Happy New Year: 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè)

The lunar year makes sense.

chinese-new-year-red-pockets-ancient-coins.jpg

not too keen on the astrological animals part

7700578_max.jpg

whatever, ya know doc?

This is the first day after the second new moon of the winter solstice.

恭喜发财 (gōngxǐfācái) - May you have a prosperous year!

gotta love these characters .. 中國傳統新年

Share
up
8 users have voted.

Comments

Otherwise, it would have slipped by me.
We watched "Tarzan and His Mate" tonight, the second Tarzan movie made. 1935. The underwater "ballet" with Tarzan and Jane was with her nude, full frontal. Well, all I can say is, good times at the cinema!
Work has been hell on wheels since Jan. 1. Maybe this New Year will be better.
Family violence is not just bf and gf. What I am seeing is Mother/daughter, brother (murdering) sister, so these are tough, violent, dangerous times.
Be safe.

up
7 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp

a friend used to beat his chest and yell the call of the wild
inspired, no doubt by your cinematic choice

family violence is a tough thing to handle
how does our social structure get to these places?
the courts are going to do what to solve these issues?
rhetorical questions

anyway, good luck in the new year and thanks for posting

up
7 users have voted.
soryang's picture

American authority on Chinese Etymology. Had the privilege to see some examples of these ancient "oracle bones" in the national museum in Taipei once a long time ago. Became familiar with the difficulty of memorizing hanja in the study of Korean.
His website:

https://hanziyuan.net/

Being able to search for and see the earlier forms of modern characters on his web site is truly amazing. Richard Sears' work is incredible.

Watched One Turn Around the Neighborhood yesterday, a South Korean program, in which ordinary people wished everyone a healthy and happy seol nal 설날. Apparently, this is an indigenous Korean term, the Chinese derived analog in Hangeul is goo jeong 구정 舊正.

I found my (traditional) Chinese unabridged dictionary and Korean dictionaries in a box just a few days ago. I like to decipher Chinese four character idioms 사자성어 (in hanja) sometimes.

Have a happy and healthy seol nal everyone.

up
6 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

@soryang

starting with the oracle bones and delving into the Oracle, Bronze and Liushutong
characters is a fascinating study. Thanks for sharing!

“새해 복 많이 받으세요” (saehae bok mani badeuseyo). This phrase literally translates to “Please receive many blessings in the new year.”

up
6 users have voted.
soryang's picture

@QMS Yes, thankyou, you too.

I taught myself to read, write and speak Korean with my wife's help. I was only 2.5 when I left Korea many years ago. It's a very difficult language, syntax is reversed, vocabulary is huge and out of control. I rate myself intermediate. Of course how advanced you are depends on the subject matter context.

endic.naver.com is a great online Korean-English dictionary. The best online Korean language program is TTMIK talk to me in Korean, sponsored by the South Korean government I think. I did the 150 lessons or so in the free program, without buying the books. My wife bought me language books every time she went back to Seoul at Kyobo bookstore.

I had written some on Korean related linguistics over at SV. My linguistics and Buddhist related posts are quite popular over there, but my political perspective is not welcome. Glad I have found this place and JPR.

Unfortunately, the light up keys on my laptop don't accommodate hangul. I used to be able to put hangul stick on letters on the keys years ago. I find the character applications awkward.

up
6 users have voted.

語必忠信 行必正直

enhydra lutris's picture

gotta luv that wascally wabbit too; puts a whole new twist on year of the rabbit, IMHO.

恭喜发财 (gōngxǐfācái) - May you have a prosperous year!

To you and everybody else too

be well and have a good one

up
5 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

usefewersyllables's picture

As you all know, I've had both knees replaced within the last 4 months. Everything is going great, and my PT is doing exactly what it should. I actually have better range of motion than I had prior to surgery in both knees, and they feel like they are 19 years old again. I put this off *way* too long.

PT is challenging at times, because you really need to strengthen muscles well beyond what they were prior to surgery. And one of the things they have you do is called step-ups and step-downs, which consists of repeatedly (and slowly!) pressing up a step, or down a step, with all weight borne on the affected knee. Form is everything, because you are isolating the quadriceps to try to wake them up and build them up.

Well, I was doing about my 6th set of those on my right knee one day, and I felt something like my quadricep tearing. Hot, sharp, burning, pain situation that had me seeing black spots for a minute- I had to tap out and say "We're done here", even though my PT wanted me to keep going. And it was just miserable for several days. My next appointment was with a different PT, and I told her about it. And she said "Oh, that's not a muscle tear, that's a nerve inflammation. I can fix that easily". She walked off and came back a couple of minutes later with her little glass cup and a lighter, and said "I'll just cup you and it'll be fixed".

"Bullshit," says I, as a complete non-believer in the woo-woo, "no way that's actually going to work."

"Just try it", says she. Smears a little cinnamon oil on my thigh, lights up the lighter, heats the air in the cup, sticks it on my thigh so that it pulls a vacuum as the air cools, and then proceeds to slide it around on my thigh- which results in the most amazing sensation of orange and purple fireworks running right around my butt to my spine. Pops it off and says "There. Now, do another step-up".

Which I did. No pain *at all*, and I haven't had any in that thigh since.

Wat?

So on Thursday past, I was doing PT again (this time on my left knee), and experienced the same sensation in the other quad. Whammo- that is really freakin' unpleasant. Called her over and got the same treatment done on it right away that I had on the other one, and got the exact same result. Instant cessation of this nerve-inflammation pain.

WAT?

Coulda knocked me over with a feather. But guess who now has an acupuncturist, and no longer is quite so convinced that all this meridian-nerve thing is woo-woo *at all*... Happy year of the rabbit!

up
6 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables
is very limited in”modern medicine”. Many safe and effective folk remedies, and healing arts have been left behind. Shamanism, reiki, touch, faith healing, hypnotism and the placebo effect are among those practices marginalized, frowned upon even or prohibited in some instances.

My daughter, a medical practitioner, has been broadening her experience with some of these practices. She directed me to reading up on the 1910 Flexner Report, which standardized medical practices by establishing approved curriculums in what had been an arena of varied and eclectic subjects being taught at medical schools. Financed in large part with the support of Andrew Carnegie, it established a homogeneous course of study that eliminated both some blatant quackery but also dismissed a great number of poorly understood, but effective treatment modalities. But what it did most effectively was to circumscribe and tightly control the burgeoning and highly profitable new industry of modern medicine that to this day dominates and defines today’s practice of medicine.

Your ‘cupping’ experience is just one of many traditional practices left in the dust bin with the establishment of the standardized practice of medicine, some of which may well deserve a second look.

up
6 users have voted.

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

janis b's picture

@usefewersyllables

is palpable. I’m happy for you that your efforts have been rewarding.

Chinese are, and have been for a long time, a significant part of the Auckland population. It is not uncommon to find small clinics where Chinese practice the healing arts they were trained in. I have benefited in the past from ‘cupping’ and herbal remedies. I’ve had acupuncture as well, but it is always my last choice. It is not something I am comfortable with, and find it quite an effort to relax into.

Enjoy your good health.

up
4 users have voted.

saw great potential in using petrochemicals to produce medicines. Thus, natural remedies had to go. Follow the money, blah blah blah.
I skimmed this article, can find more if this one doesn't sound ok.
Great cupping story!!!
https://meridianhealthclinic.com/how-rockefeller-created-the-business-of...

up
6 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981