{"id":178,"date":"2010-01-13T20:05:04","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T00:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=178"},"modified":"2010-01-13T20:05:04","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T00:05:04","slug":"riding-the-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/riding-the-train\/","title":{"rendered":"Riding the Train"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello readers! I am currently in \u5357\u5b81<\/strong> (Nanning) city in the \u5e7f\u897f<\/strong> (Guangxi) autonomous region, which is home to the \u58ee\u65cf<\/strong> (Zhuang ethnic minority). Taking the train over here, I took the \u786c\u5367<\/strong> (hard sleeper) option along with my friend, because all of the tickets for \u8f6f\u5367 <\/strong>(soft sleeper) seats had already sold out. As we climbed into our \u5367\u94fa<\/strong> (berths), we drew the attention of a woman underneath us. During our 13 hour train ride, I wanted to see what she would say to others if she didn’t know that I could speak Chinese. It turns out that the woman referred to me and my friend as \u5916\u56fd\u4f6c<\/strong> (“gringos” but much stronger than that, see below), which is a \u6781\u7aef<\/strong> (extremely) \u8f7b\u8511<\/strong> (disdainful) way of speaking about non-Chinese people. At this point I could not remain silent anymore, and instead suggested that she refer to us as \u5916\u56fd\u670b\u53cb<\/strong> (“foreign friends”). She was surprised that I had understood, and quickly tried to sweep her choice of words under the carpet, insisting that she had been speaking too quickly to know which word to use.\u00a0 When I pointed out that there were more neutral phrases that could be said, she ceased to speak and neither she nor her traveling companion said a single thing for the remaining hours of the trip.<\/p>\n

\u5357\u5b81 nan2ning2 – Nanning city, capital of Guangxi autonomous region
\n\u5e7f\u897f guang3xi1 – Guangxi autonomous region, home of the Zhuang people
\n\u58ee\u65cf zhuang4zu2 – Zhuang people, the largest ethnic minority in China with 18 million people
\n\u786c\u5367 ying4wo4 – hard sleeper
\n\u8f6f\u5367 ruan3wo4 – soft sleeper
\n\u5367\u94fa wo4p41 – berth (on a vehicle)
\n\u5916\u56fd\u4f6c wai4guo2lao3 – a term used for foreigners which is particularly disdainful, not like the [now-neutral] \u8001\u5916 (lao3wai4)
\n\u6781\u7aef ji2duan1 – extreme, extremely
\n\u8f7b\u8511 qing1mie4 – disdain, disdainful
\n\u5916\u56fd\u670b\u53cb wai4guo2peng2you3 – “foreign friend” one linguistic register lower than \u5916\u5bbe (wai4bin1 – [distinguished] foreign guest)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello readers! I am currently in \u5357\u5b81 (Nanning) city in the \u5e7f\u897f (Guangxi) autonomous region, which is home to the \u58ee\u65cf (Zhuang ethnic minority). Taking the train over here, I took the \u786c\u5367 (hard sleeper) option along with my friend, because all of the tickets for \u8f6f\u5367 (soft sleeper) seats had already sold out. As…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[2659,378679],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-chinese-language","tag-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t