User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Reporting a Loss
March 17, 2009 at 8:36 AMActually the phrase 中国民族 is also used in China, but its usage is similar to, for example, 中国音乐, i.e. 中国的音乐 (Chinese music). So the exact meaning of 中国民族 is 中国的民族 or 中国拥有的民族, perhaps.
http://cn.qikan.com/Journal.aspx?issn=1009-8887&year=&periodnum=
Posted on: Reporting a Loss
March 17, 2009 at 8:13 AMHi kimiik
The 2,820,000 hits include a lot of words and phrases such as 中国/民族音乐 and 中国/民族博物馆. Even 中国少数民族 is included in it.
Posted on: Reporting a Loss
March 17, 2009 at 5:23 AMHi tvan
You are very right. The line between languages and dialects is also very political. Traditionally, the Koine in China had long been 文言 (classical written Chinese), which had functioned as the mainstay of Chinese culture.
Posted on: About Face! A Multi-faceted Look at 面子
March 17, 2009 at 5:08 AMHi zhenlijiang
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention Japanese "世間体 (se-ken-tei)", a kind of 面子, in your above comments. I don't know how to properly translate 世間体 into English. Maybe it's "appearance/reputation" or something like that.
世間体 is similar to 面子, but I think the former often puts more importance on "avoid being different from others" than 面子. Haha, it's very Japanese. In this sense, Japanese 世間体 might be a little less costly than Chinese 面子.
Posted on: In a Moment
March 17, 2009 at 4:22 AMIt might be a little "surprising" for western people, but there is only one subject (主语, zhu3yu3) used in the original dialogue. Below is "a full version" of the dialogue with all the subjects undeleted.
(A) 你可以走了吗？
(B) 请你再等一会儿。
(A) 你好了吗？
(B) 我马上就好。
(A) 哎，你好了吗？
(B) 好了，好了，我很快就好。
(A) 哎哟！
Posted on: Reporting a Loss
March 17, 2009 at 3:44 AMIn my opinion, "中华民族" is more a political term than an ethnological term.
Posted on: 中国和西方的农民
March 17, 2009 at 2:24 AMHi missworldtraveler
Your question is not so easy to answer. To me, 民 primarily implies "people/老百姓", and 人 "a person", and therefore 民 often indicates "a certain kind (group) of people".
That said, 民 and 人 are actually arbitrarily used in Chinese. For example, you can say 中国人 but not 中国民 (中国人民 is OK, though). On the other hand, you can say 穆民 (Muslim), but not 穆人.
Farmer/Fisherman are translated as 农民/渔民, but serviceperson/factory worker are 军人/工人. It seems that you have to memorize them one by one.
Posted on: 中国和西方的农民
March 16, 2009 at 1:52 PMHi missworldtraveler
Both 农民 and 农人 are listed in Chinese dictionaries, but the former one is much more commonly used. 农人 seems to be a rather formal word. In general, 人 and 民 are not interchangeable.
Posted on: Reporting a Loss
March 16, 2009 at 12:31 PMHi jshang
Some of so-called "和製汉语" (Japan-made Chinese words) are originated in old Chinese because these words were invented (mainly in the second half of the 19th century) by Japanese intelligentsia who traditionally adored classical Chinese literature very much.
For example, the classical Chinese word "革命" meant "革/天命" (= change heaven's command), but didn't mean "revolution" in the modern sense of the word. Furthermore, ancient "革命" is not one word, but a phrase consists of two words, 革 (a transitive verb) and 命 (a noun), while the modern one is a noun.
Japanese intelligentsia bestowed a new meaning "revolution", the concept imported from western countries, upon the arcane Chinese word "革命". I think the same thing happened to "民族". The term 民族 of today is a translation of the modern western concept "nation", and it was brought back to China, where the word 民族 had long been almost out of use.
P/S. Thanks a lot for an interesting piece of information.
Posted on: About Face! A Multi-faceted Look at 面子
March 17, 2009 at 9:20 AM爱面子的人往往不给别人面子。