e-mail
Here’s a China People’s Daily article called “49 Obsolete Chinese Words” that has me a little baffled.
I think it’s the problem of translating EVERYTHING for an article that’s about specific words. The gist of the thing seems to be, OK, here are Chinese words that are no longer used. Some are company names, but others are more… abstract. And have to do with the way China itself is changing.
Like so:
Info-highway: disappeared October 19, 2004
Info-highway is short for China Info-highway Communications Co., Ltd., a company established in 1995. It was China’s first internet service provider. It helped China to enter the internet age. The company began to fail in 1997, due to managerial mistakes and fierce competition in the market. Finally its business license was revoked by the local industrial and commercial administration bureau on October 19, 2004.
Compared to…
Breakfast: disappeared recently
A breakfast has long been denied and it is now luxurious for many people to sit down for a rich breakfast. In a society with so much pressure, people usually have poor-quality sleep because of their anxiety, fidget and heavy-heartedness and sacrificed their time for breakfast. More nightlife with diversified recreations often postpones the people’s sleeping hours and this, too, leads to the loss of breakfast.
Don’t I know the feeling.
And….
Brothers and sisters on mother’s side: disappeared recently
The first group of only children, born with the implementation of China’s family planning program in the late 1970s, have entered their marriage and childbearing peak period. To the next generation of these only children, the titles of brothers and sisters on the mother’s side are only available in novels, films and televisions. So they can possibly be the most lonely generation in China.
Virgin bride: disappeared recently
An acute shortage of “virgin bride” is one of the salient features of this era of tremendous changes.
Greater changes have occurred in the spheres of sex, love and marriage since China carried out its economic reform in the late 1970s. It seems that the country has shifted from a society of conservativeness to a society with sexual openess.
There’s more fun at the link.
