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This week’s words have been carefully wrapped into the following theme:
眼看他高楼起,眼看他楼塌了 yǎnkàn tā gāolóuqǐ, yǎnkàn tā lóutāle
Watched as they rose to the top and then dramatically fell from grace
It’s a phrase adapted from a line in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇 táohuā shàn), a musical play and historical drama completed in 1699 by the early Qing dynasty playwright, 孔尚任 Kǒng Shàngrèn.
The play is Kǒng’s best-known work. It’s a tragic love-story set during the final days of the fall of the Ming Dynasty. He and other playwrights at the time were fascinated with how and why the Ming fell and what the rulers of the Qing could learn from it.
The line from the play:
谁知道容易冰消! shéi zhīdào róngyì bīngxiāo
眼看他起朱楼, yǎnkàn tā qǐ zhūlóu
眼看他宴宾客, yǎnkàn tā yàn bīnkè
眼看他楼塌了 yǎnkàn tā lóu tāle
Who was to know that it might so easily vanish?
I saw them build the splendid mansion,
Saw them feast and make merry,
But I saw, too, how the building collapsed.
Read the full English-Chinese translation here.
Nowadays, the shortened version of this line is used colloquially to describe someone who has ‘dramatically fallen from grace’ due to their own greed, or inappropriate and/or corrupt behaviour.
眼看他高楼起,眼看他楼塌了 yǎnkàn tā gāolóuqǐ, yǎnkàn tā lóutāle
Watched as they rose to the top and then dramatically fell from grace
‘Dramatic fall from grace’ came up in social media commentary about three un-related news stories in China over this week:
Viya (薇娅 Wēi Yà), China’s ‘queen of live-streaming’, fined a record 1.34 billion yuan for tax evasion
Wáng Lìhóng 王力宏, Taiwanese-American singer whose estranged wife has publicly accused him of infidelity and other indiscretions
Wāng Cháoyǒng 汪潮涌, investor and founder of ChinaEquity Investment who is suspected of misappropriation of funds
The online discussions are a fantastic source of two very different types of Chinese language - modern online slang and swearing, and ancient classical Chinese references.
Enjoy!
Feel free to share this newsletter as a gift over the holidays with fellow Chinese language learners and China watchers…
1. CONVERSATIONS WORTH CONSUMING
Social media discussions about Viya’s record-breaking fine
The top-three ranked Weibo ‘hot topics’ (热搜 rèsōu) on Monday this week were all about top e-commerce influencer, Viya (薇娅 Wēi Yà), China’s ‘queen of live-streaming’, and her fine of 1.34 billion yuan (US$210 million) for tax evasion.
Netizens had mixed opinions.
Some say her ‘fall from grace’ is what she deserved, others saying it was too harsh, and a few reckon she will be back.
There a plenty of words to learn from the commentary - some of which we have covered before.
Useful words
杠 gàng - argue for the sake of arguing
大部分这类没文化一夜暴富的人,都得出点素质问题。实话实说,别杠我,想杠我的先去读5本书 - The majority of these uncultured people who make it big overnight tend to have these issues of ethics. Don’t disagree with me for the sake of it. If you do please read five books first and then have a go!
Related: 抬杠 táigàng - argue for the sake of arguing (see 16 Oct newsletter)
狡辩 jiǎobiàn - quibble, pull a fast one
这哪是致歉,分明是狡辩,和税务部门说的完全不一样 - How is this an appology? She’s clearly trying to pull a fast one. What she said is completely different from what the tax authorities have said.
不知足 bùzhīzú - insatiable, greedy
这种人应该罚他个倾家荡产,,,真TM,不知足 - This kind of person should be fined their entire wealth. She’s so f*cking greedy.
Idioms
晴天霹雳 qíngtiān pīlì - a bolt from the blue
这一下好多人要失业了,可能昨天都还好好在工作,今天就失业,晴天霹雳啊 - Many people could lose their jobs here. Maybe yesterday they were working away happily, and today they suddenly lose their job like a bolt from the blue.
东山再起 dōngshān zàiqǐ - the Eastern Mountain rises again; making a comeback
感觉还会东山再起 - I think she’ll be back.
装傻充愣 zhuāngshǎ chōnglèng - pretend to be stupid
在这装傻充愣,不封杀还留着过年呢 - She’s trying to play dumb and get away with it. She should definitely be banned now as it’s a no brainer
Related: 封杀 fēngshā mean ‘to block’ or takedown; one way of expressing ‘cancel culture’ in Chinese.
More: 不….还留着过年呢 - ‘Not… and allowed to celebrate Chinese New Year’ is Internet slang for “‘X’ should definitely do ‘Y’ now - as it’s a no brainer!”
不分手还留着过年呢?- Break up with him/her now - it's a no brainer!
哭天喊地 kūtiān hǎndì - ‘crying sky shouting ground’, crying out loud
平时找你带货少了几百万哭天喊地,偷了6亿和我说你不知道,笑掉大牙 - You often complain loudly when you get a few million less income through your online sales. Whereas when you steal RMB 600 million in tax, you say you know nothing about it - it’s laughable!
Colloquialisms and phrases
一石激起千层浪 yīshí jīqǐ qiāncénglàng - a single stone creates a thousand ripples, ‘to have a ripple effect’
除了偷税漏税,薇同学和其老公可能还涉及更为隐蔽的行为,一石激起千层浪,精彩还将继续… - As well as tax evasion, Viya and her husband could have lots of other much darker secrets. A single stone throws up a thousands ripples - the more exciting part is still to come…
墙倒众人推 qiángdǎo zhòngréntuī - many people push the wall as it’s about to collapse; ‘kick someone while they are down’
墙倒众人推啊~,没必要这么落井下石吧 - Lots of people are jumping on the bandwagon to bash Viya at this time, there’s no need to kick her when she’s down!
Related: 落井下石 luòjǐng xiàshí - throw a stone after someone has fallen in the well. See 22 May newsletter for more!
死鸭子嘴硬 sǐyāzi zuǐyìng - a dead duck still has a hard beak; stubborn and arrogant
死鸭子嘴硬,税务局都说了多次不配合 - Some people just don’t learn. The tax authorities have asked her many times to cooperate with the investigations [and she was too stubborn to do anything about it].
2. WORDS OF THE WEEK
Total career collapse
Over the last week, Wáng Lìhóng 王力宏 has been a hotly discussed topic in Weibo and in the Chinese media.
When the Taiwanese-American singer, known as Wang Leehom, announced he was divorcing his wife, she followed up publicly accusing him of infidelity and lots of other indiscretions.
Unlike with Viya, Netizens seem to only share one opinion about Wang - they absolutely despise this man. So much so that it became one of few topics that internet users from mainland China and Taiwan agreed upon (SCMP) this week.
Another story which has attracted media attention, but much quieter on social media, is star investment banker, Wāng Cháoyǒng 汪潮涌 , the founder of ChinaEquity Investment, who was arrested on 30 November in Beijing and has not been seen in public since, according to Caixin.
Social media reactions to these stories both included the ‘fall from grace’ reference:
眼看他高楼起,眼看他楼塌了 - watched him/her rise to the top and then fall from grace
Also, a shortened version:
起高楼,宴宾客,楼塌了 - qǐgāolóu, yànbīnkè, lóutāle
Which you could also translate as: “what goes up must fall down”.
Useful words
大瓜 dàguā - ‘big melon’ - a big story that everyone is following
非得藏个20年来一波大瓜,元旦前还会有瓜吗?Did he have to hide this massive story for 20 years? Will there be more scandals before New Year?
塌房 tāfáng - ‘collapse house’ - reputation crash
你是只能看的到艺人塌房,看不到这件事背后的女性婚姻权利问题吗?- So you only see a celebrity whose reputation is in ruins, and you don’t pay attention to the real issue which is women’s rights in marriage?
Related: 塌了 tāle - a different way to say the same thing
More: see 17 July newsletter for more on this, and for more sandals discussed on social media
实锤 shíchuí - ‘real hammer’ - irrefutable evidence, be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt
这一次被实锤,着实让人震惊遗憾,怕是从此也要进入演艺圈失德艺人黑名单 - The evidence is overwhelmingly against him, it’s really surprising and disappointing. It looks like he’s entered the black list of badly behaved artists.
滑铁卢 huátiělú - ‘Waterloo moment’, a failure at a critical time or ‘the beginning of the end’
汪潮涌自此开始走向滑铁卢 - This is the beginning of the end for Wang Chaoyong.
Background: ‘Waterloo moment’, a reference to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, is used by Chinese netizens as a metaphor for a decisive failure that sets the course of total loss of collapse in the near future. In the context of a celebrity or entrepreneur, it means their days are numbered, or it’s the beginning of the end of their career.
Idioms
惨不忍睹 cǎnbù rěndǔ - terrible, too horrible to look at [rěn becomes second tone here]
不仅仅业绩惨不忍睹,惠程科技股价更是连年下跌 - Not only is the business performance horrible, but the stock price of Huicheng Technology has been falling year after year.
名利双收 mínglì shuāngshōu - gain both fame and fortune
曾经劣迹也是一样名利双收。替那些认真努力兢兢业业打拼的一部分觉得不公平 - [He] has a track record of bad behaviour and yet he gets the fame and the fortune. This does not feel fair on those who actually work hard for a living.
微乎其微 wēihūqíwēi - minimal, insignificant
在当下惩冶演艺圈的背景下,其复出之路怕是微乎其微 - It’s very unlikely he’ll be back given the current crackdown on inappropriate behaviours in the entertainment sector.
Colloquialisms and phrases
一着不慎,满盘皆输 yī zhāo bù shèn, mǎnpán jiēshū - one wrong move loses the whole game
这不是一招不慎,但确是满盘皆输 - It’s not exactly one wrong move, but he really has lost the whole game here.
不嫖莫转,不赌莫看 bù piáo mò zhuàn, bù dǔ mò kàn - to avoid temptations of the flesh and gambling don’t go anywhere near them
娱乐圈不嫖的能占到5%吗?占不到吧?Maybe 5% or even less of men in China’s entertainment industry don’t sleep with prostitutes.
其身正,不令而行; 其身不正,虽令不从 qí shēn zhèng, bù lìng ér xíng; qí shēn bùzhèng, suī lìng bù cóng - when a ruler is honourable, government is effective even without giving orders; if the ruler is dishonourable, the government’s rules will not be followed
做好艺人的前提是要先做好人,否则其身不正,真面目总有会被揭开的一天 - To be an artist you first have to be a good person. If you behave inappropriately there will always be a day when your true self will be uncovered.
若要人不知,除非己莫为 ruò yào rén bùzhī, chúfēi jǐ mò wéi - the only way to not get caught is to not do it
他们站得越高,摔得越重。说得好!要想人不知,除非己莫为…… The higher you go, the harder you fall. The colloquialism says it best: if you don’t want to get caught, don’t do it in the first place.
More: Chinese proverb often translated as “What is done by night appears by day”
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Andrew
When I see the line 眼看他起朱楼,I think of them building red mansion. “Zhu” is the ancient red, “Zhulou” means splendid mansion. One of the four greatest books in China history is called <red mansion dream> which describes the falling of a extinguished family. I don’t understand why it’s been translated to courtesan’s quarter.
Great material to refresh and learn more