In this edition: lying flat, the Chinese social credit system, the Olympic financials explained and Love Defense Wars (yes). Here are my February Chinese vocabulary notes.
Does hosting the Olympics make money? 聊聊奥运会背后的商业逻辑
What’s the business model behind the Olympic Games? How do they finance the whole thing? Lin walks us through the financial history of the Olympics and names the three main sources of revenue. Interesting to see that more than hundred years ago the Olympics’ core business was sports (!) instead of money-making.
| 奥运会 | Àoyùnhuì | Olympic Games |
| 信托 | xìntuō | trust |
| 转播费 | zhuǎnbòfèi | Broadcast fee (fee for the broadcast rights) |
| 赞助 | zànzhù | sponsorships |
| 世界杯 | shìjièbēi | World Cup |
| 商业化 | shāngyèhuà | commercialize |
| 核心逻辑 | héxīn luójí | core logic |
| 贪腐 | tānfǔ | corruption |
| 规模 | guīmó | scale |
| 突破 | túpò | breakthrough |
| 突飞猛进 | tūfēiměngjìn | Advance by leaps and bounds |
Teacher Li explains children with autism
This is a quick introduction by 李永乐老师 to autism. His up-tempo teaching style combined with the scientific vocabulary is challenging, but he does give many examples. I wonder how he doesn’t seem to rely on any notes while giving this 25-minute lesson. He covers the discovery of autism, common symptoms, different kinds of autism, treatment, cases in America and China, the causes of autism and the societal acceptance in China.
| 自闭症 | zìbìzhèng | autism |
| 症状 | zhèngzhuàng | symptom |
| 沟通障碍 | gōutōng zhàng’ài | communication barriers |
| 基因 | jīyīn | gene |
| 干预 | gānyù | intervene |
| 补助 | bǔzhù | grant |
| 治愈 | zhìyù | cure |
1144万人用8年时间证明：运动真的防癌！
| 防癌 | fáng ái | Prevent cancer |
| 预防癌症 | yùfáng áizhèng | Prevent cancer |
| 有效的效果 | yǒuxiào de xiàoguǒ | Effective result(s) |
| 一个大数据的研究发现 | yīgè dà shùjù de yánjiū fāxiàn | A big data study found |
| 重度的锻炼 | zhòngdù de duànliàn | heavy exercise |
| 休闲型的锻炼 | xiūxián xíng de duànliàn | recreational exercise |
| 走到户外 | zǒu dào hùwài | go outside |
| 保健品 | bǎojiànpǐn | health products |
| 加强锻炼 | jiāqiáng duànliàn | take more exercise |
| 在治疗中的患者 | zài zhìliáo zhōng de huànzhě | patients under treatment / in recovery |
| 加强恢复的速度 | jiāqiáng huīfù de sùdù | Increase the speed of recovery |
“Love defense wars”《爱情保卫战》
I just love this show. On the one hand, it’s so painful to watch. In German you’d use the word fremdschämen, meaning you’re ashamed on the other’s behalf, because they’re embarrassing themselves. On the other hand, this program is so immensely educational to watch, especially for foreigners trying to understand Chinese cultural in general and Chinese “love relationships” in particular.
| 安全感 | anquán gǎn | sense of security |
| 异性缘 | yìxìng yuán | opposite sex |
| 勾肩搭背 | gōu jiān dābèi | bend one’s arm around sb.’s shoulder – indicating an intimate relationship (idiom) |
| 夸张 | kuāzhāng | exaggerate(d) |
| 无非 | wúfēi | nothing more than |
| 副业 | fùyè | side occupation |
| 剥虾 | bō xiā | peel shrimps |
The conflict of the first couple (00:00 – 25:00): he’s 22 and wants to party; she’s 27 and wants to marry. Soon. Like now immediately. She doesn’t want to become a 剩女 (leftover woman) and feels very 着急 (in a hurry). The guy is “not ready” yet and wants to party with his 哥们 (bro’s) and girlfriends. In 5 years maybe. But how about the woman? She wants to marry, but is she ready? She doesn’t want to be his mother(!), that’s for sure. What does the Chinese jury of grown-up experts have to say about all of this?
| 侵犯隐私 | qīnfàn yǐnsī | invasion of privacy |
| 哄好 | hōng hǎo | to coax |
| 幼稚 | yòuzhì | childish |
| 压缩 | yāsuō | to compress / pressure |
| 成长起来 | chéngzhǎng qǐlá | to grow up |
| 担当 | dāndāng | to take responsibility |
| 边界感 | biānjiè gǎn | sense of boundaries |
| 走一步算一步 | zǒu yībù suàn yībù | step by step |
| 共同面对生活 | gòngtóng miàn duì shēnghuó | face life together |
| 玩玩乐乐 | wán wánlè lè | have fun |
| 审美变化 | shěnměi biànhuà | aesthetic change |
What Do The Chinese Think Of The Social Credit System? | Street Interview
So what is this so-called social credit system in China exactly? What are the positives and negatives and how does it affect Chinese society? Does the Chinese government really keep track of their citizens’ every move? This is another brilliant street interview from Asian Boss, asking a bunch of people in Shanghai what they think about the social credit system.
In general, I’m not a big fan of technological solutions to social problems like a lack of trust among citizens. I’d prefer we educate ourselves and step up to improve our behavior, instead of having the government or another entity monitor our daily lives. I find it strangely reductionist to define parameters to quantify one’s trustworthiness with a score.
However, I do see a difference between a “social credit rate” provided by a company like HelloBike and your own government. As long as I can freely choose to use the company’s services and products or not, I don’t see a problem. The same goes for loan providers who naturally have an interest in checking my credit history and always have their ways to do so. It’s different with governments.
But at least I’m willing to see the other side. As is stated in the intro, people in the west generally seem to think that every Chinese citizen is subject to “the social credit system” (whatever that entails) and is being monitored every minute and every hour. This is a big misconception. I couldn’t agree more with the final statement from the video: “Many biases actually stem from the fact that you don’t want to step out your bubble.” This is a key reason for me to learn a language like Mandarin btw.
| 社会信用体系 | Shèhuì xìnyòng tǐxì | social credit system |
| 监督 | jiāndū | supervise |
| 分数 | fēnshù | score |
| 贷款 | dàikuǎn | loan |
| 社会行为 | shèhuì xíngwéi | social behavior |
| 信用度 | xìnyòngdù | credit (degree of credit) |
| 支付宝 | zhīfùbǎo | Alipay |
Mandarin Corner: Why Are Chinese Lying Flat? – Tang Ping Phenomenon – Intermediate Chinese
Another extremely interesting dialogue by Mandarin Corner. It’s a 30 min talk about 躺平 or “lying flat”. As the rat race gets harder and less rewarding, especially for younger generations, new mentalities towards life and work arise. 躺平 is internet slang for this kind of mentality reset. Instead of blindly adapting to dominant behavior patterns like working overtime, marrying, getting children, buying a car and real estate and so on, people are starting to ask questions like “is it really worth all this?” and “what’s in it for me?”. The answer 躺平 basically means quitting or at least drastically reducing the participation in the rat race.
The discussion touches upon many underlying aspects of this mentality change: the extreme working hours, the damaging competition among peers and even children, the failing work-life-balance, gender inequality in the labor market etc. One question that remains unanswered in the podcast is to what extent people are actually “quitting” and to what extent this is mainly an online discussion amongst dissatisfied netizens.
| 躺平 | Tǎng píng | “to lie flat” (in my own words: quitting the rat race) |
| 网络词语 | wǎngluò cíyǔ | internet slang |
| 放弃努力奋斗 | fàngqì nǔlì fèndòu | give up trying / give up the struggle |
| 拥抱一种低欲望的生活态度 | yǒngbào yī zhǒng dī yùwàng de shēnghuó tàidù | embrace a low-desire attitude to life |
| 黑料 | hēi liào | leaked information / information that is not supposed to get out |
| 退出 | tuìchū | quit / retreat / step out |
| 大小周 | dàxiǎo zhōu | Work 5 days, get two days off, work 6 days, get 1 day off (another more, maybe more familiar concept is “996”: work 6 days a week, from 9 to 9) |
That’s it for February, folks. I expected to watch more of the Olympics, however, I lost interest pretty soon after the spectacular opening… See you next month!