Message on T-shirt

zhenlijiang

"I believe there are people in this world who are living for an ideal/a dream."

Maybe better.

bodawei

Excellent - thanks zhenlijiang. I think I was willing it to mean 'create' - but you are no doubt right; it's just living the dream or ideal.

I admit this sentence structure is new to me. My grammar has always been weak - that's why I have just bought a couple of Chinese grammar reference books.

zhenlijiang

No problem, I hope we can still get help here with this.

On third thought, "... living to make their ideal reality" maybe is what's being said?

bodawei

John ( & Zhenlijiang) - translation much appreciated.

There is a T-shirt shop near hear with lots of cryptic stuff - & some are actually funny. One I really don't get at all, even after discussing it with the boss and his staff - next time I go past I'll take a photo and post it here!

tvan

OK, I'm always willing to make a fool of myself. My guess would be that it goes roughly, "You don't have to be a scholar to start a revolution." Either that or, "You don't have to study English to start a revolution." Hehe, how's that for confidence.

I have some doubts as to whether “不学ABC" refers to studying in general or to studying English. Also, I'm not sure if “干革命” refers to revolution specifically (ala Mao Zedong) or in the sense of revolution as a great achievement (ala Steve Jobs). Anyway, my take.

hobofat

I read it something like, "Don't study ABCs, we're still making revolution." One meaning of 照样 is "still" apparently. I'm not sure how one would colloquially say 干革命. I think in English we more or less start revolutions and let them do their own thing from there on! "make revolution" seems likely enough.

bodawei

Hi Tvan

Thanks for your take - and you raise some interesting points.

First, this is quite a tough translation task - one way beyond me. :)

But my tutor tells me it conveys an ambivalence about whether you study English or not, it doesn't matter - either way you can participate in the revolution.

不学 。。 照样 。。

If you don't study you can still participate (and by inference if you do study you can still participate).

He thinks that 'ABC' is a reference to English (but I think that could be interpreted more broadly as you suggest.) And the revolution - well, I think the fact that it sits on a coffee mug is evidence that it is open to a number of more modern interpretations than the Maoist revolution (although there is some revolutionary art above the saying.) The whole thing is tongue in cheek. I assume that it is a modern joke.

bodawei

Hi hobofat

Thanks for your suggestions - see my comments to Tvan. I think 干 here is more 'do' or 'participate' than 'start'. But you are right about the 'still', in the sense of 'whether or not you study English'.

bababardwan

我发现这个解释：

"七十年代，在中国河南省唐河县马振扶公社（乡），有一名中学女生叫张玉勤，她在一次外语考试中，在答卷上写下了这样一句话：我是中国人，何必学外文？不学ABC，照作中国人！老师在她的答卷上批注：马振扶有个张玉勤，不学外文想成神，……。面对老师的批评，她思想压力很大，最后，她选择了死亡。跳水库自尽了。这事被中央文革知道后，出于政治需要，她的班主任、校长，也被抓了起来。这是文革时期中国大地上发生的悲剧之一。后来河南省委追认张玉勤为“革命小将”“优秀共青团员”。

你说的是张铁生，白卷英雄，没有当到教育部长，当到铁岭农学院党委书记。他是引用的。"

hehe, context is king. That seems to explain it quite well.

bodawei

很有意思，这个杯子上的slogan我么可以感到有些讥讽的意味，对吧？

我觉得原来‘不学ABC’的意思不是有人不要学英语，还是我想选择的意思。可以说张玉勤为选择死了。在文化大革命的时候中国人没有选择。顺便问你下，现代你知道很多中国学生不要学英语。

bodawei

Another cup takes an old revolutionary saying about working hard and gives it a very modern twist about slaving to pay off the huge mortgage (I will try to find it.) These provide an example of irony that I have sometimes argued are hard to find in China. The one I posted above I believe has a number of connotations including the point that a lot of contemporary Chinese people protest about having to learn English.