Chongqing Idioms

Taken from Inside-Out China:

Chongqing Idioms Forbidden during Olympics

Two Chongqing tourists A and B arrived at Beijing. On a bus, A looked at the map and said, “Lets first kill to Tiananmen, then Chairman Mao’s Memorial, then Zhongnanhai.” B answered, “Good, we’ll do what you said, kill all the way along this route.” (Chongqing idiom: “kill the way” 杀过去 means “go there.”) Alarmed Beijing passengers reported their dialogue to the police and the two Chongqing men were arrested as soon as they got off the bus.

After several hours interrogation and detention in the police station, they were released. Walking to the Tiananmen Square, the two men kept silent. They just looked at each other and sighed. At last, A said to B, “Why don’t you shoot?” B replied, “You didn’t shoot, why do I dare to shoot?” (Chongqing idiom: “shoot” 开腔 means “talk.”) Before they knew their arms were twisted by plain-clothe police.

A week later the two Chongqing men came out of the detention house. They looked at each other. A said, “This is good. My pockets are all empty. Where should we go to get some bullets?” (Chongqing idiom: “bullet” 子弹 means “money.”) The armed guards at the gate charged up and pinned them down on the ground.

Eventually, the Public Security Bureau issued a nationwide notice: “Chongqing idioms are strictly forbidden during the Beijing Olympics.”

(Note: the story is not real but the idioms are)

Monty Python Meets the Olympics: Welcome to London 2012

Posted by Simon Elegant on Time-blog.com:

So, we asked ourselves, what could London possibly do to match the massive spectacle that Beijing put on for the Opening and Closing ceremonies? It couldn’t possibly do anything to compare to the sheer scale of the Chinese efforts so (leaving aside the dire business with the double decker bus which I will pass over without further comment), the only answer was that most British of qualities: silliness. Check out the Mayor of London Boris Johnson at London House in Beijing on the night of the Closing Ceremony here. Priceless. Don’t forget to catch Seb Coe (er, sorry, Lord Coe), head of the London organizing committee behind him cracking up repeatedly. Can’t see Liu Qi reacting the same way under similar circumstances somehow…….:)

Monty Python Meets the Olympics: Welcome to London 2012 – The China Blog – TIME.

Nieuws in China is altijd positief…

Dutch:

Op Black and White Cat staat een interessante vergelijking tussen een artikel uit de New York Times over de Olympische Spelen en de vertaling van wat het Chinese (officiële) nieuwsagentschap Xinhua daarover zei (voor wie Chinees kan, oorspronkelijke versie staat hier). Best grappig eens hun post “How the New York Times (should have) covered the Olympics.” te bekijken. Grijs doorstreept is wat de Chinezen hebben weggelaten, rood is wat ze ervoor in de plaats hebben gezet. De madam van Taal & Politiek zou dervan smullen.

English:

Black and White Cat has got an interesting blog post which compares some article from the New York Times on the Olympics and the translation of what the Chinese (official) news agency Xinhua said about it (to those speaking Chinese, you can find the original version here). Please take a look at their post “How the New York Times (should have) covered the Olympics.” The strike-through text has been deprecated by the Chinese, red is what they put in themselves.