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Welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Yang Hong - sideward with Steve Heatherly, here, for today's special show.
Today's show is very much different from what we used to do, because usually it's only the two of us.
Hello Steve. Hello.
But for today's show, we are actually joined by a lot of listeners and Chinese learners and they will interact with us.
Listeners, Chinese learners, and people from all over the world.
Literally all over the world.
They're from six different continents.
They're actually joining the show in different time zones.
That's amazing, isn't it.
Yeah. We should say thank you immediately for that, by the way.
But that's what makes it all the more special.
It's going to be a great episode.
It's going to be a good one.
And when it comes to Chinese language day actually it is also a day observed annually on April 20th and it is a United Nations initiative that celebrates multilingualism and cultural diversity, particularly focusing on the Chinese language, one of you and six official languages.
I guess that's part of the reason that you are learning Chinese so enthusiastically.
Thank you, thank you for joining us today.
And for today's show, the theme we picked is something that I think all us can share a little bit.
That is mythology, fairy tales, folk tales.
Basically stories that people wish that had happened.
Yeah. But maybe they had not happened.
And we'll learn maybe a little bit about those stories about those characters and then we'll see if that applies to our daily lives even now.
Yes, so special program of Takeaway Chinese legendary encounters.
For those of you who are listening, if you're interested in Chinese culture and you want to get a grip on the Chinese language, then this is the show for you.
Stick with us for 30 minutes and you soon see the rewards.
And for more fun Chinese learning, follow our Facebook page Learn Chinese to watch many fun videos and live streams. But now, let's first talk about our favorite Chinese folktale, stories, and most importantly mythology.
I think some of these stories today will take us back to our childhood a little bit, right?
because that was probably the first time that we've heard those stories, even though we still think about them and we still talk about them today.
And do you know how to say that in Chinese, by the way?
Mythology. Teach me.
Shenhua. Shenhua. Yes, shenghua.
Shen means magical, something that is not human in a good way because they are also not human in a bad way or in a less good way, kind of, that is you that is kind of like monster.
But Chinese monsters are not the kind of monsters that are huge that would destroy villages with one feast bomb Something like that, but it's more like the kind of beings that are not Human, but they wanted to have a little bit humanity in them or they have a little bit magic So they nourish their soul and their spirit for a really long time and they became this living or being with certain kind of awareness, but they're not the kind of Shen, we're talking about.
So there's the human in the middle, and we have Yao which is a little less good, and then we have Shen which is the deity.
The really good. The super ones.
So Shen. And Hua is the same character with Shu Hua or Zhong Guo Hua so speak.
So Shen Hua is like the kind of talk that those beings above humans would have, the kind of So Shen Hua is actually mythology.
The stories of deities.
Exactly. And in English you say mythology and Shen Hua.
So when we were kids, like you said, these kind of stories are where imagination took us.
It would be the kind of superhero that touches us a lot.
So I want to direct this question to our friends online, who is your favorite, especially in Chinese mythology superhero.
Good question. I'm Qing -Jung Nan from Egypt.
I'm a graduate student at Beijing Language and Cultural University.
I really like China's Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
My Chinese name is Li Chenzhu.
I'm 9 years old and live in Montreal, Canada.
I like Ne Zha because he has wind fire wheels and he can fly.
He wants to change his destiny.
I love the Ne Zha movie series.
I've seen Ne Zha 1 and 2!
I'm a student from Thailand.
My Chinese name is Zhou Jinhan.
My favourite deity is Ma Zhu.
She was originally a girl from Fujian, China.
Before becoming a goddess, she bravely saved her father and brother from a shipwreck.
After becoming a deity, she protects all those people who travel by water.
Perhaps due to ancient maritime exchanges between China and Thailand, even today Thai people pray to Matsu for protection when traveling by car or plane.
Those are some really good answers.
Really good answers, and can I say too, I'm really impressed by the Chinese language ability.
Goodness me, I think that's going to be a theme throughout our program today.
Also impressive, you know, the knowledge of the characters as well.
What is your answer though, I want to ask you.
For me, a Chinese character?
Yes. Well, I'm gonna go recent, I think.
I'm gonna go with Ne Jia.
Ah, sure, why? Can I ask why?
I like him. He thinks outside the box a little bit, doesn't he?
He looks for answers that aren't necessarily the obvious answers.
That's a good reason.
I like his attitude.
Even if life or fate hasn't really given him a fair shake so to speak He still keeps a really responsible attitude as well.
So and considering he's quite young I think that's quite impressive quite impressive right to have those characteristics.
What's your answer?
Well, my answer would be Mulan That's a good answer to write good answer why it's a shero.
She is very powerful she finds her way in a man mainly manpower kind of society right and she doesn't give in because of her disadvantages and I think one most important trait of Mulan and actually a lot of Chinese hero is that the reason they are fighting the fight they are focusing on the things that they want to because they want to do more for the society, for their people.
They wanna contribute.
They want to give instead of receive.
And even for Mulan, she does not enter the war, she does not fight in the war because she wants to be some big shot.
It's because she wanted to protect her people.
So, we see that perhaps as a continuing theme in Chinese mythology.
That theme of doing something for the better good, for the greater good.
Not so much about the self but more so about the community.
Would that be a fair assessment?
Yes. That is why I think wú sì fùngxian would be a very important trait or character.
wú sì means selfless.
wú is have no. sì is personal or self so wú sì would be selfless.
And fùngxian is contribute.
Wu sì fùngxian. Wu sì fùngxian.
Wu sì fùngxian. Yes, so that would be a very important trait of Chinese characters, wuxifengxian, so for you to be a hero in the hearts of Chinese people, you have to, not doing things for yourself, you have to do things for others.
I think you find that in Western superheroes, too, right?
If you think of the biggest superheroes, Spider -Man, Superman, Batman, they all share those characteristics of doing their best for the community.
Peter Parker, Spiderman of course, does the best for the citizens of New York City, Batman for the citizens of Gotham trying to keep them safe.
So that idea of having a strong character and being selfless, behaving how you want to behave as your best person taking care of other people, yeah that's a common trait.
That's a common trait, but i want to know are there any similarities and differences we have between Chinese superheroes and superheroes from other cultures as well.
I think if you look at mythology, for example, Greek mythology, some of the characters from Greek mythology had human traits, right, almost flawed in a human kind of way.
Zeus, for example, would be an easy example.
He was flawed, wasn't he?
So I think a lot of those characters had more humanistic personality to them almost, but would you say that about Chinese mythology characters?
Not so much. I think so.
For some Chinese mythology characters, it depends to start with.
We have some special superheroes from really long ago, like the creating the world like… so they start the world and create a human being, And those are relatively flawless in a sense.
Yet when time goes on, when we have different types of superheroes emerging from different society, environment, from different times, they started to evolve a little bit or maybe be blend with a little bit of humanity as well.
They started to take on some human characteristics.
A little bit, yes. And for superheroes, one thing that, I think in China we see there are superheroes, Chaozi Yingxiu, Shen Huai Renwu, there are also daxia.
So xia would be like those with great martial arts skills.
Okay. And they also go outside, help people.
But a main distinction between these two types of heroes in the Chinese culture and I think in a lot of different cultures as well would be that superheroes have superpowers.
Superhero, well, not every superhero, Super rich is a superpower.
Well, okay. We're broadening our definition there.
I was thinking along the lines of you know not every superhero has lasers that can shoot out of their eyes But yeah somehow some way even though it might only be their personal character.
Yeah, somehow they are a superhero Yeah, so in that case I was wondering if there is a super power that you get to choose That you can have what would it be but hold on to that you can think about your answer Okay, because I want to know your answers our friends online What is the superpower that you wish you have?
It can be from a certain Chinese mythology story.
It can also be out of nowhere So, let's talk about the super power we want to have. My name is Zhang Yan, I live in Lyon, France.
The superpower I wish to have most is invisibility.
That way, my older brother won't see me.
He won't be able to bother me.
Hello, my Chinese name is Tanjing Bao.
I am from Thailand.
The superpower I wish I had most is to have 1000 hands and 1000 eyes, like the Buddhist atuaguan in.
So I could hear the cries of help from people all over the world and help them in time.
because I hope to bring warmth and strength to others.
I think the reason that people are so strong on different types of superhero stories is because there are things that we cannot do within our ability, there are things that we cannot achieve by ourselves, but think about people living 100 years ago.
They didn't have artificial intelligence.
Yes. They didn't have internet.
Yes. Some of them even didn't used to have you know super fast trains, high -speed trains.
So in my opinion I feel like technology is our superpower.
You could say that and you could say that technology gives people superpowers perhaps that we didn't have before because what we can achieve now as human beings thanks to technological advances it wouldn't even be in the mind of people who lived a hundred or more years Exactly.
It's not only open your imagination.
It actually, it's the kind of game -changer that with that one technology, with that one advancement, many, many other things would have happened.
Would have the opportunity to happen.
One example that comes to mind for me is the exoskeleton.
Have you learned about this?
Yeah, yes. This is, if you're not familiar ...
I want one. I want two.
If you're not familiar, it's something, it's exactly what it says it is, it's an exoskeleton, an outside skeleton, you attach it to your body and then it can help you with different things.
It can help you lift heavier items. It can help you run faster if you want to.
I saw at the beginning of the year that hikers here in China were using it to help them ascend the mountain, which is really cool.
Didn't think that was gonna be able to help people out, an exoskeleton, even 50 years ago.
In Chinese mythology, we have the word So is steel, it is iron and would be basically talking about your bones, your structure.
So is saying you're as strong as having steel and iron for your bones and for your frame, but actually that is what exoskeleton does.
That's exactly what it does, yeah.
So I do believe that some superpowers in the mind of our ancestors are actually happening because of technology.
That is why I feel like in ancient times, the stories of ancient times, the mythology stories, the fairytale stories, imagine how that would be if people in those stories encounter with today's society?
Well, I think that concept comes up in movies a lot, right?
Someone who just pops into the future and they can't really believe what they're seeing in a modern time.
So, the next question I want to direct to you, all of you out there, is that I want to know the relationship between modern technology, advancement and the mythology in your culture.
Does it exist? Because in China, in Chinese culture, which we're going to share a little bit later, the fact that we like technology development but we also like things to be romantic.
We want to find the relationship between our long -time fantasies, long -time mythology stories and the current day technological development.
I mean that's kind of representative of what Chinese culture is every day, right?
A blend of the very old and a blend of the very, very new and then a blend of the new stuff we haven't even dreamt of yet.
Yes, and one thing or one way to do it is to name many of the projects, many of the engineering projects as well as laboratory and technology projects, technological research projects after mythology names.
Oh yeah, right. Yeah!
And for example there is the name of Chue Chiao it is the relay satellite for the Changge for moon exploration mission we already know that the Changge is the lady on the moon that cannot return back to earth and also Chue Chiao is talking about the magpie bridge so it's a bridge it's in the Chinese folk tale it was formed by millions of magpies Chue is magpie and xiao is a bridge so millions of magpies form the bridge and there is a separated couple in the story and the separated couple can meet with each other because of the magpie bridge and using it to name a relay satellite is perfect because the relay
satellite right yeah it's connecting the two exactly i think it's very beautiful and the connotation is kind of really romantic and sweet.
Yeah yeah I'd never heard that before.
I love hearing about these stories.
You know there's a lot of different companies too.
Western companies whose logos are connected to mythology.
Starbucks would be an example, Hermes would be an example, Versace is an example.
Not to list off too many brand names but just trying to show you that yeah there's tons of influence even in modern day companies.
Yes here in China we have that too we have a lot of company names and projects of these companies named after Chinese heroes, Chinese mythologies.
There are some really romantic ones and I think some of their goals are still not fully realized yet.
So we use those names as a good hope.
Good luck. Good luck as well.
So that is one side of the influence of Chinese folk tale, Chinese mythology, as a part of a very important part of Chinese culture.
And besides having the influence on the side of technological advancement, actually in everyday life we see them the way they are or at least to see them the way that they have evolved with time.
And we see them in the places that they're made.
which is a really cool thing, and it just goes to show, the longer our history becomes, it doesn't mean that we forget about the stories from the past. They still connect to us, even in this modern day.
Yes, and people, hardcore fan of these stories of especially the adaptation of the stories in modern form, I'm talking about the Nezha movie, I'm talking about the Black Myth, ukong video games, these cultural products are made based on the reason that people love these mythologies quite so much. Black Myth is that it got so much attention internationally because it was such a great game, because it was the first time that China had put out a game like that and the cool thing that maybe people saw coming or maybe didn't see coming was that afterwards where this where this game got developed got
a whole lot of attention right the area of China where it developed the scenes from the video game.
From Shenxi province right yeah that's my hometown come to China, come to Shenxi enjoy a little bit black myths come true she wouldn't stop talking about that for a long time but anyway the point is yeah it was great for the local tourism for the for the local economy people visiting there who love the game and it just goes to show how a story from a video game can have such a huge impact on the community when perhaps You couldn't see that coming Yes, definitely And there are actually many reasons to visit a country to visit a city in a country and I want to know your reasons So tell me if you
get to choose a place that you visit next here in China what that place would be Hi, everyone.
My Chinese name is Gao Junjie.
I'm 11 years old and from La in France.
The place I most want to visit is Sichuan, because there are giant pandas there.
I've never seen one before, and I really want to.
They also have lots of delicious food.
I'm from Madagascar.
My Chinese name is Xu Jinguo.
The place I most want to visit in China is Guilin, Guangxi.
The mountains and rivers there are so beautiful and the scenery is amazing.
There's even a saying, Guilin's landscape is the best on the heaven.
Hello everyone, I'm Ai Fei, from Belarus.
I'm 16 years old and have been learning Chinese for two and a half years.
The Chinese destination I most want to check off my list is Chongqing.
It's a really unique city.
Over three -quarters of it is mountainous, so it's often called a mountain city in China.
The city also has a long history.
First, I want to visit Hung Yadong.
With its maze -like stilted buildings stacked on top of each other, it has a magical feel.
Chongqing's light rail is also super cool.
Some lines even go through residential buildings.
Riding it would feel like being on a rollercoaster which I think would be so thrilling.
I also want to visit the Jiefeng Be shopping street to experience the vibe of a big city.
Then I'd love to explore the Chongqing Art Museum to see artworks that are unique from a European perspective and learn more about Chongqing's culture.
Honestly, those are just a few spots.
I want to explore every corner of the city.
Wow! I didn't see this coming, actually.
I thought Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou would be on the list. But they're not.
Yeah, that's what I was expecting too.
Because yeah, those are the places, those are the big name places, if you will, that people internationally tend to know about, right?
And China has so many...
But we underestimate our friends online.
Oh, I know, I underestimated a lot today.
One, about the language abilities, and number two, about the knowledge about the geography of China too.
It's true. Of course, we have Beijing where we're sitting right now.
We have Shanghai, its internationally known, but there's so many other great places in China, so many other really modern huge cities, high -tech cities in China that maybe don't get as much attention on the international stage, but they definitely get the attention with our audience today.
Yes, we have Sichuan province, have Guangxi, Guilin, and Chongqing, Chongqing is good.
And your answer is really good, thank you.
Thank you. to thank you again for that amazing answer.
It makes me want to go visit Chongqing, and all of the amazing sites, natural resources, delicious food, beautiful people, for sure those would be good answers.
Which leads me to my next question, do you have any impressionable stories, experiences you want to share with us because you have visited China, so for those of you who have come here already, who have had the experience, what's the deepest impression of China for you?
Hi everyone, it's an honour to join you all on this show.
My name is Lime and my Chinese name is Shui Liwei.
I'm currently in Shanghai and studying at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
The place that impressed me the most is Shenzhen.
I visited during Spring Festival this year, and I found it to be a really beautiful city.
While I was there, I saw a statue of Niuhua, the goddess in Chinese mythology.
It sparked my curiosity, so I started reading stories about her, like how she mended the sky and created humans.
I found these myths incredibly imaginative, and they helped me understand more about China.
That's why Shenzhen left such a deep impression on me.
I love that answer because that again is surprising, since instead of talking about how convenient China is, talking about how fast high speed trains are, you actually talked about the places you visited and the local mythology expressions, as well as the stories and the characters perfectly for today's show for sure.
Yeah, and maybe sometimes that gets overshadowed in the news a little bit because we're always talking about China's technological advances, right?
Because they are really impressive advances but maybe that does overshadow the stories that we're hearing today a little bit.
Yes, and like Steve has already said it's always a blend of modern time and also history.
of history, of the past and present because it is precisely what we did in the past that created who we are here today, for the present.
And that actually brings us to the end of today's show.
Thank you guys so much again.
For those of you who are joining us, if there's anything you want to say, especially the questions we asked our friends joining us online, you can also answer these questions.
Who's your favorite Chinese superhero?
Which is the superpower you want to have?
you can leave your answers in the comment area, or you can send this email to crilearnchinese at gmail .com, and as always follow CRI Learn Chinese Facebook page, follow our YouTube channel, and follow Takeaway Chinese as well.
Follow all of it. Learn all of it.
Hang out with us as much as you can.
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And thank you so much for joining us today.
We'll see you next time.
Bye -bye, thank you!
Bye -bye!
