Americans are fond of referring to their country as "the greatest nation on earth". Until recently, I didn't believe any country deserved that description. But today I think there is a strong contender for the title.

China is the world's oldest living civilisation. It has recovered from over a century of colonial oppression and lifted its citizens out of poverty. As its growth continues, China is poised to become the world's largest economy and a technology leader that is second to none. By 2030, I believe it will be an indisputable fact that China is the greatest nation on earth.

I need to understand China, from a Chinese perspective. This is my journey.

Monday, 6 March 2023

A Chinese Saying I Read (Natively) At An Adelaide Restaurant

When I was at Adelaide airport a few weeks ago, I saw this Chinese restaurant called "Hawker Bar 新茶餐 (xīnchá cān)". It was my fasting day, or else I would have gone in to eat something.

While walking past, I saw a sign in Chinese with the English translation below it.

To my utter surprise, I was able to read every character of the Chinese text too!

用 一个 筷子 吃饭 的 人 是 饿 的 yòng yīgè kuàizi chīfàn de rén shì è de (literally, "Use one chopstick eat rice person is of hungry (characteristic)").

There were a couple of other signs there, but I didn't do that well at reading them.

I struggled a bit with the last character on this one, and realised much later that the characters were Traditional Chinese and not Simplified Chinese.

你 牙 有 米nǐ yá li yǒu mǐfàn (literally "you in teeth have rice") is how it's written using Traditional Chinese characters.

你 牙 有 米 is how it would be written in Simplified Chinese. I like to think I would have been able to read this without difficulty.

This is another one I couldn't fully read.

Incidentally, the restaurant seems to be quite famous, and its photos can be found on the web. Someday I hope to be in Adelaide airport on one of my non-fasting days, so I can enjoy the fare there.

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