三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

English 中文網 漫畫網 愛新聞iNews 翻譯論壇
中國網站品牌欄目(頻道)
當前位置: Language Tips> 譯通四海> Columnist 專欄作家> Raymond Zhou

Nothing's same now, Comrade

[ 2010-06-07 13:46]     字號 [] [] []  
免費訂閱30天China Daily雙語新聞手機報:移動用戶編輯短信CD至106580009009

Nothing's same now, Comrade

Pity the poor word 'tongzhi', once the great equalizer it now has the connotation of official pomposity or a wink-wink reference to gay-friendly community.

Early this week, it was reported that the Beijing Public Transport Group was introducing some changes to its rules on how its service people should address passengers.

Except for rare cases, such as senior citizens, the term "Comrade" would no longer be used. Instead men and women would be addressed as "Sir" and "Ma'am", and children would receive the less formal, gender-neutral salutation "Little Friends".

Yet another nail in the coffin of conformism and defunct idealism.

The evolution of "comrade" reflects the mass psychology and the psychological mannerisms of the past century. Deriving from a Latin word for roommates it was adopted by the European military as a way of addressing people who shared the same barracks. The political use of the word "comrade" originated during the French Revolution and was adopted by the socialist movement of the mid-19th century.

This usage was adopted in turn by Sun Yatsen and the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) which frequently used "comrade" as a means of address for its members. The Communists followed suit, actively promoting its use as a utilitarian title for anyone.

"Comrade" (tongzhi) means someone who has the same aspirations and goals. So, for the early revolutionaries, it was a word that implicitly invoked a shared cause. I can only imagine how the word was used and received when it was still fresh. Say, I was a Shanghai-based underground worker for the Communist Party. If I opened my door at midnight to someone whispering "Comrade", he would be entrusting his life with me and vice versa. It was not a word to be taken lightly.

The widespread adoption of "comrade" as a form of address took off in the early 1950s, as Communism was the mandated ideology and theoretically every citizen was a "comrade".

Unlike the underground use of the word "comrade", which must have involved a great deal of risks, the early phase of nationwide usage must have given rise to a delirious sense of euphoria. The term seemed to encapsulate the promise of equality. Gone was the Confucius tradition of strict hierarchy. No more superiors and subordinates. Everyone was equal. Chairman Mao would call you "Comrade", and you could call him "Comrade"... OK, maybe not. Actually, you still had to call him "Chairman Mao", even using his name "Mao Zedong" sounded like blasphemy.

In 1959, Chairman Mao made the pronouncement that the public address among all the Chinese people should be "comrade", and in 1965, the Central Committee of the Communist Party ordered every member to address each other as "comrade".

This was reiterated in 1978, as an encouragement not to use official titles such as "Minister", "Bureau Chief" or one of the endlessly varying "Directors".

In my own early memories of the 1970s, the use of "comrade" was a fact of life and it did not really convey anything, certainly no respect or sense of bonding. Unless you were denounced as a class enemy, which would turn you into a pariah, you were by default a comrade.

It would sound strange for someone close to you to call you "comrade". It was too formal and rigid. My parents would call me by my first name and my teachers by my full name. If they said "Comrade Zhou Liming", it meant I was in trouble.

Contrary to the bonding it was supposed to evoke, "comrade" in my experience had the instant effect of distancing. If someone called me "Comrade", it meant one of several things: He did not know me personally; he was not likely to develop a personal friendship with me; he was more likely somebody in a position to scold me.

Actually, we had a way of getting around it - at least in the Shanghai vicinity - we called strangers "Masters" (shifu), as in masters and apprentices, not masters and servants.

Over the last two decades, "comrade" has been increasingly consigned to official occasions, thus taking on an air of pomposity. Moreover, it is exclusively used as a one-size-fits-all title rather than a form of direct address. An obituary may say that Comrade so-and-so passed away, but I doubt anyone dared to call him "Comrade" in person.

In the nation's capital, "comrade" has enjoyed a longer shelf life than most places. But people have a way of using it yet avoiding pretentiousness. On a bus, the conductor may say "Can this comrade give up your seat to this passenger with a baby?" Mind you, it is different from directly addressing someone as "Comrade".

Then there is the new meaning first used in Hong Kong and Taiwan and now widely accepted among the young in the rest of the country. "Comrade" has been the adopted name for gays and lesbians, first as a euphemism and now the most generic term (but rarely in addressing). This poses a big headache to the Net nannies who have their hearts set on eradicating every trace of homosexuality from the Web. (They equate homosexuality with pornography.) If every webpage with "tongzhi" is blocked, that essentially wipes out the history of the Communist Party.

But I digress.

"Comrade" was once cool. But anything so ubiquitous will eventually lose its appeal. Besides, "comrade" at its apex overreached its original meaning. How can one have one billion-plus comrades? Even China's most popular microblogger, actress Yao Chen, has only 1.6 million fans, the closest parallel I can find to comrades.

Leave "comrade" to the history museum. Like all fresh produce it has a sell-by date.

raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

我要看更多專欄文章

相關閱讀:

A checkered flag

No tans, naked truths

Orchestrating a boom

Clearing her name

(作者周黎明 中國日報網英語點津 編輯陳丹妮)

 

 
中國日報網英語點津版權說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創作品,除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外,其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯系;凡本網注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉載,請與稿件來源方聯系,如產生任何問題與本網無關;本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段,版權歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權,請提供版權證明,以便盡快刪除。
 

關注和訂閱

人氣排行

翻譯服務

中國日報網翻譯工作室

我們提供:媒體、文化、財經法律等專業領域的中英互譯服務
電話:010-84883468
郵件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn
 
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 三级视频在线播放线观看 | 亚洲精品一区久久狠狠欧美 | 国产精品美女一区二区三区 | 欧美zozo特精品另类 | 激情亚洲网 | 国产精品久久久久免费 | a毛片免费 | 天堂福利视频在线观看 | 91网址 | 亚洲欧美综合网 | 色综合久久六月婷婷中文字幕 | 亚洲视频999 | 五月天堂婷婷 | 91国内在线国内在线播放 | 国产三级精品三级 | 国产高清视频免费最新在线 | 欧美日韩国产在线播放 | 香蕉视频免费在线 | 欧美日韩亚洲国产精品一区二区 | 中文字幕专区在线亚洲 | 99ri国产在线观看 | 亚洲国产剧情在线 | 国产精品高清m3u8在线播放 | 在线你懂 | 亚洲欧美日韩另类精品一区二区三区 | 亚洲欧洲高清有无 | 国产色图片| 午夜社区| 精品视频在线免费播放 | 午夜国产精品理论片久久影院 | 久久99精品国产99久久 | 香蕉大片 | 欧美国产日韩做一线 | 精品亚洲成a人片在线观看 精品亚洲成a人在线播放 | 日韩一区二区在线观看 | 国产一区二区三区福利 | 国产精品宾馆在线精品酒店 | 欧美特黄高清免费观看的 | 日韩亚洲制服丝袜中文字幕 | 精品国产精品久久一区免费式 | 日本三级黄色 |