The Adventures of Hong Mao: With 366 Chinese Idioms to Kick the Chinese Learning Difficulty Away

By Yisheng Lan

A red-haired naughty boy Hong Mao saw that a silly hare had hit its head accidently against a tree trunk and died. He picked up the hare, gave it to his mom so she could make it into a delicious dinner. He then waited near the trunk everyday hoping hares would come continuously and hit their heads against the tree. His dad had gone to town on a trip and had told Hong Mao to sow seeds in the farmland, but Hong Mao only concentrated on his plan of catching hares and forgot about the sowing.

Half a month later Hong Mao suddenly remembered his dad’s order. He then sowed seeds in a rush. Seedlings grew very slowly because of the delay in time. For fear of dads rebuke, Hong Mao quietly got up at midnight to "help" the seedlings grow more quickly by pulling them upward.

When Hong Mao's dad came back home, he saw all of the seedlings lying down in the field with their roots exposed in the air. He knew that Hong Mao had done this. Dad asked Hong Mao why he had made this mess, and wanted him to admit his fault. Hong Mao did not acknowledge his mistake, but instead said that this had been the hares' fault. Lately, no hares had come to hit their heads against the tree trunk, and so he had to wait patiently for them; had it not been for the hares' fault, he would have remembered his task and would not have pulled the seedlings upward, and would not have been criticized by dad.

Hong Mao's dad was so angry that he slapped Hong Mao's face. Hong Mao did not cry. Instead, he decided that he would leave home to visit various scenic spots, and make a living wandering from place to place.

In his adventurous journey Hong Mao experienced more than a few strange affairs, met many interesting people and animals and learned a lot about the world. In the end, his trip turned the naughty boy into a good one.

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The Chinese language has become a popular subject to study in recent years. However, because it is not an alphabetic language and is quite different from other languages, it is not very easy to learn.

Are there any knacks to quicken the learning process? The answer is YES!

The key to success lies in learning Chinese idioms. Chinese idioms are not just a play on words; they are the heart and soul of the language.

There are roughly one thousand very popular idioms in Chinese, and among them, about half are most frequently in use. Many of them are very vivid and interesting. Learning Chinese idioms can greatly increase readers' interest, and thus raise the speed of Chinese-learning. This story about a boy's adventures connects a series of 366 most frequently used Chinese idioms. Through reading and remembering this interesting story, readers will be able to learn Chinese efficiently. An idiom a day kicks the Chinese-learning difficulty away.

For understanding Chinese idioms, readers should read THE KEY OF THIS BOOK first and then use the notes that were inserted into the story.

This book may function as a combination of a storybook and a textbook, with the story in the main body and the text in the notes. Readers can enjoy the story while they learn Chinese idioms at the same time and on the same page.

Many books in Chinese have characters in only one form, either the simplified form or the standardized form (i.e. the traditional form or the original complex form), but this book has both forms.

Many books in Chinese have only one kind of phonetic notation, which is the Chinese phonetic alphabet, or Chinese Pinying notation (mandarin pronunciations with four tones), but this book has both Chinese mandarin pronunciations with four tones and English pronunciations.

For readers' convenience, the author has summarized all idioms mentioned in the story and placed them at the end of this book.

For people whose focus is not on learning Chinese, Hong Mao's st

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 6, 2009
• ISBN: 9781450080781

Yisheng Lan

Yisheng Lan is a Chinese American. He loves Chinese and has been good at Chinese since childhood. He has published a booklet and several papers in China and the US related to ancient Chinese logic, history, etc. He has worked for the City of Milwaukee as an engineer for 20 years. His Professional Engineer registration is in the State of Wisconsin. He wants to help English-speaking people to learn Chinese. He believes the best way is through the learning of Chinese idioms, since Chinese idioms are very much the heart and soul of the language, and very vivid idioms can greatly enhance learners¡¯ interest. He has created a boy¡¯s adventure story which strings together hundreds popular idioms. Readers can effectively learn Chinese while enjoying this interesting story.

Book preview

Contents

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

THE KEY OF THIS BOOK—HOW TO USE THE NOTES

§1

§2

§3

§4

§5

§6

§7

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§10

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§28

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§61

§62

SUMMARY OF IDIOMS

IN THIS STORY

REFERENCES

ENDNOTES

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

Many people outside of China are eager to learn Chinese. Chinese language has become a popular subject to study.

However, the Chinese language is quite different from other major languages. More than a few people had started learning but later gave up because of the difficulties with the language.

There should be an easy solution to the Chinese-learning difficulties.

I still remember when I was only five or six years old, I was often captivated by my father’s stories about Chinese idioms. Since then I have made progress in learning Chinese by leaps and bounds. Based on my personal experience, I believe the quickest and most effective way to learn Chinese is through the learning of Chinese idioms.

Let’s analogize learning Chinese to driving a car.

A car running at a speed of 30 MPH needs an hour to cover a distance of 30 miles. It needs only half an hour to pass a shortcut of 15 miles to reach the same destination. However, if it goes on an expressway, it may only need a quarter of an hour.

To learn Chinese, the shortcut lies in learning idioms. In the Chinese language, there are numerous very vivid idioms. Chinese idioms are not just juggles of words; they are very much the heart and soul of the language.

This book is especially designed for people with a bit of Chinese-learning background. It will aid in readers’ learning interest, enhance their learning confidence and increase their learning speed. In brief, this book will help readers persist in learning Chinese until they are successful.

Moreover, it is much easier to learn Chinese through the reading of an interesting story than laboring through a textbook.

This book is about a naughty boy who goes on an adventurous journey where he meets many fantastic characters, experiences many unusual affairs and learns a lot.

The story uses and connects a series of 366 most frequently used Chinese idioms. Through reading and remembering this interesting story, readers can learn Chinese with joy and ease, just like driving on a short expressway while listening to one’s favorite music.

Actually, this book may function as a combination of a storybook and a textbook with story in the main body and text in the notes. Readers can enjoy the story while learning idioms at the same time and on the same page.

There are 365 or 366 days in a year, and there are 366 most frequently used Chinese idioms in this book. By learning, remembering and trying to use one idiom a day and reviewing and practicing day-to-day, in just one year, readers will be able to understand basic Chinese.

An idiom a day kicks the Chinese-learning difficulty away.

For readers’ convenience, at the end of this book I summarized all idioms mentioned in the story.

Please enjoy this book. It is a reward for your appreciation of the great and brilliant Chinese culture.

Yisheng Lan (蓝绎圣)

THE KEY OF THIS BOOK—HOW TO USE THE NOTES

A. Forms of Chinese Characters

There are two forms of Chinese character; the standardized form (i.e. the traditional form or the original complex form) and the simplified form. The former has been used for thousands of years, and currently mainly in Taiwan, Hongkong, Macao and overseas. The latter has been adopted in Mainland China since January 28, 1956. However, its popularity is growing worldwide.

This book mainly uses the simplified form, but it also includes the standardized form by putting it in the brackets [ ]. For many characters, their simplified form and their standardized form are the same, and therefore no bracket is needed.

B. For Individual Characters

Following each individual Chinese character is a Chinese Pinyin notation (mandarin Pronunciation) with four tones marked in Chinese ways, and then is the English pronunciation.

The four tones of modern standard Chinese pronunciation are ❶ 阴

[陰]平 yīn ping (high and level tone; the first of the four tones in modern standard Chinese pronunciation), ❷ 阳[陽]平 yáng ping (rising tone, the second of the four tones in modern standard Chinese pronunciation), ❸上声[聲] shǎng shēng (falling-rising tone, the third tone in modern standard Chinese pronunciation) and ❹ 去声[聲] qù shēng (falling tone; the fourth tone in modern standard Chinese pronunciation).

For instance, in Chinese phonetic system e has four tones as ❶ ē; ❷ é; ❸ ě and ❹ è.†

After the Chinese Pinyin notation are two dividing lines ||, and after the dividing lines is the English pronunciation. For simplicity, this book does not list the four tones of the English pronunciation. Through looking at the Chinese Pinyin notation (at the left side of the dividing lines ||) reader are able to know the tone for the character in English pronunciation.

After the English pronunciation is a back slash "\" and after the back slash is the English explanation of the Chinese character.

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† For correct Chinese pronunciations, I suggest reader to buy a Chinese word processor program such as NJStar (from http://www.njstar.com) which has audio functions and provides accurate mandarin pronunciations when entering Chinese Pinying notations in the computers.

‡ There are several English Pronunciation Systems. This book uses Wade System, which is popular.

C. For Each Idiom

Following a colon is the word-for-word or literal translation. Sometimes after a semicolon is the free translation. Sometimes there are more than one semicolon, and the more semicolons, the closer to Standard English. Sometimes there is a dash, and after the dash is the direct explanation of the idiom or an equivalent English idiom.

Let’s still take the above-mentioned Idiom #16 杀鸡取卵 as an example.

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It is important for reader of this book to keep in mind that, like English, most Chinese characters have more than one distinct meaning. Often times, the meaning of a single Chinese character changes when it is combined with another Chinese character. In this book, most of the idioms are formed through combination of many Chinese characters. As a result, the meanings harbored by the Chinese characters within the idioms may differ greatly from the meanings of these same characters if they were standing on their own.

For simplicity reasons and to avoid readers’ confusion, for each Chinese character, this book by and large only lists the most relevant meanings to the underlying idioms. It does not list other uses or meaning of that particular character, even if those uses or meanings are more common. As a result, it is recommended that the readers focus more on learning and understanding the entire idioms rather than memorizing the meanings of single Chinese characters.

In addition, single Chinese characters may also be combined to form a character group (i.e. a phrase) which typically consist of two Chinese character (in contrast, idiom usually consist of four or more Chinese characters). The meaning of a single Chinese character may also change once it is used in a character group. For example, the Chinese character 工 means work and the Chinese character 夫 means man. However, when combined together, the character group 工夫means effort. (Please see Idioms # 84 for reference.) Just as idioms are the heart and soul of the Chinese language, character group are also frequently used in everyday spoken and written Chinese.

While most of the idioms in this book are made up of single Chinese characters,, some also contain character groups. (Please see Idiom #28 as an example.) As a result, readers are also encourage to focus more on the character groups than on the single Chinese characters.

 §1

Hong Mao, A New Arrival of the Fairy World

Everyone called him 红毛 (Hong Mao, hóng máo || hung mao). Actually, Hong Mao was neither a formal name nor a pet name. It was merely a nickname, and it meant red hairs.

This red-haired boy was a little taller and bigger than the other boys with the same age, and comparatively 眉清目秀.[1] Hong Mao’s only strange thing was, five red hairs stood on the top of his head, with one in the center like a pivot and four around it spaced evenly as if indicating the four directions in a compass.

According to the midwife’s recollection, when delivering the infant, she saw a red hair, and the entire room suddenly became bright reddish. She used obstetric forceps to grip the hair, and a whitish and chubby baby followed out!

The baby cried loudly, and apparently was a healthy one. "I delivered hundreds of babies, but none had red hair. This boy is out of the ordinary, and will 出人头地[2] in the future!" Said the midwife in front of everybody.

Hong Mao had two elder sisters 大妞 (Da Niu, dà niū || ta niu, which meant the first girl) and 二妞 (Er Niu, èr niū || êrh niu, which meant the second girl), and they were all thin and small. Hong Mao grew every day and every night, and before long his weight was the sum of his sisters.

Neighbors all said that this boy had good luck, and he would be a high-ranking official, make big fortune, and 光宗耀祖.[3]They suggested his parents to let him study a lot.

 §2

Hong Mao Waited Hares to Come Again and Again

Hong Mao’s parents were farmers at the foot of Guan Tian Mountain, in a typical 鱼米之乡.[4]His father did farming all his life, was very tired, and hoped Hong Mao to grow fast and become his good helper. However, his mother hoped him to study well, because being a blind man with eyes wide open—an illiterate person was painful.

Hong Mao studied at an elementary school. He did not study hard, and was too fond of playing. After returning home he did not do homework and therefore his school reports were 一塌糊涂,[5]but he did not care about them.

Everyday after school he went back home to read children’s picture-story books, and after supper he slept with thunderous snores. He often dreamed, and a variety of strange people and matters mushroomed in his dreams. He sometimes laughed, sometimes cried, and sometimes shouted aloud. Mom asked what he had dreamed, but he often said, Heaven’s secrets must not be given away.

When Hong Mao was eleven, his dad taught him to sow seeds in the field, but he did not want to learn. Dad then went to the town.

One day Hong Mao saw a wild dog chasing a hare. The hare hit the trunk of a big tree, and died instantly. The dog smelled at the dead hare and left. Hong Mao picked up the hare, brought it home and let mom make it into food.

Mom’s heart was filled with joy. They had eaten veggies everyday, but today they could eat meat. Mom told a story to little Hong Mao about hares as she prepared the hare’s meat.

"Across the river in the mountain there was a hunter. He had a hunting dog. The hunting dog helped the hunter to catch hares, and they could catch a big bag of hares. The hunting dog worked very well, and the hunter gave him a lot of hare meat to eat.

The amount of hares became fewer and fewer, and the dog turned idler and idler.

兔子尾巴长不了.[6]This situation could not last long. Eventually, one day they could not find even one hare. The hunter and his dog sought hares for three days, but they found nothing. The 饥肠辘辘[7]hunter killed the no more useful hunting dog, cooked him and ate him. This is called ‘兔死狗烹’."[8]

Hong Mao ate a lot of hare meat. He said to mom, I do not need to learn farming. I can catch hares. I do not need a hunting dog. Hares will automatically deliver themselves to my doorstep. Mom said he was 痴人说梦,[9]but Hong Mao said, My fortune is especially good. I am different from the others. I have five red hairs, while the others have none.

Since then Hong Mao 守株待兔[10]everyday. Unfortunately, after waiting for half a month, he did not even see any trace of a hare at all.

 §3

Hong Mao Left Home without

Saying Good-bye

Hong Mao suddenly remembered: when dad was leaving, he was told to sow seeds in the field, but he had forgotten. He then 手忙脚乱[11]sowed seeds. Seedlings grew very slowly because he had sowed them in a delayed time.

For fear of dad’s rebuke, he quietly got up at wee hours to 拔苗助长.[12]

Two days later, dad came back home and saw seedlings all lying down in the field with their roots exposed in the air. He knew that Hong Mao had done this.

Dad asked Hong Mao why he had made this mess, and wanted him to admit his fault. Hong Mao did not acknowledge his mistake, and said that this had been the hares’ fault: because hares had not