Empire of signs, by Jonathan Watts

China is a writing system as much as it is a country. This is a place united by a set of ideograms and not an awful lot more. In terms of ethnicity, geography, religion and income levels, there are huge differences among the population, and there are countless different spoken languages. But what people have in common is their citizenship and - if they are educated - an ability to read and write thousands of ideograms.

The bit about the cow’s vagina, or “niubi” … I’ve never heard or used “niubi” in isolation, but I commonly hear and use “chui niubi,” which means “talk big” or perhaps in some cases could be translated as “talk shit.”

On second thought I have heard “ta hen niubi,” which I would translate as “he’s a boaster,” or “he’s a bullshitter.” In any event, this isn’t a term used by educated people or in polite conversation.

–via Bill Bishop –