Pronounced: bèi
Meaning: [indicates passive clause -- examples]
Also means: 被 was chosen as the most popular online character for 2009. It became a satirical joke, often dark, expressing the way Mainlanders have things done to/for them without choice. One well-known example is the phrase “be suicided”, which became popular when authorities declared an obvious murder to be a suicide and the story spread online. This translation of a Xinhua article describes the many ways 被 applies to modern Mainland life and why this character expresses the frustrations of China’s (online) citizens: Living in an Era of Change – Era of Acceptance
Pronounced: chǒu wén
Literally: shameful/ugly/disgraceful news
Means: scandal
Pronounced: wēn gē huá dōng ào huì
Means: the Vancouver Winter Olympics
Pronounced: chūn yùn
Literally: spring move
Means: the Chinese New Year travel season, a.k.a. the largest human migration on earth, when millions upon millions of Chinese overload China’s transport systems as they travel home for the traditional Spring Festival family reunion. (More photos here.)
Pronounced: bì xié
Literally: avoid evil (avoid evil/malevolent spirits)
Means: Why you’re supposed to wear red underwear during Spring Festival.
Pronounced: cài gǒu
Literally: food dog
Means: the kind of dog eaten in China.
Also see:
Pronounced: náná lóng
Means: (1) to fix a bike wheel by making it round/straight again.
(2) to “teach someone a lesson” or “fix somebody’s wagon” — it’s Tianjin trash talk before a fight: “Step outside and I’ll fix your wheel!” “出去，我给你拿拿龙！”
(Click the image for source.)
Pronounced: luǒ hūn
Literally: “naked marriage”
Means: Getting married without first owning a house and a car. For China’s emerging urban middle classrelatively privileged urbanites, this is a big deal. (See CCTV’s People have mixed attitudes to “naked” marriage).
Pronounced: nì ài
Literally: drown love
Means: to spoil, pamper, over-indulge (a child). In China this creates what people call “little emperors” (小黄帝 xiǎo huángdì).
Pronounced: rú dòng
Literally: “worm move”; to move like a worm (蠕虫 = worm. 动 = to move)
Means: to wriggle; to squirm.
Canada:
China:
Taiwan:
The States:
Brazil:
