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ENTERTAINMENT / Hot Pot Column
Pursuit of a phrase that pays dividends
By Patrick Whiteley (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-14 13:59
Chinese sayings are baffling to the untrained observer. Back home in
Australia, I had a friend who was obsessed by a race horse called Little
Red Dragon. He backed it at 60/1, and this flashy little filly won Jimmy
a small fortune. But Little Red Dragon became Jimmy's curse. He always
backed it and end up losing more than five times the amount he initially
won. "You're putting all your eggs in one basket," we warned.
In China they would say: "Jimmy, you are a farmer sitting near a tree
stump waiting for a white rabbit." The saying is based on the story of a
farmer who saw a rabbit kill itself by crashing onto a tree stump. The
farmer took the plump rabbit to market and was overjoyed by his small
fortune. The old man walked back to the stump and waited for another
white rabbit. By all accounts he is still waiting.
This ancient saying is used today by 30-something Shanghai yuppies
talking about a questionable stock to rise. These guys, like many fortune
hunters in the Middle Kingdom, are all trying to pull rabbits out of
their hats, trying to conjure up some magic in a bid to get rich quick.
But we know it's all folly. Vanity, vanity, vanity, all is vanity, said
the philosopher. What shall a man profit if he gains the whole world, but
loses his soul?
I love the odd idiom, but whenever I mention a famous saying, such as the
above Biblical references or even Greek words of wisdom (know thyself is
gem), there are Chinese idioms that say a similar thing.
This is no coincidence and after extensive research I would like to share
a theory.
I believe there was a period in history, in which a group of really wise
people got together and made up every wise saying there ever was. They
then handed them out and we're still saying them today. The philosophy
fest happened about 500 BC.
Confucius (551-479 BC) gave birth to a school of thought followed by more
people for more generations than any other human being in history. But
all his wise sayings interestingly corresponded with the philosophical
flourishing in the West via Socrates (469-399 BC) and his fellow Greeks.
There was also a fine fellow called Siddartha Gautama (563-460 BC) who
came up with some damn good ideas about living a happy life. Most of us
know him as Buddha.
So I reckon something happened before these guys got all fired up. Maybe
space ships visited earth and a bunch of really smart aliens told
everybody how it all worked. Maybe about 500 BC, humans reached their
spiritual zenith and discovered the true meaning of this funny thing
called life.
I was quite rattled by my sudden burst of enlightenment and searched for
the world's best saying. I consulted wise people, meditated on mountains
and even did a little chanting. However the answer came via a Beijing
bicycle repairman called Wang Xiao.
He was fixing my friend's bike, and I asked the repairman for the world's
best saying. Wang fixed the broken wheel, spun it back to health and
handed the bicycle back to my friend. He then smiled at me.
"Be nice."
(China Daily 08/14/2007 page20)
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