Are these these idioms comprehensible for an average educated Chinese?

[Guest realmayo]

I guess it would be surprising if Communism + literacy-drive + English didn't = a decline in the (Chinese) language abilities of the most educated slice of mainlanders, albeit that average levels of education must have soared. A bit like simplification of characters: a good idea for those aiming to learn 2000 of the things, not so good for those aiming for more than that.

[gato]

The totalitarian system is the main factor. Language leads to thought and must be controlled. English isn't necessarily a problem. Many educated people before 1949 learned multiple foreign languages. Lu Xun knew at least Japanese and English.

[Guest realmayo]

Many educated people before 1949 learned multiple foreign languages.

Sure but if most people you meet think the only reason for a Chinese person to study Chinese at university is if they want to become a Chinese teacher, that suggests there's an emphasis on the practical when it comes to education, and under those circumstances it would make sense to find people prioritising a working knowledge of English over a refined ability in written Chinese no?

I would love to know if any work's been done on whether a homogenised politcally correct language (vocab, grammar, rhetoric) emerged in the first 10 or 20 years since 1949, and if so what effect if any that had on the average person's use of language (given how much radio airtime, column inches were devoted to offical or officially sanctioned speeches and texts). This is over and above the effect (whatever that may be) of promulgating an official Putonghua.

[jkhsu]

By the way, if a native speaker cannot comprehend 抱残守缺 or 并行不悖, I do not think he/she is really well-educated, though he/she might be a holder of a PhD.

While I tend to agree with you that Chinese language education for native Chinese in China has probably degraded in recent years, I am not sure I understand your statement above. Are you saying that you would consider any native speaker who does not happen to know those two 成语 not well educated, regardless of their background?

I would hate to be judged whether I'm "educated" or "not educated" by some English idioms that I happen to not know.

[imron]

I would hate to be judged whether I'm "educated" or "not educated" by some English idioms that I happen to not know.

Yeah, that would certainly put the flystock around the pestilocalis.

[gato]

I would love to know if any work's been done on whether a homogenised politcally correct language (vocab, grammar, rhetoric) emerged in the first 10 or 20 years since 1949

That existed without a question, a kind of People's Daily language, or 党八股 (Party 八股文).

Sina has posted New Year's greetings by various world leaders. You can compare Mr. Hu's 党八股 with the language used by the other leaders.

http://topic.t.sina.com.cn/news/wlnyadress/index.shtml

各国首脑2012年新年贺词

[Kenny同志]

Skylee, I value kindness as highly as you do, but it's not unkind to state an unpleasant fact.

I'll stop here. And I'll keep my views to myself.

[Guest realmayo]

Sometimes you've got to be cruel to be kind....

[LaoJian]

1. pick another two idioms which may be more common than yours in oral communication,

抱残守缺 - 因循守旧

并行不悖 - 相辅相成

2. most of Chinese Idioms are more often used into writing rather than speaking, except they can be so popular for long long years. If you look into the words you quote, you can find '抱残守缺' stem from one ancient book in Han Dynasty(more than 2000 years before), how long history it is.

[rezaf]

thanks, actually 相辅相成 sounds closer to what I meant.