The Expanding Chinese Lexicon
Everything is changing very rapidly in China, creating the need for new words and expressions in the Chinese language. A total of 171 entries were recently added, according to the national language registry.
For example, young married couples who choose to have separate living quarters, ostensibly to keep romance alive, are known as ‘semi-honey couples” or ban tang fu qi. Then there are couples choosing a pet over children or ding chong jia ting in Chinese or “DINKS with pets” in English.
The words duan bei literally mean “brokeback,” and refer to male homosexuals. The expression derives from the Oscar winning film by Taiwanese director Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain.
Economic reforms and soaring rates of home ownership have spawned a name for people struggling to pay their mortgages, fang nu, which translates to house slaves.
Will these notions with their fancy monikers become the new wave of Chinese exports? We were just learning to live with feng shui.