Little-Acorn
10-02-2011, 03:25 PM
You've probably seen this picture of a restaurant (actually a bar) in Beijing, that has been floating around the internet for the last few days.
But the Chinese caption in the lower right, has been mis-translated in many of them.
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/joelherrick/obama%20fried%20chicken.jpg
Many articles I've seen, translate it as, "We're just so cool, aren't we?"
But, my wife is Chinese. She was born and raised in Mainland China, in Tiyuan City, the fourth-largest city in China, and came to America while in college. She reads and speaks this Mandarin Chinese fluently, and also speaks English pretty well.
She tells me that the caption in Chinese on the picture says literally, "A place for people who can talk very well but can't do much". I asked her if it could be translated to the American phrase, "All talk, no action." And she lit up and said, "Yes! That's it exactly!"
The bar owner's use of that particular face on his sign, starts to become a little more understandable now, doesn't it....?
If you have any doubts, I suggest you find somebody who speaks FLUENT Mandarin Chinese, and ask him what the real translation of those characters is.
Remember many months ago, when the Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang played for the White House during a state visit of Chinese Premier Hu Jintao? He played a piece called "My Motherland", which sounded quite beautiful, and was immaculately rendered. But what not many Americans knew, was that the piece was originally written for a movie made in China in the 1950s, during the Korean War. The movie depicted a small band of Chinese soldiers fighting in Korea against American troops, facing overwhelming odds, and wiping them out by the score as the brutish Americans stumbled into ambush after ambush. During a lull in the fighting, as the plucky Chinese soldiers were wishing they were anyplace but that battle zone, one of their number (a nurse) sang this song. It mostly sings about how beautiful their homeland (China) was, how they longed to be home, etc... but it included a few lines referring to the Americans as "vile enemies", "jackals" etc. and said that the Chinese held their guns and swords ready to use against them.
When my wife heard about Lang Lang playing this in public, for an American audience, she was stunned... and this was long before the media picked up on it. She remarked to me that this was a song that many Chinese people knew and loved, because it is indeed a beautiful song and makes the Chinese homeland sound wonderful. But she added that ALL Chinese people were carefull never to sing it in the presence of Americans, because of the few lines that disparage Americans.
She said it was inconceivable that the professional musician Lang Lang did NOT know of the reasons this song should not be played in the presence of Americans... and certainly not for the President of the United States and his diplomatic personnel. She said that this could only have been a carefully calculated snub of the Americans... and that it had to have been approved at the highest levels, for him to play that piece.
Well, this "Obama Fried Chicken" sign on a bar in Beijing, certainly wasn't a major diplomatic incident, unlike the state dinner concert. It was done simply by some small-time bar owner trying to make a little joke and get some attention for his bar.
But it's the second time I've seen Chinese people (at any level) make a private little joke at the expense of the President of the United States. And, once again, a joke that no American would ever have noticed, though Chinese people would get it immediately. If any American did find something wrong with it, they might have dismissed it with a laugh about a hoary old stereotype about black people and fried chicken. But in fact, there was much more to it than that. The bar owner might not have even been aware of the tired old stereotype... he wasn't referring to that at all.
Pretty subtle, more than a little cute... and very Chinese.
And twice in a row now... to THIS President.
But the Chinese caption in the lower right, has been mis-translated in many of them.
http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/joelherrick/obama%20fried%20chicken.jpg
Many articles I've seen, translate it as, "We're just so cool, aren't we?"
But, my wife is Chinese. She was born and raised in Mainland China, in Tiyuan City, the fourth-largest city in China, and came to America while in college. She reads and speaks this Mandarin Chinese fluently, and also speaks English pretty well.
She tells me that the caption in Chinese on the picture says literally, "A place for people who can talk very well but can't do much". I asked her if it could be translated to the American phrase, "All talk, no action." And she lit up and said, "Yes! That's it exactly!"
The bar owner's use of that particular face on his sign, starts to become a little more understandable now, doesn't it....?
If you have any doubts, I suggest you find somebody who speaks FLUENT Mandarin Chinese, and ask him what the real translation of those characters is.
Remember many months ago, when the Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang played for the White House during a state visit of Chinese Premier Hu Jintao? He played a piece called "My Motherland", which sounded quite beautiful, and was immaculately rendered. But what not many Americans knew, was that the piece was originally written for a movie made in China in the 1950s, during the Korean War. The movie depicted a small band of Chinese soldiers fighting in Korea against American troops, facing overwhelming odds, and wiping them out by the score as the brutish Americans stumbled into ambush after ambush. During a lull in the fighting, as the plucky Chinese soldiers were wishing they were anyplace but that battle zone, one of their number (a nurse) sang this song. It mostly sings about how beautiful their homeland (China) was, how they longed to be home, etc... but it included a few lines referring to the Americans as "vile enemies", "jackals" etc. and said that the Chinese held their guns and swords ready to use against them.
When my wife heard about Lang Lang playing this in public, for an American audience, she was stunned... and this was long before the media picked up on it. She remarked to me that this was a song that many Chinese people knew and loved, because it is indeed a beautiful song and makes the Chinese homeland sound wonderful. But she added that ALL Chinese people were carefull never to sing it in the presence of Americans, because of the few lines that disparage Americans.
She said it was inconceivable that the professional musician Lang Lang did NOT know of the reasons this song should not be played in the presence of Americans... and certainly not for the President of the United States and his diplomatic personnel. She said that this could only have been a carefully calculated snub of the Americans... and that it had to have been approved at the highest levels, for him to play that piece.
Well, this "Obama Fried Chicken" sign on a bar in Beijing, certainly wasn't a major diplomatic incident, unlike the state dinner concert. It was done simply by some small-time bar owner trying to make a little joke and get some attention for his bar.
But it's the second time I've seen Chinese people (at any level) make a private little joke at the expense of the President of the United States. And, once again, a joke that no American would ever have noticed, though Chinese people would get it immediately. If any American did find something wrong with it, they might have dismissed it with a laugh about a hoary old stereotype about black people and fried chicken. But in fact, there was much more to it than that. The bar owner might not have even been aware of the tired old stereotype... he wasn't referring to that at all.
Pretty subtle, more than a little cute... and very Chinese.
And twice in a row now... to THIS President.