The Chinese Red Green Show

It seems that many of my post titles now have references to other, existing objects.  This is simply a lack of originality on my part.  This post is not about the incredibly funny Red Green Show.

I went by a workmate's computer while he was watching a stock screen.  You know these screens, they're the ones with lots of stock symbols all over and they are colored red (down) or green (up) depending on the movement of the stock price that day.  The screen had a lot of red so I just said, "Wow, looks like a bad day for the market."  He looked at me, puzzled. "What do you mean?  Everything is up today.  It's great!"

I have rarely felt so puzzled.  Would you believe that the red/green meanings are reversed in China?  Since red is the color of fortune and happiness, when stocks go up, they're red and when they go down, they're green.  I never would have figured it out myself.

I got to apply this knowledge right away.  That very night, I went to the Hong Ba in Nan Luo Gu Xiang.  Great little bar.  One their "things" is that each sitting booth is elevated 2-3 feet above the main floor.  There is a tiny "lift" for each booth to raise the patrons up to the table and seats.  

First time there, one of us got on the lift and we saw one red button and one green button.  Naturally, to go up, we pressed the green one.  Nothing happened.  After a 3 second delay (I'm not the sharpest person), I yelled, "Oh!  I know this!  Push the red one."  Sure enough, red means up and green means down.

Seeds of Change

Cue Scene:
Western Man (WM) and Chinese Girlfriend (CG) are walking hand-in-hand near around Hou Hai Lake in Beijing.  Sun is shining but near the horizon.  They are enjoying the romantic atmosphere around the lake.

CG asks WM to buy her a lotus pod.  WM looks at the lotus pods.  He decides it's the right moment to buy her a flower (or flower bud) to improve the romantic nature of the walk.

WM completes the bargaining and returns with a lotus pod.  WM is happy that he bargained the price down to 4 yuan and at the smile on CG's face.

CG and WM walk for a few more minutes in happy bliss. CG then rips apart the lotus pod and eats the seeds.

WM is shell-shocked and wondering if he should bring attention to this bizzarre behavior.  He has never had a girl eat a rose or bouquet of flowers.
:Cut Scene
-----

This scene has happened hundreds of times in Beijing (I know these WM!).  One of the many snacks you can buy near the lake is the humble (and super-tasty) lotus pod (full of edible lotus seeds).  Most westerners have never seen these lotus pods.  It's quite shocking for them to realize that the pretty flower given to a pretty girl is suddenly in the process of being consumed.

English is Hard! - Soon, recent, when?

I know I've been very lucky to have learned English as a native language (yes, even though I'm Indian; it is our native language!).  As I've spent more and more time with people who are still learning English, I am exposed to concepts that I thought were easy but really weren't.  Why are they fun to blog about?  Because it's sweet revenge for the all of the Chinese concepts that I can't grok but the Chinese this are second-nature.

Recent vs. Soon: With differing concepts of time, the idea of expressing recent vs. soon is quite difficult.  Strangely enough, the words just don't translate cleanly and this leads to lots of people saying, "I'll do that recently."  If you think that's funny, the Chinese probably hear much funnier things out of my mouth when I try to say the same sentence in Chinese.

Soon always applies to events in the future but translates as:

• 不久- not long 
• 很快 - very fast
• 早 - early

Recent always applies to events in the past:

• 最近的 - most close - must be connected to a specific instance of time (e.g. year, epoch, etc.)
• 全新世 - I have no idea about this one, don't know what it means.
• 今 - close or near

No wonder the Chinese get this wrong all the time.  It's obviously not a simple concept.  I'm beginning to the think that the english concept of soon and recent is extremely simplified and ambiguous.