Euroasia: Language, Culture and Travel

Christchurch girl Hayley Westenra was the lead performer at the opening of the World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on Thursday last week. After a couple of her famous songs, Hayley sang the Chinese classic Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin (月亮代表我的心) to an ecstatic crowd of 40,000 at the Kaohsiung Main Stadium.

The well-loved Teresa Teng song is literally translated “The Moon represents my heart”.  This song is etched in my memory because my dad used to have this running in the cassette deck of his car all the time when I was a kid.

What was most amazing is that she made the effort to get the intonation right. Most Mandarin learners would attest this is the hardest bit. It is usually very difficult for native English speakers to to sing in Chinese because of the need to get the tones right. She would have no doubt put in countless hours to practice this one song.  And for her persistence, her album sales will go through the roof in Taiwan/China and other parts of Asia in the coming months.

Her one performance in Taiwan would have been worth millions of promotion for New Zealand tourism.  I did a quick search of Google Trends to see whether the searches of “Hayley Westenra” has in fact increased after this performance. Voila! And where do these searches come from? You guessed it. Taiwan…

google searches for hayley westenra in last 30 days

Hayley finished off with a beautiful rendition of Pokarekare Ana, telling everyone she is from New Zealand. I nominate Hayley Westenra to be on the honours list at next year’s Queen’s Birthday! It’s hard to find Kiwis who can make such an impact beyond the rugby field. And I have yet to see a single article in local newspapers celebrating this.

The team at Euroasia has put together a short video message, wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. You’ll have to guess who’s saying what. If you’re playing this at the office, try not to laugh too hard ok. We don’t want to get you in trouble.

p/s:If you can’t see the video here, check out the youtube clip at http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=tzGqluc0kNs – Don’t miss the outtakes ok

Our office closes on 19 December, and will reopen on 5 January for the 2-week intensive programme (2 weeknights + Sat half day).

At the start of next year you have 3 intakes to choose from:
5 Jan and 19 Jan for Fasttrack programmes
2 Feb for the standard courses.

Enrol online now, or talk to us about buying a gift voucher for a loved one. Looking forward to having you back next year.

In the context of the current economic situation we’re in, I often hear it mentioned that the Chinese word for “crisis” (wēijī) consists of two syllables that are written with two separate characters, wēi and jī. The idea behind this is that whenever there’s a crisis, there’s an element of danger, but also an element of opportunity.

Sounds good in theory, but like many other urban myths, there’s little truth in it.  Victor H. Mair, professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote a detailed article explaining the flaws in this line of reasoning, but I’ll just summarise this for you.

Chinese character wei 危
Chinese character ji1 in simplified form 机
Chinese character ji1 – in traditional form 機

Prof Mair’s contention is that the definition of jī as “opportunity” is flawed. While it is true that wēijī does indeed mean “crisis” and that the wēi syllable of wēijī does convey the notion of “danger,” the jī syllable of wēijī most definitely does not signify “opportunity.” According to Prof Mair:

The jī of wēijī, in fact, means something like “incipient moment; crucial point (when something begins or changes).” Thus, a wēijī is indeed a genuine crisis, a dangerous moment, a time when things start to go awry. A wēijī indicates a perilous situation when one should be especially wary. It is not a juncture when one goes looking for advantages and benefits.

Those who purvey the doctrine that the Chinese word for “crisis” is composed of elements meaning “danger” and “opportunity” are engaging in a type of muddled thinking that is a danger to society, for it lulls people into welcoming crises as unstable situations from which they can benefit. Adopting a feel-good attitude toward adversity may not be the most rational, realistic approach to its solution.

In such perilous times, we must confront the brutal truth, but at the same time not give up hope. If Warren Buffett is buying now, surely we have to stand up and take note.

I’m a firm believer in the idea of buying when others are selling, and capturing opportunities in times of crisis. Unfortunately we can’t use the Chinese word for “crisis” (wēijī) to support this line of reasoning.