Big Breasts and Wide Hips

丰乳肥臀

Author: Pen name: Mo Yan 莫言.  Real name:  Guǎn Móyè 管谟业

(First published in 1996 in Chinese; 2005 in English)

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Big Breasts and Wide Hips 丰乳肥臀 is the second novel I’ve read by Mo Yan, the first being The Garlic Ballads天堂蒜薹之歌”. Both novels are set in Mo Yan’s native Shandong Province, in the village of Gaomi, but any similarities end there. The Garlic Ballads is a depiction of corruption in rural China in the early 1980s, a period when the old certainties of communism fade and unbridled market forces are unleashed. Big Breasts and Wide Hips is a long journey through the tumultuous history of 20th century China: it’s a saga of endless wars, revolutions and violent political persecutions; a desperate time when bayoneting Japanese soldiers, marauding Communist and Nationalist troops, famine, starvation, murderous family infighting, corruption and a whole cast of vile characters all play their part in wreaking havoc on Gaomi village.

The heroine is Shanguan Lű. From her birth, [Read more →]

Tags: Book Reviews, Culture by Adam
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成语

Welcome to our new Curiosities of Chinese section. This is where we look at Chinese idioms, sayings and expressions and try to explain their meaning and composition. This is not an attempt to teach Chinese but just a fun look at some of the fascinating parts of this rich language.
The first in the series is one of my favourite idioms.

对牛弹琴

Have you ever wondered that sometimes you are talking to, or explaining things to, people who just aren’t on the same intellectual level as you? Or ever wondered why the person you are talking to is so stubborn that whatever you say to them will never change their minds, no matter how right you might be?

The Chinese have a perfect idiom to describe such a situation. 对牛弹琴 duì niú tán qín.
This literally means “playing the lute to a cow”. I really can’t sum up that frustration any better than  this expression.

对Duì

means to or towards.

牛Niú

is a cow.

弹Tán

means to play a stringed instrument

琴Qín

is a general name for a stringed instrument but often refers to a traditional Chinese harp like instrument or lute.

Tags: Curiosities of Chinese by Adam
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The World’s Longest Mani Wall/嘛尼石城

 

The Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall is truly enormous; a sign by its side proudly proclaims that it is 283 metres long, 74 metres wide, 2,5 metres high and consists of 2 billion stones! What’s more, the Wall is still growing, as we witnessed with our own eyes: devout pilgrims contribute new stones everyday, which are hoisted up on to the pile carefully. The billions of beautifully carved stones carry the Buddhist prayers “Om Mani Padme Hum” or, “Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus”, and other orations.

Tibetan pilgrims from all over the Kham region and further afield descend on this huge Mani Wall from dusk to dawn. Dressed in their finest, they [Read more →]

Tags: Qinghai Province, Travel by Adam
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We had planned to visit Beijing, the Nujiang Valley in Yunnan,and the Ice festival in Harbin over the Christmas break. The dates for the Christmas and New year holiday at the university in Madrid would have been perfect. Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances we had to cancel the trip.

However, our friend Fu Dawei has sent some fantastic photos of the coldest winter in Beijing for many years. We hope you enjoy them!

The pictures remind us of when we first visited Beijing in the winter of 1990.  However, in that year the temperature was around -6 to -8 degrees. This year it is hovering around -15 to-17. As you can see from the next photo you have to wrap up to keep warm.

Tags: fu dawei (our man in Beijing) by Adam
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We found out too late that the one and only daily bus (at least in late September) from Shijiazhuang to Cangyan Shan leaves at 8.00h.  As we had already missed it, it was a case of either not going, or hiring a taxi.

We spoke to a driver waiting outside a hotel and agreed on 300 Yuan for the whole day. It took us about 2’5 hours to reach the mountain, along a nightmarish motorway, full of overtaking lorries.

In spite of his protestations to the contrary, our driver had never been to Cangyan Shan before and kept stopping at other mountain temples on the way, hoping they were what we were looking for. As it turned out, this was a bit of an unexpected bonus, as one Buddhist nunnery we stopped at was very attractive. After giving us an exhaustive tour around, the friendly nuns were able to orientate the driver on how to get to the real Cangyang Shan, a mere 5 kilometres away.

The highlight on the holy mountain of Cangyan Shan is the Hanging Palace, a double roofed hall, originally built during the [Read more →]

Tags: Hebei Province, Travel by Adam
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