang. Both are used frequently. But there is a difference in meaning between Tā zhǎngde hěn gāo and Tā zhǎnggāo le: the former means ’He is very tali’, and the latter ’He has grown tali’.

Notes on No. 9

fúxiàng: ’auspicious physiognomy’. This phrase implies something more than ’lucky face’. The word fú expresses the destiny of a person to enjoy a life of good fortune. Xiang is a person’s looks considered from the point of view of fortune telling. Traditionally, it was Believed that a person’s destiny could be determined from the individual variations of his hands, bones, face, ears, hair, and so forth. The xiang includes the face, ears, hairline, and bumps on the head.

...ěrduo zhǎngde zhēn dà: Portraits of some of the most admired men in Chinese history depict them with long ears. (Long ears are thought to indicate wisdom.) It was thought that rulers in particular were so endowed. Buddha is also pictured with long ears, as he appeared in Indian portrayals.

Taipei:

Mrs. Song’s daughter-in-law, Bǎolán, has just recently had a baby. A friend of the family, Mrs. Zhang, comes to pay them a visit:

Z:   Song Taitai, nin xifu shengle

meiyou?

S:   Shēng le. Shēngle ge nánháizi.

Z:   Ou! Nín fúqi zhēn hǎo. Tā

tóuyitāi jiù gěi nin shēngle yige dà sūnzi. Gōngxǐ, gōngxǐ.

S:   Xièxie, xièxie! Lai kànkan

wǒ xífu gēn xiǎo bǎobao ba!

Z: Hǎo.

Bǎolǎn! Gōngxǐ, gōngxǐ! Nǐ hǎo ma?

B: Wǒ hěn hǎo. Zhāng Bómǔ, nín lǎi le.

Z:   Ou! Nǐ zhè háizi hěn you

fúxiàng, ěrduo zhǎngde name dà!

B: Xièxie! Tuō nínde fú!

Z: Tā shēngxialaide shíhou you duǒ zhòng a?

B: Qībàng ban.

Z:   fig, zhēn bù xiǎo.

S:   Tā zhēn neng chī. Bǎolán

gāng wèile ta bù jiu, xiànzài you kū le. Dàgài you yào chī nǎi le.

Z:   Tā kūde shēngyin hěn dà.

Shēntǐ yídìng hěn jiànkāng.

B:   Duì! Tā cǒng yīyuàn huílai

yíge lǐbài jiù zhǎngle yíbàng.

Z:   Wǒ Ki yǐqián xiǎngzhe nǐ

yīnggāi shēngle, suoyi

Mrs. Song, has your daughter-in-law had the baby yet?

Yes. It’s a boy.

Oh! How lucky you are. She had a nice big grandson for you—and it was her first! Congratulations.

Thank you. Come see my daughter-in-law and the baby!

Okay.

Congratulations, Bǎolán! How are you?

Well Mrs. Zhāng! I’m fine, thanks.

Oh! He’s got a very lucky physiognomy. Such big ears!

Thank you! It’s because of your lucky influence!

How much did he weigh at birth?

Seven and a half pounds.

Hm. That’s really pretty big.

He eats like a horse. Bǎolán just fed him a little while ago, and now he’s crying again. He probably wants to nurse again.

He cries so loudly. He must be very healthy.

Yes! In the week after he came back from the hospital, he gained a pound.

Before I came I thought you should have had the baby by now, so I got a zhǔribèile yíge hěngbǎo. Shi gěi xiǎo bǎobaode.

B: Bù gǎn dang. Nín tài kèqi le. Hěbì pòfei ne?

Z:   Bu. shi kèqi. Zhí shi yìdiǎn

xiǎo yìsi.

B: Xièxie! Xièxie!

'red envelope' ready. It’s for the baby.

You shouldn't have. That's too polite of you. Why should you spend money?

I'm not being polite. This is just a little something to express my feelings.

Thank you!

PART II

NOTES ON PART II

Notes on No. 10

mǎnyuè: ’thirtieth day after a child is born’, literally, ’full-month’. (it also means ’full moon’.) This refers to a baby’s completion of the first full month of life and is a cause of celebration.

Wángjiā háizi kuài mǎnyuè le, The Wang’s baby is about to be a qing daJiā qù chī mǎnyuè          month old, and they’re asking

jiù.                                everyone to go take part in the

’full month’ banquet.

chuī fēng: Literally, ’to blow wind*, but actually ’to be in a current of air, a draft, the wind’. Although what blows is the wind, fēng ’wind’ seems to be in the object position in this phrase. Chǎnfù bù kéyi chuī fēng does not mean ’’Women recently delivered of a child cannot blow wind”, but rather, ’’Women recently delivered of a child cannot have wind blow on them.” Traditionally, Chinese women were to stay out of drafts because of the very poor overall health situation of the country, and because of the importance of caring for the next generation. Of the three (Confucian) ways to be unfilial, the worst was to be heirless.

Motes on No. 11

zuò yuèzi: Literally, ’to sit the yuèzi’, yuèzi being the month after giving birth during which a woman is supposed to take special care of her health. There are different motivations underlying this custom. Woman’s most important function (indeed her only one) was to aide in perpetuating the family line. Therefore it was essential to take special precautions for her own health so that she would nurse a healthy baby. Another idea was that a woman’s body at this time was "dirty” and to avoid offending the door gods she should not go past them.

Tā zuò yuèzide shihou, kě xiǎo- During the first month after delivery xīn, méi chūguo yìtiān men.        she was extremely careful. She

didn’t go out once.

xiǎoxīn: ’to be careful’, literally, ’small-heart’. Xiǎoxīn is an adjectival verb which can be used with or without an object following.

Tā zhèige rén bù zenmeyàng, hé This guy is nothing special, you’d tā zuò péngyou yao xiǎoxīn.        better be careful making friends

with him.

Xiǎoxīn! Qiánbianr shi hóngdēng. Careful! There’s a red light up ahead.

Xiǎoxīn nèige rén!                 Be careful of that person!

Xiǎoxīn guò mǎlù.                   Be careful crossing the street.

Note on No. 12

shēnglěng: ’raw or cold foods*. Traditional Chinese medicine divides foods into yin and yang Yin are "cool” (liāngxìngde) foods, that is, foods that make the system cool; yang foods are ’’hot" (rèxìngde), that is, they make the system hot. These characteristics are not dependant on the degree temperature at which the food is eaten» but are rather inherent in the food. For example crab, white sugar, and most vegetables and fruits are yin or cool, while hot pepper, lard, millet, brown sugar, and certain fruits such as canteloupe and lichee nuts are all particularly yang or hot. Generally speaking, yang foods harmonize with body temperature while yin foods shock the system. Nonetheless, a balance between the two kinds of foods must be maintained. Too much yang food can cause the body’s ’’heat” to rise too much (shàng huǒ), minor symptoms of which might include a cough, fever, dry mouth, blisters on the tongue, and constipation. On the other hand, too much yīn food is bad for the stomach and can cause diarrhea.

The body’s "heat" (huo) can be regulated by eating one or the other kind of foods. Thus in hot weather, when the huǒ naturally rises, one should eat "cool" foods to lower the huǒ (qing huǒ), and in the winter one should eat "hot" foods. Likewise, certain illnesses call for the eating of one kind of food or the other: one should eat "cool" foods to counteract infections and fevers, while one should eat "hot" foods to build up one’s strength if one has a disease which makes him weak. In particular, women giving birth should eat plenty of the "hot" type of foods.

Shēnglěng, raw or cold foods, have also traditionally been considered bad for women who are pregnant or have just given birth. Given sanitary conditions in traditional China, this is understandable.

Chi shēnglěngde dōngxi yídìng When eating raw things, be sure to yào xǐgānjing.                     wash them well.

Notes on No. 13

de: 'to get, a catch (a disease)’. De bìng means 'to get an illness*.

Here are some examples of dé followed by the name of an illness:

Tā dé gǎnmào yǐhòu, jiù méiyou He didn’t go out after he got a cold, chūlaiguo.

Qùnián dōngtiān, tā dele xuěyā Last winter, he got high Blood . gāo.                                  pressure.

Here are some more examples sentences showing various uses of de:

Jǐnnián guò shēngrì wo dele        I got a new book on my birthday this

yìběn xīn shū.                      year.

Xiāodì jīntiān néng de hǎojǐ- Little brother will be able to get ge hóngbāo’.                          a lot of "red envelopes" today!

Of course, de cannot be used in all cases when we would say ’get* in English. For one thing, de only means to receive passively, whereas English ’get’ sometimes denotes actively seeking to obtain, as in ’I’m going to the supply room to get some paper and pens*, or ’I got a package of cereal at the supermarket’. In these cases, de would not be appropriate in Chinese. To show you some other ways in which the English word ’get’ is expressed in Chinese, here are some Chinese sentences which do not use de although the English translation uses ’get’:

Zuǒtian lai nǐde diànhuà le.       Yesterday you got a phone call (but

you weren’t here to get it.)

Zuótian wǒ jiēdào tāde diànhuà Yesterday I got a phone call from le.                                 him (and was there to receive it.)

peng: 'to touch', only in the sense of one object coming into contact with another. The verb pèng can also mean to come into contact with something in a violent way, 'to hit, to bump into'. Whether pèng means merely 'to touch' or 'to bump into’ must be determined by context.

Ni tie peng zheige zhuozi.         Don’t touch this table.

Tāde chē kě bùdeliǎo. Biérén His car is terrific! Other people pèng dōu bù néng pèng, gèng        can’t even touch it, not to mention

bú yào shuō jièqu kāi le!          borrowing it to drive!

CSome other words meaning ’to touch’ are āi ’to be close to, to be next to, to be touching*

qiānwàn: ’hy all means, for sure’

Nèitiáo jiēshang chē tāi duō, nǐ qiānwàn hie qù.

Nǐ gāng xué kāi chē, qiānwàn xiāoxīn.

Qiānwàn zhùyì, hú yào xiěcuò le, xiěcuòle kě máfan.

dāngxīn: ’to watch out, to watch confused with dānxīn, ’to worry’.

Gāng xiàle xuě, chū men dāngxīn!

Kāi chē shàng jiē dāngxīn yìdianr a!

Notes on No. 16

jieguǒ: ’as a result, and so ...’. One of the uses of this word is to connect the thought of one Sentence with the next. (Another is as the noun *result(s)’.) It provides a transition from one sentence to another, as in

'As a result, then'       Below is a monologue which takes place in Peking,

in which the apeaker uses the word jiéguǒ in this way several times. (This is not meant to he an example of eloquence; in fact, you should not use jieguǒ as repetitively as this speaker.)

tòngkǔ: 'to be in pain, to be suffering’.

Tā nèi shíhou hěn tòngkǔ.          She was in a great deal of pain at

that time.

Liàn’ài shǐbàile tā hěn tòngkǔ. It was very hard on him when they broke up.

Zhèijiàn shìqing ràng ta          This matter pained him a great deal,

fēichǎng tòngkǔ.

Notes on No. 17

duo kuài: 'how fast!' Duo or the alternate form duome is used in exclamatory sentences to mean 'how ...!' Here are some more examples:

Nǐ kàn cǎi shuōle liǎngjù huà, You see you only have to say two tā jiù bù gāoxìng le. Duo         sentences and she gets unhappy.

Notes on No. 18

Wang jiā: ’the Wang family’, referring either to the people, the social unit, or their home (in which case it can be used as a place word).

pàng: ’to be fat, to get fat’. The verb pàng can be used in two ways: one as an adjectival verb ’to be fat’, the other as a process verb ’to get fat’. To the Chinese, a fat baby is not only a healthy baby, it is a beautiful one. Plumpness and roundness are two features admired in babies

Taipei:

Mrs. Fang pays a visit to Mrs. Zhāng and her daughter-in-law to see the daughter-in-law’s new baby:

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

hongdàn: Red eggs symbolize a combination of lucky influences: red is the color of happiness and dignity, while eggs are symbols of health and prosperity to the farmer. Héngdàn are sometimes also used as gifts from a newly-engaged couple to their friends•

Vocabulary

PART I

NOTES ON PART I

Notes on No. 1

zuìjìn: ’lately, recently; in the near future’. This word can either refer to the near past or the near future.

Notes on No. 2

zài shàng Xǐngqíèr: ’on last Tuesday'. Notice that zài is used here with an expression stating a time when something occurs. In this sentence, zài is optional. Here are some more examples:

Zhège huì zài xiàge yuè kāi.       This meeting will be held next month.

zǔmǔ: ’(paternal) grandmother’. Remember that this refers exclusively to the father's mother. The mother's mother is wàizùmǔ. CA grandmother is usually addressed by her son's children as nāinai.J Here is a chart showing these terms:

zǔfù zǔmǔ                    wàizǔfù       wàizǔmǔ

qùshì: 'to pass away'. Literally, It is a euphemism for sǐ 'to die*, which

Xiǎo Wángde fùqin qùshì yǐjīng liǎngnián le.

xiāoxi: 'news, information, tidings

Zhèiliǎngtiān bàozhīshang you hěn duō guānyu Zhōngguode xiāoxi.

Jīntiān bàozhīshang you shenme xin xiāoxi?

Xiāoxi can be used with the counter -ge to mean 'a piece of news, an item of news’:

Wǒ you yíge hao xiāoxi.            I have a piece of good news.

Note on No. 3

diàosāng: ’to present one’s condolences at a funeral, to attend a funeral’. At a traditional funeral, the guests, by groups, present their condolences to the family of the deceased in a brief formal ceremony.

Jīntiān wǒ qù diàosāng, jiàndao Today when I was at the funeral I nín Jiā lāotàitai.                  saw your grandmother.

Note on No.

sānglǐ: ’the funeral ceremony’. ESāng- in some combinations means ’funeral’, for example, sāngfú ’funeral clothing*, or sāngshì ’funeral’.! On a volunteer basis, family, friends, and villagers help with funeral preparations. Members of the immediate family stay with the coffin to guard it during the day and sleep with it at night.

Notes on No. 5

yíxiàng: ’always (up to now)’. This adverb indicates has been so all along up until now (and may either continue else change).

If zài is placed in front of the negative, the meaning of the phrase is more emphatic.

If yě is added between zài and the negative, the meaning is approximately the same.

òu, nǐ yòu lai le.                  Oh, you’ve come again!

But there are further qualifications on the use of ’again’ in Chinese. While zài always refers to activities which have not yet occurred, that is future activities or events, yòu is not totally limited to activities or events which are completed or past. You may be used in present or future situations if the thing being talked about is so certain that it may be treated like something which has actually happened.

Míngtiān yòu shi Xīngqīyī le. And tomorrow is Monday again.

Zhè yòu yào duōshao qián a?       And how much money is needed again

for this?

Zhèi yìtiān yòu yào wan le.        And this day is about to end too.

(Said at the end of a long busy day with many things left to do.)

Xiànzài wo yòu you gōngzuò le. Now I have a job again.

Last month he had a recurrence; and his blood pressure was really high!

Don’t fall back into your old habit (of skipping school), get yourself to school.

xīnzàngbìng: ’heart disease’. Xīnzàng is 'heart'..

Notes on No. 7

gǎnjīn: ’in a hurry’. This adverb means that someone decided to hurry up and start doing something. It can often be translated as ’to hurry up and’, or 'to rush to (do something)

Nābiān chū chēhuò le, nǐ gǎn-jǐn qù kànkan'.

Jīntiān xiàwǔ, tā zou le, zhōngwu wǒ gǎnjīn péi ta qù chī wǔfàn.

Kuài jiǎdiǎn le, wǒ yào gǎnjīn zou le.

Gǎnjīn means only that someone not mean that the action is finished quickly. For example, to say ’He made dinner in a hurry, so it didn't come out well', meaning that he finished cooking it in a very short time, you cannot use gǎnjǐn; you could say Yīnwei tā zuò fàn zuòde tài kuài, suǒyi zuòde bù hǎo.

tā lǎorénjiā: Lǎorěnjiā is a respectful way of referring to or addressing old people. When addressing someone directly, it is almost always preceded by nǐ or nín, as in

Qīngwèn nín lǎorénjiā, dào         Excuse me, sir, how do I get to

Zhōngshān Lù zěnme zou?            Zhongshan Road?

A third party can be referred to as tā lǎorénjiā:

Tā lǎorénjiā shuō le, zhèjiàn shi búbì jízhe bàn.

Wǒ gěi tā lǎorénjiā song yidiǎn diǎnxin lai.

I asked my grandfather, and he said our whole family is going to Shanghai next year.

Here are two examples of lǎorénjia being used as a respectful word for ’old people*:

Jīntiān, liǎngwèi lǎorénjia        Today those two (old people) had a

tánde hěn gāoxìng.                  very pleasant conversation.

Lǎorénjiamen dōu xīhuan chī ruǎnde dōngxi.

In Peking, the syllable lǎo in laorenjia receives the heaviest stress of the three syllables, and jia is in the neutral tone.

song: ’to take (someone somewhere), to escort (someone somewhere), to see someone off or out’. The basic meaning of this word is to accompany someone who is leaving, but as you can see from the various translations given, song can be used in a wide variety of circumstances. Here are some examples:

Notes on Ho. 8

jīnggud: You have seen jīngguo meaning ’to go thru*. Here it is used to mean ’though’ in the sense of ’by means of’. It can also be translated ’as a result of*, ’after’, ’through*, or ’via’.

jiuguolai: ’to save’, literally ’to save over’. The directional verb ending guòlai ’over’ sometimes shows the recovery of an original desirable or normal state. For example, in jiùguolai it implies the change from a condition in which death is imminent to one in which the patient can be

bǎozhòng: 'to take care of oneself, to take care of (one’s health)'.

Hǎohǎo bǎozhòng shēntǐ, bié        Take good care of your health, don't

lèihuài le.                         wear yourself out.

In telling someone to be sure to take care of himself, bǎozhòng is usually preceded by duō or duōduō 'more (than usual)'.

Yílù píng'ǎn, duō bǎozhòng.        Have a good trip, and take good care

of yourself.

Nǐde bìng gang hǎo, duōduō         You just got over your illness, take

bǎozhòng.                           real good care of yourself.

Notes on No. 10

guòqu: 'to pass away'. Like English 'pass away', this is a euphemism for 'to die'.

Nín duo dà niánji le?              How old are you? (polite way of

asking an adult’s age)

Tā niánji bù xiǎo le.              She’s not young any more.

Tā niánji dà le. or. Tā shàngle He’s getting on in years, niánji le.

^Although the adjectival verb dà ’to be big’ is used after niánji to mean ’to be old’, when you want to say ’to be young’, you should use the adjectival verb qīng ’to be light’ rather than xiǎo ’to be small’; for example, Tā niánji hái qīng, bù yīnggāi ràng ta qù gōngzuò, ’He’s still young, you shouldn’t make him go get a job.’l

Note on No. 11

píngjìng: ’to be calm’. Pingjìngxiàlai, ’to calm down’.

Notes on No. 12

méi néng; ’was not able to’. Here you see the auxiliary verb néng used with the negative méi. You have learned that state verbs (auxiliary verbs are one type of state verbs) are negated with bù, (bù hǎo, bù zhīdao) not with méi. Here, however, you see méi néng instead of bù néng. This is an exception to the rule that all state verbs are always negated with bù. Actually, either bù néng or méi néng would be acceptable in this sentence. Some speakers, however, feel that there is a subtle difference between bù néng and méi néng when referring to an event in the past. For example, one can say Wo zuotiān méi néng qù as well as Wǒ zuotiān bù néng qù. Wǒ zuotiān méi néng qù hints at the fact that there was a failure to attain the state of being able to go, whereas Wǒ zuotiān bù néng qù merely describes the state of being unable to go, without making any implications about failure (to attain the state of being able to go). Such a subtle difference

in implication may make very little difference in the actual import of a sentence in some contexts, although in other contexts it may be of some significance. (For the first example sentence, you need to know that mìmi means ’secret’.)

Taipei:

A woman goes to visit her friend after hearing of her father’s death:

PART II

NOTES ON PART II

Note on No. 13 * dǎ chángtú diànhuà; ’to make a long-distance telephone call’.

Qīng nīmen shēngyin xiǎo          Would you all he a little quieter,

yìdiǎn, wǒ zǎi dǎ chángtú         please? I’m making a long-distance

diànhuà ne!                         call!

You saw in the Post Office-Telephone Module that diànhuà can also be used with the meaning ’a telephone call’ as in You nīde diànhuà, ’There’s a telephone call for you’. Chángtú diànhuà can be used in the same way:

Wèi! Xiǎo Sānr! You nīde         Xiǎo Sānr! There’s a long-distance

chángtú diànhuà!                    phone call for you!

In the Meeting Module you saw the expression lái diànhuà ’a telephone call is received’ or ’make a telephone call here’. Here is chángtú diànhuà used in the same pattern:

Jīntiān zǎoshàng you rén gěi This morning someone called long-ni lái chángtú diànhuà le,         distance for you, but you weren’t

nī bú zài.                           here.

Note on No. 1U

guòshì: ’to pass away, to die’. You have now seen ’to die’ expressed three different ways: guǒqu, qùshì, and guòshì. All may be used in conversation, although guòqu is probably the most common.

Note on No. 1$

shāngxīn: Literally, ’to wound the heart’. ’To be grieved, to be hurt, to be sad, to be broken-hearted’.

• A: Tā zhènme shāngxīn, wèi- Why is he so broken-hearted? shénme?

• B: Tā nūpéngyou zǒu le, zěnme His girlfriend left, how can he not néng bù shāngxīn?              be broken-hearted?

Women jiāde gǒu sīle, wo           After the family dog died, I was

shāngxīnle hǎo cháng shíjiān. broken-hearted for a real long time.

Note on No. 16

chángshòu: ’long life, longevity; to live a long life’.

Notes on No. 19

běnlái: ’originally, at first, in the first place’.

yíbèizi: ’all one’s life, in one’s (whole) life, throughout one’s life, as long as one lives, a lifetime’.

shēnbiān: ’at/by one’s side; (have something) on one, with one’.

Wǒ you yíge háizi zài nóngcūn, I have one child out in the country yíge háizi zài shēnbiān.           and one child here with me.

Notes on No. 20

dàgē: ’oldest brother’. Remember that ’older brother’ is gēge, but the oldest of several children is dàgē. In addition dàgē can be used between men to show a friendly relationship of unequal status.

qùbuliǎo: ’cannot go’. This is a compound verb or result, like kanbujian ’cannot see’ or chībubǎo ’cannot eat one’s fill*. The ending -liǎo is in compounds of potential result (those with -de- or -bu- between the main verb and the resultative ending) with the meaning of ’be able to*. You may be thinking (and rightly so) that this is just the meaning added by the use of -de- or -bu-. This has led some people to label -liǎo as a ’dummy’ resultative ending since it does not seem to add any additional information like other more specific endings do (e.g. wǎn ’finish’).