Takeaway Chinese, where you can take some Chinese away and experience progress day by day.
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Hello, welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Nian Haolin with Steve Hatherly in the studio with me.
Hello, Steve.
Hello there.
Thanks for having me.
I feel so lucky to be here today.
Oh, I feel very lucky having you as well.
Wait, wait.
You feel lucky and I feel lucky?
Yes, it must be a lucky day.
Or maybe that's what we're going to be talking about on Takeaway Chinese today.
We're not being very subtle.
No, we are terrible with our segues.
We are.
But luck is an important thing, isn't it?
In different cultures, of course, there would be different...
There will be different level of importance attached to luckiness.
But I think no one hates a good luck.
Everyone likes a good sign, a good ornament, something that makes you feel extra good about your day.
We have an expression in English.
When things are not going well in your life, we say, if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.
That's a smart way of thinking about it.
In Chinese, we have the similar type of logic.
That is, if something bad continues to happen or if you feel like you haven't catch a good day for a really long time, it must be because you are accumulating your usual level luck for something major to happen.
Ah, and you're getting the bad stuff out of the way.
Yes.
I want to talk about that first.
I want to get to Chinese culture in a sec, but do you believe in luck at all?
I do.
I totally do.
That is why I stopped buying lotteries.
Because I feel like my luck is always very good.
If I buy lottery and I win, or a huge amount of money, it must be because I'm using up the luck that I should be saved up for something even more important in my life.
Such as?
On lottery.
I don't know.
A really good day for my kid.
A really good friend for my kid.
Hold on.
You would rather have a good day, singular, with your son than win the lottery.
A really, really, really good day.
Think about how many good days you could have. consecutively if you won the lottery.
I am apologizing for saying I think your logic may be flawed.
It may be flawed, but the idea is that we believe in 运气守恒 or even 人品守恒.
Okay, explain, please.
Okay, so to start with, let's talk about the key words of this episode, which is 运气.
运气.
Yes, so both 运气 carries the meaning of luck or fortune.
But to be more precise, my feeling is that 运气 are not really good luck.
It's just luck.
Just in general, it's not defining good or bad.
Sorry to interrupt.
Is this not also a Chinese name, Yunqi?
Well, we do really have a colleague with that name.
Yeah, that's why I asked.
But the thing about Chinese name is that we pick the characters we like to form a name.
So there's no such thing as a Chinese name.
If you know what I mean.
It's like the last name and the first name put together is a name.
It can be a name, but any words or any characters put together can be a name.
So in English, you have names like John or like Joe or...
I don't know what I'm sticking with.
We have other letters, by the way.
My name isn't Jeeve.
These things are names, but these are names, you just pick them, kind of like you pick it from a...
Name dictionary, and you can use it.
But for Chinese names, you can select any characters.
In theory, you can select any characters you like and put them together to make it a name.
So you don't really say this is a Chinese name.
Ah.
Oh, that's cool.
I didn't know about that.
So that means that encountering someone with the same name in China would be a little rare?
Relatively speaking.
Interesting.
I did not know that.
Mm-hmm.
And of course, there are characters that are more suitable to be in, to be found in the name.
And also there are, well, the family names would be something different.
You do really have certain number of family names.
But when it comes to given names, yeah, you could name yourself anything.
Anything.
I did not know this before.
And the funny thing is, you can even check online to find out how many people share the same name with you.
Fascinating.
But, like you said, it's much much, much less common for someone in China to find other people with the exact same name with them.
Much less common compared to in English.
I was confused by what you meant when you said Chinese people don't have names.
We don't have name names.
Yeah, right, because they're characters that represent something.
Yes.
Okay, so going back to 运气, 运气 is luck.
So 运 carries the meaning of fortune, but more precisely, it means destiny, emotion.
Because, when it comes to 运气, we talk about your luck for the day, your luck for the week, your luck for for a certain period of time.
Yes, it can be an overall luck.
If this person is a really lucky person, maybe lucky things happen to them more.
But it's still a fluctuating kind of situation.
Challenge coming from me.
If the definition of yunchi is luck or fortune, but then the definition is also destiny emotion, then that removes the element or the concept of luck, because destiny is destiny and it can't be viewed as positive or negative.
It is what it is.
Because 运气 itself is neutral.
It is what it is.
You can have 好运气, which is good luck.
You can have 坏运气, bad luck.
So it's like... You're right.
You said that before.
Yes.
And also qi carries the vital energy, the aurora, which means it can be affected.
So yun is more like something that is relatively more fixed, whereas qi is something that is slowing around can be affected somehow?
So if you can carefully nurture your 运气 or maybe use your 运气 in the right way in the right day, it's just something that can help you to do the things that you want to do, or push you to the right direction a bit more.
Something like that.
Okay, so now I want to ask about Chinese culture.
Is this the concept of luck?
I don't really know anything other than the surface level, but the concept of luck is very real here, right?
People believe.
No, not exactly like that.
But I think when it comes to luck, or when it comes to whether or not the world is agreeing with me or slightly against me, Everyone would have their own understanding or their own interpretation.
For example, we have a saying, 谋事在人,成事在天.
It's a relatively complicated Chinese idiom.
It basically translates to man proposes, heaven disposes.
So 谋事 is to work or to plan or to carry out your plan.
And 事 is the matter.
So 谋事 is I design.
在人, it is up to human.
It is up to us.
We would make our plan.
We would try to enforce it to the fullest.
We'll try to make the best of it.
But 成 means success or accomplished.
Shì again is the affair.
The matter zài is up to Tian heaven.
So we would try our very best.
But it's out of your hand.
But sometimes it's out of our hand.
And sometimes it's not because we didn't give it enough effort, made enough effort.
It's because maybe it's just not the luckiest day.
It's not in the cards.
Well, the reason I had kind of made the assumption that luck was deeply integrated into perhaps Chinese philosophy or Chinese way of thinking is because during spring festival time I learned last year to hang a fish on my door.
And I asked, why do you want me to hang a fish on my door?
Not a real fish, by the way, if you're not familiar with Chinese culture, don't misunderstand.
This is a like a plushy fish or like a paper fish or something like that.
And I was told because it brings good fortune.
Not any fish.
You have to hand up a Jinli.
Jinli?
Yes. specific kind of fish.
Well, not that specific, but you're right.
Not only can you hang it up on your door for good luck, you can also 转发.
转发 means forward, online.
So when you're forwarding a picture of a beautiful red or golden fish, you are passing on the good luck.
The fish on my door was both red and golden.
Ooh, double luck.
Double yunchi for me.
Yes.
So again, this is you're transferring or transmitting or just spreading good luck.
Yeah, you're putting those vibes out there.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh, I got it.
So 锦鲤, yes, it is a sign of good luck.
You know, in Chinese spring festival period of time, people would give each other good wishes, New Year wish, and many of those wish would be related to luck.
Okay, so now we understand fully about 运气.
Now let's go to 守恒.
守恒 means would always tend to go to a balanced state, meaning that if you have something really good, you might have something bad to balance it out.
Balance is a big thing in Chinese culture, I'm learning.
Yes, we believe in harmony.
We believe in overall.
One's luck is neutral.
It is something.
If you do something good constantly, you are kind of creating good luck because you're giving.
So you will be receiving something as a, I don't know, universal. payment or something.
Yeah, so 运气守恒.
This is something that we would, especially the younger generation.
They're not superstitious at all.
But I think it's a good way for them to, like you said, make themselves feel better when bad things happen and convince them to do the right thing, because they would believe that if I continue to do the right thing, my luck would turn up.
So the 收衡 part is the balance part.
Yes, it means keeps at a balanced state.
So when you put them together, 运气收衡, I don't get how that works together.
Luck in a balanced state.
It means that if anything bad happens, you say to them, 没关系,运气收衡, 痞疾太来。 痞疾太来 is a Chinese idiom.
Pi means bad and ji is to the most extreme.
Tai is good or peace or happy or just positive.
Lai is calm.
So when you're hitting the rock bottom, your luck will turn up.
Or you can also say 运气守恒 in a way that maybe some small things bad that happened.
You say 运气守恒, something good will turn up.
So 痞疾太来 would be turning things to the extreme.
Whereas 运气守恒 can also be talking about the minor bumps up and down in the 运气 wave.
Can I use this in a very non-dramatic situation?
Yes.
Okay, so I'm running for the bus in the morning and I miss the bus.
Can I say 脾氣太來?
No.
Okay, it's not dramatic enough.
脾氣太來 is the dramatic one.
Oh, right.
So that's what I mean.
Yes.
So that situation is not dramatic enough.
No, not at all.
Okay, so example number two.
I wake up in the morning and I get a text from my girlfriend saying She has fallen in love with another man and is leaving me.
And then I go to work and my boss says, sorry, you don't have a position here anymore.
Please leave.
And then I can say, someone would say to you, don't worry too much.
Remember, your day will turn up.
You can say it to yourself.
It's just usually these Chinese idioms are used in longer sentences.
It's not that you cannot use it in the situation.
It's just use it only.
By itself is a bit strange, but the connotation, the meaning is definitely right.
Okay, so don't worry too much.
How do we say that?
Let's make a whole sentence here.
OK, that is not what you just taught me to say.
Like I said, you use it in longer, longer sentences.
I did use it in a longer sentence.
Really long sentences.
Oh, really long sentences.
OK, I think this is something that we failed.
I failed to explain earlier that I should have explained really several episodes ago, because we talked about Chinese idioms for a while.
And, in general, Chinese idioms are used in again, sophisticated situations, which means that Your Chinese level has to be at a certain point that you're able to make really long sentences to use them.
So that is why using it by itself can be a little bit strange.
But the meaning is there.
Understood.
And just so I make sure I get that PG Tai Lai part.
So the English equivalent might be like things can only change.
From here, yes.
Right.
Perfect.
Yes.
Okay, very good.
So 痞疾太来 is, I think, in line with the 运气守恒 or 人品守恒.
The reason I didn't explain 人品守恒 that carefully or that specifically is that I feel like 人品守恒 is not exactly a Chinese idiom or Chinese phrase that has been passed down for generations.
It's more like kind of an internet slang that's been popular among the younger generation because 人品 in itself means one's character, but now it has been used in a way to replace luck.
It's like 人品好, it means you are someone with good character, you're honest you're a good person and you do good things and if you your characters are good good things will happen to you so there's that logic link but the idea of continue doing good things to lift up or to add up to good the idea is the same your karma credit score Oh, yeah.
Perfect.
Right?
Yes, yes, yes.
Perfect.
Do good things and good things will come to you.
Yeah, that's kind of a I mean, we have this kind of concept in Western culture too, like put love out into the universe and that love will get returned to you.
Yes.
And what's funny, I don't know if this also happened in other culture as well.
That is, in Chinese, we believe you have different types of luck.
You have in general... Beyond good and bad?
Beyond good and bad.
In general, you have good luck and bad luck.
But it can be a day that is really lucky for you career-wise but really bad not lucky for you romantic-wise.
So you have different, you know... specific luck.
For example, 事业运。 事业运。 So 运 is the 运气的运, whereas 事业 is your career.
So 事业运很好, so you have really good career luck.
This person would get promoted, they find good opportunities, and yet 桃花运很烂,桃花运。 桃花运。 桃花 is peach blossom.
Can you guess what peach blossom luck is?
Yes, your plants always grow very well.
That is a good guessing.
Wrong, but good.
It makes a lot of sense.
So 桃花运 is romantic-related love, romantic relationship-related love.
Good romantic relationship love.
Yes, so 桃花运, romantic relationship luck.
So this one can, oh, this is fun.
Because for most people, the ultimate great result of a romantic relationship would be ending up with someone who you love and spend the rest of your life with them.
But Taohuayun is more like talking about the chances of getting potential dates and also, you know, good ones.
So Taohuayun.
For example, if someone say 你最近好像走了桃花运。 你最近好像走了桃花运。 Okay, so let me explain.
你 is you.
最近, recently.
好像, it seems that.
Because when it comes to luck, you cannot really, you know, know exactly.
So we like to throw in this maybe word in the sentence.
Okay.
And 走运 is a, well, this one is fun because 走运 is saying that you're on a track of a good luck.
So 走 is to walk, you walk on the track.
And here this 运 represents good luck instead of just neutral luck.
So 走桃花运 or 走运, 走运, 我最近很走运, I am very lucky these days, I'm on the track of good luck.
And 走了桃花运 is like you are on the track of romantically really good dates would come to your life, kind of luck.
So if someone say 你最近好像走了桃花运, they're saying, oh, recently, I feel like I've been seeing you with different really good dates.
And they are all really nice people.
And you're lucky, romantic wise.
You could look at that as bad luck.
That's what i'm saying.
It's about perspective.
It's about the final or the ultimate result is not exactly related to the number of potential days, But if you go on six dates, let's say five dates.
Oh, that was my favorite reality TV show for a while.
Five dates?
No, it was called Dating Around.
So this is what it was.
So one person, right?
Let's say you, for example, you go on a date with five different guys, right?
And then at the end of the episode, you choose the one that you want to have a second date.
Ah, that's fun.
It was really fun.
And they use young people and they even use like elderly people.
So you get to see them on a day.
Oh, it's really fun show to watch.
But anyway, this is my point.
If you go on a date, five dates and everybody's a good person and you have a great time with all five.
You don't know how to choose.
Is that good luck or bad luck?
Interesting.
But this one can be about a period of time.
It does not have to be like one day, five days.
It can be, I don't know, half a year.
Yeah, right.
Spreading. it out over and also i suddenly realized that if you really don't like someone but they're really having good luck or even if it's not about luck it's about them doing something really well they got promoted because they accomplished a task that is really hard but they did it really well but you do not want to recognize their achievements you don't want you don't want them to be successful you don't you don't want because you're an angry spiteful person or maybe they just did something wrong only to you sometime okay so what's the expression we're learning yeah the idea is that to start with you don't want to recognize their effort so you want to blame quote-unquote blame their success on luck instead of their effort right they're Their talent.
Their talent and the things that they're endurance working, hard working.
They were only able to do it because they're lucky.
And also you do not want to recognize that luck either.
You don't want to say it's a good luck luck.
You want to say it's dog's poo poo luck.
Is that how it's expressed?
Yes, it's literally how it's expressed.
You say 他就是走了狗屎运。
One more time, please.
他就是 He simply is.
We know 走运 is on a lucky trend.
走运 What kind of luck?
Like 走桃花运 is romantic luck.
狗屎运 would be dog poo poo luck.
Okay, so... Yeah.
I suddenly realized our language is very colorful today.
Very much so.
她就是走运过时运。 走了过时运。 了 suggests that the 走运 action is accomplished.
Okay, one more time.
她就是走了过时运。 Perfect!
When am I going to use this?
You're never going to use it.
First I have to find somebody I hate.
Then they then the person I hate needs to be successful and then I need to be unhappy about that.
I know, but I just find it funny to know that there are so many different types of luck.
Yeah, no, that's true.
We say that in English, too, right?
Especially about romance.
We ask questions like if somebody is on a dating site, you can ask them like Oh, so have you had any luck on this site, or something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And now I understand what you mean.
Yeah.
We divide our luck into different categories, different industries, personal industries.
Yes.
And I think at the beginning we talked about to the fact that I like the idea believing in something that you can do good deeds to accumulate.
We do believe that the aurora, the feeling, the vibe around us can be affected by our good deeds.
It can also be affected by our bad deeds, which warns us not to do bad things in life.
So I think that is one thing good.
And another is You always love a little surprise, a little luck.
Oh, do you know that in China we used to, and I think recent years we revisited that, that trend or that policy for a while?
For example, when you go buy grocery or you go to a place to eat, you can get an invoice for the bill that you pay.
Oh yeah, and you might win the mini lottery.
Yes yes, we can have a mini lottery on the invoice and you scratch it or you scan it, scan the qr code on it and you can win a mini lottery.
And that is always a good thing.
People would like that and uh, It also makes you feel better to have a lucky day.
I don't believe in luck.
At all?
No.
You don't believe that if you do enough good things, good karma would come to you?
I do, but I don't associate that with luck.
Luck, by my personal definition, is random.
Karma is something that you put out into the universe and then you get back.
Right.
Be nice to people.
People will be nice to you.
Put love out.
Love comes back to you.
Luck is random by my definition.
So there's no association between the two.
I believe I'm in China now because I was supposed to be in China, because I'm supposed to be here now.
So that's why.
I never really got upset when things would happen to me where most people would be emotionally distraught.
I believed that was meant to happen.
And do you believe that was meant to happen because the universe has better plan for you?
Well, no, better or not, just a different one.
Kind of like the yun qi part of the story.
The yun part of the story.
Yeah.
So think about it.
If you break up with a person, you know, people tend to get very upset about this, right?
Especially if they've been dating for a long time.
If they've invested a lot of time and energy and money or whatever into the relationship, then they get very upset.
But I never felt like that because it just means this is the way I always thought.
Oh well, now I'm just one step closer to where I'm supposed to be and with the person that I'm supposed to be with.
I understand that.
And also that logic or that philosophy can also be found in Chinese philosophy system.
We talked about yun for the entire episode, but there's also ming.
Ming is your life.
It can also be how your life is written by the universe.
So when we talk about Ming Yun, Ming Yun is also a Chinese word, by the way, it means destiny.
But it's kind of like saying the Ming part is designed for you, whereas the Yun part is a little fluctuated because of the environment, because of time, because of things.
So there are things in life that are set out, designed for you already.
And there are things in life that you can, you know, fight over, or fight to win, or fight to get, or fight to resist.
Or fight to lose.
Or fight to lose.
Yeah.
So 命中注定 is another Chinese idiom.
So 命 is life.
中 is within.
Within your life.
命中注定.
注定 means it's designed.
It Fixed.
It's just there.
It's planned for you.
It's predetermined.
It's predetermined because this is how your life is set.
Yeah.
I mean I don't know how strongly I believe that, because I still think every person we meet in our lives there's a reason for that.
Whether we discover it or not maybe is up to us.
But I still think there's a reason for that encounter.
But then if I believe that... You should stop trying.
Well, I wasn't going to say that.
Give up on life, everybody.
That's why I said one part of it is relatively set, more set like your family background, like in the very early years who are your friends or your schools and everything.
But another part is something that you can strive for.
So therefore, maybe we're getting deep into philosophy.
I know.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe then there are multiple paths that are set out for your life, and it's up to you which path you follow.
It's not to say that there are a million, but maybe there's at least a handful.
And if you work hard and if you study hard, and if you're a good person and if you always try your best, then this predetermined path is yours.
Yes.
Like that kind.
That is a good way of thinking about it.
And if you are having a really lucky day and you want to mock yourself for a little, you want to be modest.
If you want to say, ah, it's not that my talent is so good.
It's not that I've been working so hard.
I'm merely, you know, getting some dog poo poo luck.
You're self-mocking.
You can use the 狗屎運 for yourself.
Self-deprecating.
That's when you can use it.
I finally found a way for you to use it.
You can say.
Oh, thanks.
You can say, No, not that I'm so great or so talented.
It's just I'm just lucky.
I'm just lucky.
Yeah, I'm merely just, you know, a bit lucky today.
I have dog poo-poo's luck. don't know if we have an English equivalent for that one.
Maybe no, but you know, fun language points that you can take away from Takeaway Chinese.
And that brings us to the end of today's show.
Please tell us when is the luckiest day in your life and what really happened?
And what do you think have been contributing to the luck that day?
Did you do something good?
Let us know what do you believe, whether or not you believe in luck.
And thank you so much for being with us.
Thanks a lot.
See you next time.
