The Apples of the dumped chinese girl

Oops sorry, 苹 and 平 are of course homophones not homonyms.

What is the name of that movie..... I would like to see it. ^_^

Yeah, never heard that either, well, I have heard that apples are a good gift to give because of the 苹.being like 平. And of course a lot of things like this are in local areas, not the whole nation...heck, not much is universal like this around the whole nation, except maybe how you shouldn't stick your 筷子 upright in your rice or give someone a clock for a present. Interest, I wonder also if the 果 of 苹果 has meaning too, as it also used in the word for result/outcome 结果. So 苹果 could sound like "peaceful resolution".

Oh, and oranges 橙子 are a good present for someone who has done/pass something successfully, since the 橙子的橙 and 成功的成 are homophones.

苹果在中国象征着平安。所以在传统的中国婚礼上，新娘会手里捧着苹果坐上花轿，意味着平安、吉祥。如果一个人要出远门，他的父母常常会在他的包里装上苹果，希望他能一路平安。在探望病人或亲人的时候，也可以送苹果。现在，一些年轻人流行在平安夜那天送苹果。 但是，在男女分手时，通常不会送苹果。终止合同时，也不会送对方苹果。 另外，中国人常常把初恋比做青苹果，因为初恋的感觉跟青苹果的味道一样，有点酸，有点甜，又有点涩。

I always send girls apples after I break up with them. I say, "You like trying to tell me how to live my life?! Is that what you like? You like trying to control me?!? You like trying to change me?!? You Like that?!? Well as of now, you're not my girlfriend anymore... You're fired! ...How do you like them apples!?!" ...and then I send her some apples for good measure. That's how I roll. Hell yeah.

Let me just highlight Connie's answers to the original questions: 但是，在男女分手时，通常不会送苹果。终止合同时，也不会送对方苹果。 "But when a boy and girl break up, we don't usually give apples as gifts. When terminating a contract, we don't give apples either."

Chinese people give each other gifts when they break up? I had my apartment trashed last time. Maybe she was just looking for fruit.

Trevelyan, You might want to look into that a little further... I think your apartment was trashed by the Chinesepod listeners after you released that 'News & Features' intro song. Nide Ai

Taipan, It was ALSO trashed by the crew after that News&Features jingle. I thought at the time she'd just relocated to Shanghai. Ai zhong de ai,

I've never heard of this before, but I've still got plenty to learn about this crazy place...

Nope. No need. I never broke up with my wife who was also my 初恋.

It's worth explicitly pointing out something that John's English translation of Connie's comments implies: your use of the word "send" in the original message of this thread is a bit of a mistranslation. While 送 does primarily mean "send" (or in some contexts in English it would be more usual to refer to "delivery" as per 送到), it also has a secondary meaning of "give as a gift" (赠送), and this meaning probably fits the context better. Actually, the Wikipedia quote you give in fact does use 赠送 (zèngsòng) rather than just 送, so I guess this removes any ambiguity. For instance, the ChinesePod dictionary gives this quote from the Newbie Valentine's Day Gift lesson ( http://chinesepod.com/learnchinese/valentines-day-gift ): 送给你。 This is for you There is also a third meaning, in the sense of seeing someone out, accompanying a guest to the door or front (送客).

每天苹果 没天病弱 my first, appaling attempt at Chinese parallel sentences, mimicking 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'. I know it sucks, and nothing to do with 分手 either :-(

Now I'm starting to read a lot deeper into the mystery of the apple. Let's take a closer look at the apple's history: Adam and Eve Some say it was an apple. Obviously, if it hadn't been for the apple in this context, life would be a lot easier right now. Instant language skills, all the food we can eat, no pain and suffering, the works. You get the picture. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves The evil witch poisoned an apple, which Snow White ate causing her to then entered a deep sleep, from which she would never had awoken had it not been for the charming prince's kiss. The Chinese Apple A clever way of telling someone to get lost. It fits the culture to a 'T' by getting a very direct meaning across while being confusing yet still saving face. "Here's an apple. Eat it and be healthy. Now screw off (safely)." I'll never look at apples the same way again.

Connie, I learned a lot from your Chinese written paragraph, not only about this custom, but also about sentence structure and Chinese culture. Great post. Thank you.

Goulniky, Here is a more elaborate translation of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' that I've just found in a famous movie : 每日一颗苹果就可远离病危 (I'm sure 厄 is a typo)

kmkfr, that's just brilliant!

We learned about this in Chinese class, although our lesson was about visiting people in hospital. Apparently it is best to give round-shaped fruits since they represent 幸福 (xìngfú - deep happiness). The best fruit to give is apples since the 苹 (píng in píngguǒ - apple) sounds the same as the 平 (píng in píngān - peace). Also never give somebody pears in hospital since the word for pear (梨 - lí) sounds the same as the lí in 离开 (líkāi - to leave/depart). They equate this with sentiments of death.

Obviouly it's deeper than I first thought. The apples were on a green curved dish with the shape of a leaf. A friend just told me that it could be called 出叶 because it looks like a leaf. But Chūyè sounds exactly like the wedding night (初夜). I need to know the full meaning of this gesture. Any ideas ?