{"id":15017,"date":"2020-03-16T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=15017"},"modified":"2020-03-06T06:29:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T10:29:03","slug":"a-new-chinese-phrase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/a-new-chinese-phrase\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Chinese Phrase"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

How a modern term, created by a netizen on 2015, became a popular phrase honoring the new Chinese heroes fighting the epidemic.<\/p>\n

On August 2015, a fire broke in the port of Tianjin. Firefighters (\u6d88\u9632\u5458<\/strong> xi\u0101o f\u00e1ng yu\u00e1n) at the site, unaware of to the hazardous chemicals contained at the warehouse, tried to extinguish the blaze when a series of massive explosions rocked the area. The explosions were so huge they were pick up by a Japanese satellite, and even registered as seismic events. The blast wave rippled out several kilometers from the port, but most of the casualties were among the thousand or so firefighters who were on the scene. 173 people were killed, most of them firefighters and police officers, and nearly 800 injured.<\/p>\n

The next day, a Weibo user posted an old drawing, based on a picture taken four years earlier in Seoul. A car had exploded near Namsan Tunnel one afternoon on July 2011. People were evacuated (\u758f\u6563<\/strong> sh\u016b s\u00e0n) from the scene and directed to move outside the tunnel. One of them snapped a picture of the crowd walking through the tunnel in the same direction, depicting the back of only one: a firefighter heading to the scene. The picture is blurry, but the illustration highlighted the firefighter against a black and white background. You can see the illustration and the picture here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The netizen who posted the illustration four years later, paying tribute to the brave people in the front line, added the caption: \u4e16\u754c\u4e0a\u6700\u5e05\u7684\u9006\u884c<\/strong> (sh\u00ec ji\u00e8 sh\u00e0ng zu\u00ec shu\u00e0i de n\u00ec x\u00edng). The first part of the sentence is easy to translate: \u4e16\u754c\u4e0a\u6700\u5e05\u7684<\/strong> means the world\u2019s most handsome<\/em>. But the phrase \u9006\u884c<\/strong> at the end of the sentence has no clear corresponding in English. The online Xinhua<\/a> dictionary defines the word \u9006<\/strong> as: \u65b9\u5411\u76f8\u53cd\uff0c\u4e0e\u201c\u987a\u201d\u76f8\u5bf9<\/strong> (f\u0101ng xi\u00e0ng xi\u0101ng f\u01cen, y\u01d4 \u201csh\u00f9n\u201d xi\u0101ng du\u00ec), meaning the opposite direction, antonym to the word <\/em>\u987a<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0(that means along<\/em>). \u884c<\/strong> means to walk<\/em>, so together with \u9006<\/strong> it means to walk to the opposite direction<\/em>. In the original picture the person on duty indeed walked in the opposite direction. While the crowed is being evacuated away from the car on fire and the danger, the firefighter, though, walks toward the flames, into the frontline.<\/p>\n

Many were touched by the netizen\u2019s tribute. The illustration has been shared endlessly on Weibo. And the famous caption became a widespread phrase \u6700\u7f8e\u7684\u9006\u884c\u8005<\/strong> (zu\u00ec m\u011bi n\u00ec x\u00edng zh\u011b), to describe those who in event of danger ignore their safety and head to the front line (\u524d\u7ebf<\/strong> qi\u00e1n xi\u00e0n) to save peoples\u2019 lives. It became prevalent during the 2015 Tianjin explosions, in spoken language, and in the Chinese media, as well (in this article<\/a>, for example) when referring to the firefighters and policemen.<\/p>\n

Lately, the phrase has become popular again. It is used to praise the medical staff (\u533b\u62a4\u4eba\u5458<\/strong> y\u012b h\u00f9 r\u00e9n yu\u00e1n) who travel to the epicenter of Wuhan, to fight the new epidemic. Four young female doctors, for example, who headed last January to Hubei to help, were praised in an article<\/a> as \u6700\u7f8e\u7684\u9006\u884c\u8005<\/strong>, for \u5954\u8d74\u75ab\u60c5\u524d\u7ebf<\/strong> (b\u0113n f\u00f9 y\u00ec q\u00edng qi\u00e1n xi\u00e0n, rushing to the frontline of the epidemic<\/em>). In the beginning of February, a group of 350 medical staff from Shanghai was sent to Wuhan. The author of the article<\/a> concluded: \u6211\u4eec\u5411\u6bcf\u4e00\u4f4d\u201c\u6700\u7f8e\u9006\u884c\u8005\u201d\u81f4\u656c<\/strong> ( w\u01d2 men xi\u00e0ng m\u011bi y\u012b w\u00e8i \u201czu\u00ec m\u011bi n\u00ec x\u00edng zh\u011b\u201d zh\u00ec j\u00ecng, we salute all the brave heroes<\/em>). A new book<\/a> by the title \u6700\u7f8e\u9006\u884c\u80052020<\/em><\/strong> covers the stories of some of these heroes fighting (\u6297\u51fb<\/strong> k\u00e0ng j\u012b) the epidemic.<\/p>\n

Wang Yi, China\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs, has used this term in the speech he delivered on February 15 at the\u00a056th Munich Security Conference:<\/p>\n

\u4e24\u4e07\u591a\u540d\u533b\u62a4\u4eba\u5458\u4ece\u5168\u56fd\u5404\u5730\u5411\u6e56\u5317\u91cd\u707e\u533a\u96c6\u7ed3\uff0c\u88ab\u8a89\u4e3a\u5f53\u4ee3\u201c\u6700\u7f8e\u9006\u884c\u8005\u201d\u3002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Li\u01ceng w\u00e0n du\u014d m\u00edng y\u012b h\u00f9 r\u00e9n yu\u00e1n c\u00f3ng qu\u00e1n gu\u00f3 g\u00e8 d\u00ec xi\u00e0ng h\u00fa b\u011bi zh\u00f2ng z\u0101i q\u016b j\u00ed ji\u00e9, b\u00e8i y\u00f9 w\u00e8i d\u0101ng d\u00e0i \u201czu\u00ec m\u011bi n\u00ec x\u00edng zh\u011b\u201d.<\/p>\n

Over 20,000 healthcare workers converged in Hubei, the hardest hit province, from across the nation, hailed as heroes in harm’s way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Text vocabulary<\/u><\/p>\n

\u6d88\u9632\u5458<\/strong> xi\u0101o f\u00e1ng yu\u00e1n = firefighter<\/p>\n

\u758f\u6563<\/strong> sh\u016b s\u00e0n = to evacuate<\/p>\n

\u4e16\u754c<\/strong> sh\u00ec ji\u00e8 = world<\/p>\n

\u65b9\u5411<\/strong> f\u0101ng xi\u00e0ng = direction<\/p>\n

\u75ab\u60c5<\/strong> y\u00ec q\u00edng = epidemic<\/p>\n

\u524d\u7ebf<\/strong> qi\u00e1n xi\u00e0n = front line<\/p>\n

\u533b\u62a4\u4eba\u5458<\/strong> y\u012b h\u00f9 r\u00e9n yu\u00e1n = medical staff<\/p>\n

\u81f4\u656c<\/strong> zh\u00ec j\u00ecng = to salute, to pay tribute to<\/p>\n

\u6297\u51fb<\/strong> k\u00e0ng j\u012b = to resist, to fight back<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u5927\u5bb6\u90fd\u5065\u5eb7\u5e73\u5b89\uff01<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
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\u200d\u200d\u200d\u200d\u200d\u200d<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

How a modern term, created by a netizen on 2015, became a popular phrase honoring the new Chinese heroes fighting the epidemic. On August 2015, a fire broke in the port of Tianjin. Firefighters (\u6d88\u9632\u5458 xi\u0101o f\u00e1ng yu\u00e1n) at the site, unaware of to the hazardous chemicals contained at the warehouse, tried to extinguish the…<\/p>\n

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