在... 中

[fij]

Hi,

After seeing this sentence: "在中国人的礼节中面子非常重要", I think that "在 A 中 B" is a structure that could be used in other cases too. Could someone please provide examples?

Many thanks !!

[valikor]

Yes, it's very important and commonly used!

在...中

在...下

在...上

All of these are important.

下 is usually used to refer to a situation.

中 is usually used to refer to a process/set

上 is usually used to refer to a question or problem.

在人们的鼓励下.. -- With the encouragement of others...

在炎热的天气下.. In hot weather...

在谁做饭这个问题上，别的家庭有别的想法。Regarding the question of who should cook, different families have different ideas.

在制造过程中，厂长应该不休的检查质量。

During the manufacturing process, the factory's managers should constantly be checking on quality.

---

There is probably some flexibility in when you should use 中 versus 上, and maybe also 下. I'm not an expert, and I hope my sentences are clear -.- The first one (在。。下) seems most commonly used, at least in my limited experience.

Good luck.

David

Edit: Deleted bad example.

Edited December 23, 2010 at 09:28 AM by valikor

[kellys]

I can give you an example: 在所有中国的城市中，我最喜欢上海。

[semantic nuance]

在别人骂你下，你应该忍耐一下。 When people are yelling at you, you should try to patient/understanding.

在別人罵你下, I've never seen this before. I've only heard ' 在....情況下', or '在....條件下'. The english sentence above could be translated as 別人罵你的時候，你就忍忍吧! (But why? Why should one be patient to be scolded or yelled at, unless one has done something wrong?)

[creamyhorror]

Location:

在我的心目中，你最重要 = In my heart, you're the most important

(在我心里 is also fine)

In the midst of a situation or process:

在日常生活中，我们应该保持平和的心态 = In our daily lives, we should maintain a calm attitude

Among a set:

在这些学生(当)中，他是最出色的 = Among these students, he's the most outstanding

Basically, 在...中 can be applied to a whole range of things.

[valikor]

嗯。 Semantic Nuance is right that being yelled at is an incorrect example of a "情况"/situation. I put in couple new, hopefully better examples in my original post. Thank you for pointing that out.

[skylee]

在別人罵你下, I've never seen this before. I've only heard ' 在....情況下', or '在....條件下'. The english sentence above could be translated as 別人罵你的時候，你就忍忍吧! (But why? Why should one be patient to be scolded or yelled at, unless one has done something wrong?)

I translated a letter (from English to Chinese) yesterday. The pattern of one of the original sentences was "Y will happen only if X has happened". My first translation was "只有在X的情況下，Y才會發生". Then I found it sounded odd (sounded european). So I changed it to "只有當X時， Y才會發生". Not sure if this is relevant.

My boss is giving me more and more translation tasks. I suppose she thinks that this is the only thing I can manage.

[ma3zi1]

There are also more formal versions of this construct, for example:

在……之下, "在這種情況之下，……"

Also, note carefully where creamyhorror said 在……當中, the 當 is optional in most cases though. Although, perhaps someone else can clarify where it is best to use 當中 instead.