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The Xenophobe's Guide
to the Chinese

by Zhu Song

A guide to understanding the Chinese that provides an irreverent look at the oriental outlook of the largest nation on earth.

NOW Available online as an eBook.
See button below right to sample.

Extracts from the book

Inveterate inventors
The Chinese are inordinately proud of having invented, among a whole host of other things, the compass (without which the world would have got lost), paper (without which books would not exist), the printing press (ditto), porcelain (no pretty matching chinaware), silk (no decadence), pasta (what would the Italians eat?), the wheelbarrow (how would civilisation have fared without it?) and the bristle toothbrush.

How now re nao
To be re nao, or hot and noisy, is extremely desirable. This is why the Chinese invented fireworks – life as they knew it simply wasn’t hot and noisy enough. This is also why the ear-splitting and body-swaggering lion dance is Chinese, rather than the comparatively tranquil ballet. Can anyone who has witnessed the cacophonous spectacle that is Peking opera doubt its quintessential Chinese-ness? Festivals call for the loud clanging of cymbals and tooting of horns, and traditional weddings are as red and raucous as church weddings are white and hushed. Re nao represents life and vigour.

Slip of the tongue?
One of the worst insults for a Chinese is to be called a ‘banana’ – yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

Yes, no, maybe?
The words ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, crucial in other languages, are not deemed so in Chinese. Instead the answer depends on the verb used in the question. The reply to "Is she your daughter?" is either "Is" or "Is not", and to "Have you been to Disneyland?" is "Been" or "Not been". This may seem simple enough, but beware when asking a negative question: "That bag isn’t yours, is it?" will confusingly elicit "Is, it isn’t" (yes it isn’t mine).

Character flaw
Chinese is one of the few languages where you can very easily be illiterate even if you are fluent. The characters are notoriously hard to remember. Learning them is a matter of rote and repetition until etched onto the brain, and requires the daily exercise of the national mantra: ‘practice makes perfect’.

Comments from readers

The Xenophobe's Guide to the Chinese is exactly what it claims to be on its back cover, 'an irreverent look at the beliefs and foibles of (the Chinese), almost guaranteed to cure xenophobia.
Catherine McKinley, China in Focus

Reviews from the Press

The book proceeds like a meal of dim sum, a succession of piquant little items, light but nourishing. The author is succinctly illuminating on the Chinese peculiarities likely to be relevant to a foreigner - the remarks on 'modesty' should be read weekly by Western linguists.
The Spectator

Xenophobe's of the world unite. There is hope that through these small but observant books you may be able to overcome ingrained prejudice.
Gibraltar Chronicle

Table of Contents

Nationalism & Identity
Character
Language & Conversation
Attitudes and Values
Behaviour
Manners
Leisure & Pleasure
Sense of Humour
Culture
Eating & Drinking
Custom & Tradition
Health & Hygiene
Systems

 

Author: Song, Zhu
Format: 96 pages, pb

Published: 1/9/2010

Updated:
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978-1-906042-26-4
Online eBook. Click on button below to sample.


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