3 categories of people

When my friends asked me to guess the third category of people, I excitedly assumed China was including transgendered people into the mix instead of the normative "male" and "female" categories.

no no, uh uh.

The third type of people refers to female PHDs, ("女博士是第三类人" nv3 bo2 shi4 shi4 di4 san1 lei4 ren2). They are a third type because no one wants to marry a strong, capable female. Those who do marry phds are referred to as the fourth type of people.

If a woman does support a man , the man has a “小白脸” （xiao bai lian, small white face). The man will lose some serious face if he is supported by a woman. I mean, its not that different in the West. We have a similar saying when the woman is in charge or makes more money than her husband: "she wears the pants in the family." The only way the woman can be in charge, or I would argue, be equal, is by turning her into a man.

But the attitudes towards female professionals, in my opinion, is more pronounced in China. It is more explicit. Most people I talk to openly say they want to marry a younger woman who is not as smart and makes less money. The women also generally want to marry a smarter man who is the key breadwinner. Even if people feel this way in the west, they aren't that open about it. I luckily don't know anyone (I think) who feels this way!

Anyway, good luck female phds! I hope you find some wonderful partners who do not subscribe do this ridiculous saying.

Censorship in China

So its been a while since I've written anything. Blogger has been censored for the past few weeks so I am now using a proxy service to allow me to access this blog. Unfortunately, I still cant post pictures or URLs. Why the sudden crackdown? What happened 20 years ago on June 4th?

Students gathered in the largest public square in the world to demonstrate their feelings towards a one party system. The students were joined by workers, teachers, beggars, police officers...The smell of a democratic revolution was in the air and the freedom to vote seemed so close they could almost touch it. But things turned for the worse and the army got involved. Orders straight from the top told the soldiers to open fire on these optimistic civilians until they stopped.

Now, 20 years later, the democratic revolution spark has completely died down. While most young people do not even know that such a massive protest and massacre took place, those who know do not seem too caught up over it. If you ask anyone in China who their favourite chairman was, 99 percent will say Deng Xiaoping, the chairman who gave those orders 20 years ago. Why does the majority of Chinese society fail to recognize such a disastrous event in their history?

"白猫，黑猫， 抓到老鼠，就是好猫" (bai mao, hei mao, zhua dao laoshu, jiu shi hao mao). "It doesn't matter if the cat is white or black, as long as it catches the mouse."

This is one of Deng Xiaoping's most famous sayings. It doesn't matter if China is socialist or capitalist, as long as it prospers. And many Chinese people, from my experience, love this approach. As long as China is prospering, they are willing to give up some basic rights like voting and freedom of speech. We have to remember that Deng Xiaoping came into power in 1978, after the "ten year calamity" or Cultural Revolution. The country was in shambles and Deng slowly put the pieces back together. He wasn't going to let the democracy protests take away what he had done for the country.

So what's going to happen in China in the upcoming weeks? I really have no idea. I try to go on the New York Times webpage and look up articles about Tiananmen but I cannot access them. All I know is that protesting in China has not only not ceased but have actually increased (Even though they are not seen as protests but are instead called "walks").

In the past, the government has been able to keep the majority of society relatively happy but as the economic recession is hitting more and more people, people are wanting their voices to be heard. It will be interesting to see what happens on June 4th. If you have any news from the other side of the world, please tell me!

Text message breakup

So I decided I was getting sick of living with the family...They treated me like an employee, which I was but they were not friendly or warm at all. I liked the daughter and the dad was ok but the mom was quite unpleasant.

I started to realize that I wasn't very comfortable living there. For example, not only was I using a hand towel as a bath towel, they stopped feeding me. They would make the normal amount of food that they used to make but would only offer me two of the four dishes. And when I would go in the fridge, the mom would firmly say, "你干什么？“ ("ni gan shenme?", a rude way of saying "what are you doing"). I was getting hungry and frustrated.

So I called my friend on Friday to ask him if I could sleep on his couch for the next couple weeks. I thought I would gently break the news to Melody, the girl I was teaching the next day. I texted her to see when she had time to meet and she informed me that she was not accepted into the school in the UK and was therefore not moving. Then she said:

"i am sorry that my parents let me tell you you cannot live here cause i wont go to uk this year."

TEXT MESSAGE BREAK UP! And she beat me to it! I was going to break up with her, not the other way around! Anyway, I got out of there fast.

It wasn't all that bad. I learned a lot about Shanghainese culture, ate a lot of really good Shanghainese food and saved quite a bit of money in rent! And I will start traveling in less than three weeks! Can't wait!

Rocking out in Zhenjiang: The Festival

The festival was amazing! It was a rock festival but there was an eclectic mix of rock, folk, heavy metal, funk, electronica and a wide array of Chinese and western bands (three being from Canada). There were two stages - the main stage had all the live music while the side stage had a dj with electronica music. I spent minimal time listening to the DJs as I spend most of my weekends listening to them. I instead wanted to be engaged in the live music scene in China.

There were food stands set up in the festival, just like at any festival in Canada. Although I wasn't a huge fan as the food was just a bunch of 小吃（'xiao chi', or small eats). 小吃 also mainly consisted of 羊肉串 （'yang rou chuan' or lamb on a stick). Not the biggest fan...Luckily street food vendors took advantage of the festival and set up right outside of the entrance. Street food, soo good...

Anyway, onto the music. I'm not much of a metal head but it was fun partying with a bunch of metal heads...I crowd surfed for the first time and was thrown into the mosh pit a couple of times. I have never been felt up so many times in my life! These little Chinese boys who are usually so polite were just grabbing everyone and everything. I got out of there fast...

There was one really good Canadian band, which I missed! I was out getting food and could hear them from a distance. They are called So Called and supposedly they will be playing at folk fest!

The Chinese bands were awesome. There was a pretty cool "folk rocker" group called Cold Fairyland with a woman singer who played this Chinese type violin (don't know what its called).
















I think my favourite act though was the Subs which had this amazing female lead who was just giving her all! it was cool seeing such a powerful Chinese woman on stage. I went to see her again in Shanghai after and she was just as amazing. She had a great style, an interesting voice and a lot of power.

The last act was amazing too. Everyone was looking forward to 痛仰. It was one of those bands that every country has; a sort of alternative sound that young people are familiar with. I think of them as the Counting Crows of China. It was cool to be in the middle of a Chinese crowd that was singing their hearts out.

Overall it was a random and great experience. I am finally at the level with my Chinese where I can have a fairly deep conversation and understand fairly well what's going on. I am also finally getting comfortable living here and exploring new and different circles. This experience was definitely new and different and I was able to (and forced to) use my Chinese. There is so much more for me to see and do here but I am leaving in less than two months! Hopefully I can experience more things like this and soak up as much as possible before I leave!

peace out!

Rocking out in Zhenjiang: The Campground

I never would have thought I would attend a three day rock music festival in a random Chinese city. Bit I did. And it was Amazing.

I found out about the festival from a friend who lives in Hangzhou. I love music festivals and I love camping so I called my friend Geoff and two days later, we pulled up in the Zhenjiang train station. Walking into the music festival was a surreal experience. I was all of a sudden welcomed into a China I had never met; a subculture of weed smoking, tattoo wearing, rebellious Chinese rockers. The whole experience of a music festival was so familiar but so different than anything I would experience in Canada. Let's start with the campground.


We arrived at the campsite and because it had rained the entire night before, it was covered in mud. Security guards lined up at the entrance helping people along the way so they wouldn't slip. On top of that, just like any Chinese public space, there was garbage everywhere! In the city I don't mind it. There is just a different philosophy here than there is in the west. Drop your shit on the ground and clean it up later. This philosophy has employed many service people in terms of sweeping up and cleaning up the streets. But it
was so hard to see a campsite like that! The trough was covered in shit.

Then there was the construction. If you wonder why buildings get built so quickly in China, its because these people work non stop. I fall asleep to construction and wake up to it. But I never imagined I would hear it while camping! At 6:30 on Sunday morning I was woken up by construction that sounded like it was coming from right beside our tent...That's because it was. The development in China is crazy. Everywhere you turn there are old buildings coming down and new buildings coming up. (I will definitely write more about this in upcoming entries).

Anyway, I will always be amazed by the blatant contrasts in China. While we were partying and listening to music and hanging out by the tents, workers were watching us trying to figure out what the hell we were doing sleeping in this landfill next to their construction site. A lot of the workers snuck into the festival the last night and danced the night away.




























While the campsite was a new and different experience, there were some familiarities. Mainly, the fact that we were camping next to two Winnipegers! What! Ya, they're going to folk fest this summer! It was interesting meeting these people because although we lived basically down the street from each other and all live in China, we had and have such different lives, perspectives and stories about Canada. These people were obsessed with Canada. They carried this huge Canadian flag with them wherever they went and this guy had a tattoo of 加拿大 ('jianada' or Canada) on his leg. Not that I don't love Canada but I just dont really think about it that much. When I asked a Torontonian from their crew why he loved Canada so much, he provided me with the only plausible answer. He had been in the army. The patriotism was insane.















Winnipeg, Manitoba represent!

We camped next to some really cool Chinese guys from Anhui. Two of the guys are doing a bike trip from Sichuan province to Tibet this summer. They added a level of comfort and familiarity when they started singing 'Vincent' on their guitar. This turned into a singalong of a bunch of pretty famous western songs. It was lovely to reminisce and to share an interest in music with these Chinese guys. I usually have very different music tastes from my Chinese friends. After all the reminiscing, they sang us Chinese folk songs as we fell asleep. It was beautiful.















三， 土 and 吴 something something (San, Tu and Wu Something Something)















Geoff and I and our lovely tent!

Texas lawmaker: Chinese Americans should change names so "Americans" can handle them

Nine years ago during a Canadian National Election, Betty Granger, a Winnipeg Canadian Alliance candidate voiced concern over an "Asian invasion" in British Columbia. She said,"Canadian students can't get into some of our university programs in Vancouver and Victoria" because of an influx of Asian students. When discussing an arrival of refugees from Hong Kong, she said "There was a realization that what was coming off these boats was not the best clientele you would want for this country."

Needless to say, she was asked to step down after a well deserved uproar from Canadians. Unfortunately though, these views still exist today. At least this Texas lawmaker was a little more subtle about her racism. She only suggested Chinese change their names, not leave the country.

"Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese -- I understand it's a rather difficult language -- do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?" Brown said.

找对象： Looking for a Partner (Lesson 21)

In the 1970's Mao Zedong exclaimed that "Women hold up half the sky." This mentality has certainly not been excepted in modern China.

Bi ru shuo, we read a story in class entitled "Looking for a Partner." It goes something like this:

小赵 ‘Xiao Zhao’ is looking for a wife but he has no luck finding one. The first group of women he tries to meet think he is fat. In the second instance, being fat is 没关系（no problem) but they instead want him to have a salary of more than 5000 RMB, a house that is in good condition and about 100 square meters. Unfortunately, Xiao Zhao cannot accomodate these women.

His friends then introduce him to this women who seems to be a good match. But after finding out she is a manager of a company, he decides he can't marry her. He says, "是个非常有能力的女强人” (she is a very capable, strong woman). This is a huge problem as she will be making the money and Xiao Zhao will have to do the housework. Xiao Zhao explains, "男人怎么能给老婆当用人呢？” (How can men be their wives' servants!) He then finds a woman on the internet and they fall in love.

Not only is it crazy how openly and casually the story focuses on appearance, salary and living condition, the sexism is rampant and accepted as normal.

After telling my roommate about this story, she told me that at birth, boys and girls are compared to two banks in China. For a boy, people say, 建设银行 (jian she yinhang - the construction bank) and for a girl people say, 找商银行 (looking for a business bank). In Shanghai, the man's parents provide housing for the newly weds and the man is supposed to make more money. Thus, the boy is the construction bank because his parents will have to 'build' him a house, while the girl just needs to go and look for a rich husband.

There is also a saying (I forget the Chinese) but they say there are three groups of people. Men, women and women professionals because women professionals will not find husbands. Men do not want to marry a woman who makes more money than him and women do not want to make more money. While this to a certain extent exists in the West, it is openly discussed in China.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO NOW!

So since I have last written there have been many adventures with my Shanghainese family.

Last week, Melody, the daughter, messaged me saying her parents thought we didn't study enough together and were upset:

• "Hi sara, how are you today? We get a problem. My parents are mad at me cause they judge us have no enough time to study, they dont think you are seriously needed for me. I think we should hav ea talk with them, and we should let them see our study, dont be worry i am on your side!"

This seriously upset me because she and her parents expect different things of me and I don't know who to please. So I took a bold step and called together a meeting so we would be on the same page. I used my limited Chinese to explain how I felt awkward, how they need to all be on the same page in order for me to help, 等。 It turns out they weren't upset with me at all. In fact, they thought I was a good influence on the daughter because I study Chinese and work whereas they feel she just plays video games and chats on QQ (Chinese MSN). The rest of the meeting was me listening to angry Shanghainese parents yelling about their daughter's lack of self motivation.

But even though they don't hate me, they aren't particularly nice to me. The shanghainese around the table is the worst. They know very well that if they spoke Chinese I could understand probably about 60 percent of what they were saying. They don't care if I understand. I am there to do a job, which is teach their daughter English. They are not there to include me in their conversations and life. I don't know if I can handle that. What frustrates me more is that in their advertisement, they wrote that I would help their daughter with English and they could help me with Chinese...baaaah

Anyway, I thought I would make an extra effort to be a part of their family and to help out. SOOO, I made them dinner tonight! I made Minestrone soup, asparagus and fried matzah (seeing how it is passover). It was all pretty tasty. On top of that, the dad made this amazing steamed fish and some sort of bean. Melody invited her grandfather and her best friend. It was lovely. While the Shanghainese at the table is getting to me, I can't expect them to change their daily habits and language for me. I'll just have to deal!

I'll keep you posted on whether I get the boot or not. Right now I think I'm in their good books. The question is, how much longer can I stick this out??

Glitz Galour: The New Age Chinese Wedding

Take an extravagant Western wedding - Roses, a big white dress and veil, tuxedos, a fancy hotel and a lavish dinner and mix it up with some Chinese characteristics and you get one hell of a show!

There was an announcer, a staged performance by the couple, a video slideshow of how they met and a number of games.



Tank, a classmate of mine from the 2007 Fudan-Queens exchange program got married last night. Him and his new wife, Ingrid are a great couple and I am so happy they invited me. While I found much of the ceremony and reception a little cheezy and over the top, I also found it quite beautiful. Even though it was a western style wedding, there were many Chinese aspects to it. For instance:

The beautiful couple!

• Attire: The couple changed four times throughout the night, ending in a suit and a beautiful red qipao.
• Gifts: It is a tradition to give the bride and groom cash in a red envelope. My family gave me a red envelope to give to the married couple.
  
• Sign in: According to Wikipedia, it is a tradition to have two people at the sign in table, one from the groom's side and one from the bride's side. My friend represented the groom's side and invited me to join her. Hope I didn't mess up the tradition by having three people at the table!
  
• Food: 10 course meal! It was fantastic. So much great Chinese food, including crab, shrimp, noodles....everything you shouldn't eat on passover. (I abstained expcept for the crab. Just had to try it!) The only one issue I had was the controversial serving of the traditional sharkfin soup...It doesn't even taste that good.
• Toasts: It is a tradition that the couple walks around to each table and the guests say a toast. The brides maid and best man are responsible for chugging back glasses of wine. They turn very red and get very drunk.
• Poses: Chinese people think of the most creative and awkward picture poses I have ever seen! Seeing all the posters of Tank and Ingrid was one of my highlights for sure!
• Celine Dion and Shania Twain's voices were heard several times throughout the night. A true sign that it was in fact a Chinese wedding.

• 

Amazing poses!

During the dinner, as I mentioned, they played lots of games. The main games were trivia questions about the newly weds. So there I was, sitting at the back of the room, eating my sharkfin soup with my newfound Fudan friends when I hear my English name being called out. They had 6 people on the stage and were asking us a trivia question. What I understood was "How long have....known....wedding." I assumed they were asking us how long we knew the couple for. So I started, "Tank was my classmate last year..." The whole crowd burst out laughing. They were asking us how long Tank and Ingrid knew each other before getting married. Anyway, I spent the rest of the time on stage completely silent while people around me were guessing. I still don't know how it happened but I ended up winning the trivia game without saying anything. I won this really weird doll in a bunny suit. Good times...



















My prize!

明日星城 SHANGHAI: THE FUTURE

I recently moved in with a Shanghainese family. The parents pay for my rent, my food and I, in exchange, hang out with their 23 year old graphic designer daughter (and speak English with her). Their apartment complex, 明日星城 (mingri xing cheng, or SHANGHAI: THE FUTURE) is pimped out. Not only is the complex called SHANGHAI: THE FUTURE, the architecture is insanely futuristic, there is a pool and gym and it houses (I am guessing) the upcoming upper middle class in Shanghai. Mingri xing cheng, built in the midst of 'Old Shanghai' where old, dilapidated houses and buildings reign, is a great symbol of the inequality in Shanghai and in China. (More pictures and commentary will follow after exploring the area more).




Anyway, the living situation, in theory, is a pretty sweet deal for me (aka. I live for this shit!). I thrive on meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. However, its been harder than I thought it would be...Even though I have spent a total of 9 months in Shanghai, I forgot to consider that both language and cultural barriers could ensue. This failed foresight has led to countless awkward situations.



Firstly, we set no rules, guidelines or made a contract before I moved in. They kept saying, 随便，随便！('suibian, suibian,' 'Whatever is ok!') A couple days after I moved in, the parents sat me down and in Chinese (without their daughter present) told me that we have no obligations to each other. If I want to leave I can leave, and if they aren't satisfied with me, they can kick me out. Talk about awkward! On top of that, they speak Shanghainese at the dinner table knowing I cant understand anything. (The daugther always tells them to speak putonghua (mandarin). I really feel unwanted and truly 'mafan' (bothersome) when they do that. Moreover, our lives and habits are SO different! They asked me before I moved in if I 'xiguan' Shanghai (which means, am I used to it). I kept saying yes, of course! But I thought they were talking about the food....The parents are extremely traditional and are not fans of my habits (going out late and coming home late). I have therefore been trying to change my life in order to appease them which means that my social life is currently in remission.

Lets see how much longer I can last! Keep you posted...

(Photographs courtesy of the internet)

Converse in China

Today I partook in a shooting for a converse ad. My classmate is in fashion and asked if anyone in class was interested in showing up to a bar in the middle of the day to listen to a concert while they shot an advertisement. I was super excited to listen to a Chinese band play. Unfortunately though the band didn't show up until later. Instead, we were given converse shoes and sweatshirts and we were told to dance around a bunch of models.

It wasn't as bad as I thought a shooting would be. They basically put on Le Tigre and Justice and told us to go nuts. A pleasant and energetic way to spend an afternoon in Shanghai.

Birthday in China: what kind texts can do...

Not a bad day. But because I was so scared of my host family hating me, I didnt do much. I went to my Chinese language class, did a presentation about local food movements in a Chinese middle school, saw their organic garden they started (unfortunately it is in a gravel pit so they won't be able to grow much) and then taught some English. I came home early tonight and my host mom made me 生日面 ('Shengri mian' or Birthday noodles), also known as longevity noodles. Chinese people eat noodles on their birthdays as long noodles are meant to symbolize a long life.

I met a random Chinese man at the organic garden today. He asked me for my number which is not that strange in China. Everyone asks for everyone's number all the time. Later in the evening I got the nicest text from him. I hadnt even told him it was my birthday and I have no idea why he wrote it. Here it is:

不管人生路上有几多风雨，朋友如伞， 伴你一路晴空！ 祝天天俞快！
Bu guan ren sheng lu sheng you ji duo feng yu, pengyou ru san, ban ni yi lu qing kong. zhu tian tian yu kuai!

No matter how many clouds and how much wind there is on your life path, friends are like your umbrella. They will accompany you into clear sky. Wishing you a happy day!

The longest bridge in the world and I had to pee like a race horse!

This weekend I went to an ultimate tournament a couple hours drive from Shanghai in Ningbo, Zhejiang. The drive used to be about six hours but with the opening of the world's longest sea-bridge in May, 2008, it now only takes about 2 hours.

We got on the bus and started drinking 'russian monkeys', which includes beer, vodka and redbull. About ten minutes after getting on the bridge I had to pee. No, I needed to pee. And for those of you who know me, know that I have trouble keeping it in.

To make matters worse, the driver was not allowed to stop on the 36 km bridge. This is because when the bridge first opened, drivers whould stop their cars in the middle of the road to take pictures of the view. This caused several accidents and many more arrests. The driver explained there was no way to stop. I felt trapped and was so scared I would pee my pants. Luckily, I prevailed.

Needless to say, when I reached the rest station 1 km past the bridge, I had the most satisfying pee I have ever had.

Shanghainese cuisine; sweet, right?

麻婆豆腐 (Mapo Tofu) - my favourite Chinese dish

So I have recently moved in with a Shanghainese family (上海家庭, 'Shanghai Jiating'). They are super sweet. On top of that, they pay for my rent and cook me all my food and in exchange, I hang out with their 23 year old graphic designer daughter. Its a pretty sweet deal but its been a difficult transition, especially with such cultural differences. I feel a bit strange with the set up but I'm sure I will find myself right at home soon.

There are countless interesting aspects of living with this family - most of which I'll get into later. Right now I want to talk about Shanghainese cuisine. I've never really been a fan. The food is all so sweet. There's a saying in China about the different foods in different areas:

“南甜，北咸，东辣， 西酸" (nan tian, bei xian, dong la, xi suan), which means "South is sweet, north is savoury, east is spicy, west is sour."

My favourite is 川菜 ('chuan cai'), Sichuan food (its in the west but its extremely spicy. Its a different kind of spice, one that makes your tongue numb). Being located in the Southeast, Shanghainese food is extremely sweet. I don't really like it but I've been pretty good about eating everything they cook for me and its also nice to eat home cooked food.

Tonight though, I helped Gao Chen Feng (my 'mom') cook dinner. We made a broccoli dish with some processed ham, scrambled eggs, a vegetable called 开化 （'kai hua'，‘open flower’) in Chinese . I don't know the English name. We also had some soup. It was all pretty good but I wish I didn't see the amount of oil and sugar put into the food! Lets just say the eggs were soaking with oil...

Oh Whats in a Name? It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?

And you think melamine is the problem?

This article (click here) shows that organic certified products in the US are also causing quite the stir. With the national outbreak of salmonella in organic certified peanut butter, people are fearing their 'healthier' choices. Not only did the plants that were selling this contaminated peanut butter have mold and rat feces, they also had organic certification.

But how could this be? How could our beloved organic stamped food betray us? It said 'no MSG!' It said 'free range!' The organic movement has actually been criticized by a number of academics and food analysts since it has been revamped from a grassroots farmers' movement to an agribusiness marketing dream. The standards that allow for companies to become 'certified organic' have also been dropping. 'Organic', as it explains in this article, does not ensure that food safety, fair trade, workers' rights or environmentally friendly methods are even being considered.

Because of this peanut butter salmonella outbreak, 9 people have died and hundreds have been injured. It's shitty that it had to take something like this to bring to light the many problems in the organic food business.

And here's a great way to understand the problems we face in our supermarkets. May the force be with you!

The Becoming of a Saying...

I just returned to Shanghai after a two month hiatus and have started studying Chinese. Language opens up another dimension to understanding a culture, especially in China where the language and culture is so different from North America. While I studied on my own for my first five months here, it was difficult to get really into it, both because I was busy with work and more importantly, those of you who know me know that I tend to procrastinate (ie. I watched all five seasons of The Wire in 3 and a half months). However, I have managed to pick up a bit about the language.

I think a huge part of the Chinese language which really emphasizes our inability to fully understand Chinese culture is 成语 ('Chengyu' or literally, 'to become a saying'). Chengyu are traditional Chinese idioms, usually containing four characters. Chengyu are impossible to understand in modern Chinese without learning the context behind them as the four characters represent the moral behind the story and not the story itself.

Here are a few of my favourites (there are hundreds):

• 画蛇添足 ('hua she tian zu,' 'draw snake add foot'). The story is, there was a competition to see who could draw a snake the fastest. The person who finished first then added feet. Just then, another guy finished and won. The moral of the story is you should know when to stop. I think this really speaks to a main difference between Chinese and Western culture. In North America, people pride themselves and others on being innovative and creative. They'd be like, "ya bitch, thats sweet! Add those feet!" (It's like in Billy Madison when he passed Grade 1 because he drew a blue duck..) In China, they're like, "know your role motha fucka."

• Another great one is 守株待兔 ('shou zhu dai tu', 'wait beside tree trunk waiting for rabbit'). One day a hunter saw a rabbit run into a tree and die. The hunter than waited by the tree everyday for the same thing to happen. It never did. The moral is, don't wait around for another miracle. Be hardworking.

There is no real equivalent in the English language but here's an example. I found this when searching for 成语 on a Chinese website. I guess they are trying to understand OUR crazy language!

小朋友在中国

Just when you think you are getting a sense of the language, you realize that you have no clue what's going on and that people are going to 开玩笑 ('kai wan xiao' or 'make fun of') you. This is how I got my name 小朋友 ('xiao pengyou' or literally, 'little friend')。

My blue haired Shanghainese friend Jonny started calling me 小朋友 on our hike up 黄山 ('Huang Shan' or 'Yellow Mountain')。I loved it!! However, I soon learned that what I thought to be an endearing name was actually Jonny making fun of me. 小朋友, in Chinese, means 'child.' The term is only used when speaking to children...Jonny was mocking me and everyone knew it except me.

I still adopted the name though and it has since become my rap persona. In my latest 'shuo chang dazhan' (rap battle), I was proudly introduced as 小朋友. What can I say, people seem to love it.

yo, yo 我是小朋友， 我要说‘别热我‘