a personal blog post about Taiwan/Mainland relations

[Fred0]

 

This is a blog post. I am posting the whole text with my attempt at translation to provide context for the second to last sentence which is my main problem. But, I am also asking various questions where I have problems throughout the text. And I would appreciate corrections to my translation where it is faulty, or shows failure to understand the text. Thank you.

 

错位的记忆和想象

Out of touch with our memories and our capacity for imagination.

 

#我为何与台湾越来越远?

#Why am I more and more alienated from Taiwan?

 

从小到大, 台湾在我心中一直是一母同胞的存在, 我想这是我们, 生于七零、八零年代的所有大陆人, 共同的记忆和认知吧?

From childhood,  I have always regarded Taiwan as a part of our national family. I feel that they are a part of us.   Don’t we, mainlanders born in the seventies and eighties, share common memories and understandings with them.

台湾是每年央视新年晚会午夜零点准时发来的慰问电, 是祝所有的港、 澳、台同胞春节快乐!

Every New Years Eve, Taiwan watches the celebration on CCTV, and at the exact stroke of midnight, they send and receive their good wishes. To all in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, as one family,  they wish a Happy New Year!

说到祖国的宝岛, 我们不会想到“海南岛”, 不会想到 “青岛”, 宝岛只有一个,  就是台湾岛。

When we speak of the “treasured island” of our motherland, we are not thinking of Hainan Island, or Green Island. There is only one treasured island, and that is Taiwan.

台湾岛上有日月潭、阿里山, 阿里山的姑娘美如水, 阿里山的少年壯如山。

On Taiwan are Sun Moon Lake and  the Alishan mountain range- Alishan girls, as beautiful as water; Alishan men, as strong as mountains.

我 们都知道, 我们是一母同胞, 对这个小岛自带天然的血缘亲情和好感。

We all know that we are a family. Toward this little island we bring our familial love and good feeling, as to our own natural bloodline.

 

更不要说那些年, 我们听过的歌, 看过的电视、 电影和综艺。

Not to mention that all these years we all have been listening to the same music and watching the same variety shows and movies on tevision.

大四的时候我们全班在湘仪子校实习, 空闲的时候我们玩“你比猜”的游戏, 有些词汇都是直接来自“超级星期天”这个栏目。

In my senior year in college, our whole class interned at Xianyizi School. In our free time we played the game of “Guess Who.” There were some words which came from the “Super Sunday” program.

写到 这里, 我还能想起哈林、阿宝、佼佼、阿亮一起 大喊“超级星期天, Super”片头语的场景。

As I write this, I am still able to remember the scene in which Ha Lin, A Bao, Jiao Jiao,  and A Liang  shout together the “Super Sunday” opening titles.

你相信吗? 我还真的背了阿亮的那首歌, 开头的第一 句我现在还记得: 孔子的中心思想是个仁, 仁的 表现是.... 我亮子的中心思想是个why ....

Can you believe it? I still actually know A Liang’s theme song by heart. I still remember the beginning: “In the center of Confucius’ heart was the thought to be kind, to show kindness is...”   The shining thought at the center of my heart is WHY...

 

我从来没有觉得和台湾有时差, 有文化差,

I have never felt that between us and Taiwan there was ever a time difference or a culture difference,

我目睹了阿宝介入佼佼和小S的恋情, 这三个人我都好喜欢, 面对小S的泪水, 我没有方寸不知道该去谴责谁。

I saw with my own eyes A Bao get involved in the romance between Jiao Jiao and Little S. I liked all three of them. As I confronted the tears of Little S, I didn’t know whom I should blame.

 

台湾水果第一次开放进入中国市场, 我去超市买雾莲, 味道一般, 可是, 不妨碍我理解宝岛人民对雾莲的喜欢;

When fruits from Taiwan were first allowed to be imported into the Chinese market, I went to the supermarket to buy  Java apples. Its flavor was nothing special, but that does not interfere with my understanding that the people of Treasured Island like Java apples.

台湾开放自由行, 好多人给我推 荐, 说台湾最美的风景线是人。

When Taiwan opened up to travel, many people recommened it, saying Taiwan’s most beautiful scenery was its people.

 

是什么时候开始和台湾疏远呢? 不是太阳花、不是反服贸。

When was it that our alienation from Taiwan began? Wasn’t it during the Sunflower Movement, the opposition to the Cross-Strait Trade Agreement. (1. or is it, “not the Sunflower Movement, not the Cross-Strait Trade Agreement?”)

那一年在德国旅行, 在阿尔卑斯山脚下的一个酒店, 大厅里有一个留言本。

That year, travelling in Germany, in the lounge of a wine shop at the foot of the Alps, there was a guest book.

我的理解是, 摆在大厅休息区的留言本, 是用来表达对酒店的感谢与建议的吧?

It is my understanding that this guest book displayed in the rest area was for the purpose of  conveying one’s gratitude to the wine shop and for making suggestions- right?

结果看到很多台湾人的留言, 偶尔也有大陆人的回越。

Accordingly, one could see many comments by Taiwanese, and occasionally also mainlander’s responses. (2. 回越 could mean a costume romance on Chinese television, or “return to Vietnam,” neither of which makes sense. I am guessing it means responses to the Taiwanese’s comment by a mainlander. Am I correct?)

小朋友刚开始看到是自己认识的汉字, 很高兴地去认, 去读, 然后发现, 那些话、话里的意思他不明白,那些人的 愤怒、辱骂他也不知道是为什么。

A child as soon as he began to read the responses recognized Chinese characters, and happy to recognize them, went on reading, after which he discovered some comments the meaning of which he could not understand. He also couldn’t understand why these people were so angy and insulting.  (3. I can’t tell here if the writer is referring to angry insults from mainlanders to Taiwanese only, Taiwanese to mainlanders only, or both to each other. Perhaps it’s meant to be unspecified? If I knew what 回越 means, it might answer the question.)

他跟我一样, 对于台湾的认识和记忆, 还停留在我们的语文课本, 课本告诉他: “一只船扬白帆, 飘啊飘啊到台湾；接来台湾小朋友, 到我学校玩一玩。伸出双手紧紧握, 热情的话儿说不完。”

For he and I both, our acquaintance with and memories of Taiwan are limited to our literature textbooks in school. The textbook tells him:  “a boat with a white sail,  floating, floating towards Taiwan,

is received by a Taiwan child. Come to my school to play. Extending both hands; holding in a tight embrace; cordiality without end.”

不止一家酒店, 在莱茵河边一个最寻常的景点, 在德国古城街巷的入口, 在天鹅堡, 有留言本的地方, 就能看到那些人无孔不入的留言。

Not only at the wine shop, but also at a common scenic spot by the Reine river, at the entrance to the streets and alleys of the old German towns, and at the Neuschwanstein Castle, there were guest books where you could read these people’s comments everywhere.

小朋友还好, 我却实在是心寒: 一母同胞, 何至于此?

The child is not so upset by it, but I truly am bitterly disappointed: how is this a familial relationship?

 

我固然不能理解 TW被割让后各种政治错位导致的对大陆的疏离, 但是, 那些留言的人, 也根本不理解我们, 生于七零、八零年代的大陆人, 对 TW 的记忆和感情吧?

Admittedly, I am unable to understand  the island’s alienation from the mainland which was caused by the various kinds of governmental dislocations that followed the ceding of Taiwan 4. to the Japanese in 1895?}, (5. This is a knotty sentence for me. Have I parsed it correctly? ) but those people who left the comments, don’t they also basically mis-understand us, the mainland people who were born in the seventies and eighties- our memories and good feelings?

 

非典来临, 如果说台湾民间各种喧嚣尘上的 wuhan 病毒之说我还能无视, 不能理解的是, 疫情初期台湾官方以物资吃紧对口罩的封锁。

As the atypical pneumonia approached, if one were to say that among the Taiwanese people there was all kinds  of clamor over the Wuhan virus. I was able to ignore it. (6. What does 喧嚣尘上 mean? Is it a variation of 甚嚣尘上？) What I can’t understand is, in the early stage of the epidemic, the Taiwan government, because of short supplies, blocked face masks.

但是当新加坡出现疫情时, 却忙不迭第一时间送上问候, 不是说自己的口罩都不够吗? 新加坡总理夫人大概也是不能理解的吧, 所以在FB上回应了一个大大的“呃....”这是她发的原文, 意味深长的标点符号都是总理夫人所发。

however Singapore, at that same time as the epidemic appeared, hurriedly, as soon as possible, sent their good wishes. Did they say that they didn’t have enough masks? The wife of the prime minister of Singapore was perhaps also unable to understand, so she responded on Facebook with a large “呃...” meaning “WHAT?...  .” This was her original text. It was a profound piece of punctuation that she sent out.

 

呃...我真的不能理解。我只知道, 也许我对台湾的亲情, 是时代、文化、媒体综合而成的错位, 我欲将心照明月, 奈何明月不珍惜。

What?...I really don’t understand. I only know, maybe my familial love of Taiwan is completely alien to the composite of the present day attitudes, the culture, and the media. I want the intuitive sensitivity of my heart, to make the pearl shine brightly, but it is to no avail, as the pearl does not cherish its own light. (7. Here I am really lost. This sentence is the central problem I am asking about. It seems that this is a poetic expression alluding to the “luminous pearl” of Chinese  tradition that gives off its own light, but I doubt that I have gleaned the correct meaning. Is the writer saying that Taiwan is to blame for not reciprocating the writer’s warm familial love for the island, is it the idea that the general zeitgeist is opposed to these kinds of warm human feelings, or some other idea?)

我中年的清醒与失落, 也许也是成长必经的过程?

My middle-aged clear-headedness, and sense of disappointment and loss are maybe necessary to the process of becoming a mature person.

[craig.jb]

Good job going through the whole article, it's a good exercise. I'll leave just a few scattered notes on things that I don't think were translated correctly, or spots where you had questions. I'm not trying to give good translations, just ones that match the original meaning, so maybe in some cases you had a looser translation that is still acceptable.

 

这是我们, 生于七零、八零年代的所有大陆人, 共同的记忆和认知吧?

"Isn't this the shared recollection and acknowledgement, of all mainlanders born in the 70s and 80s?" So not "share...with them [Taiwanese]", just shared among Mainlanders.

 

台湾是每年央视新年晚会午夜零点准时发来的慰问电

CCTV sends a New Year's greeting to Taiwan, it doesn't claim that "Taiwan watches" it or that they "send and receive" greetings.

 

更不要说那些年, 我们听过的歌, 看过的电视、 电影和综艺。

"Not to mention all the songs we listened to during those years, all the movies and TV we watched." So not mutually "listened to the same music" as I would interpret your translation. Taiwanese media is popular on the mainland, but the reverse not so much, which seems to be a persistent misunderstanding in your translation.

 

I see 回怼 in your scanned image, not 回越 which doesn't make sense. I'm starting to wonder if there are other errors like this in recognizing characters. This should clear up your misunderstanding: the insulting comments were from Taiwanese.

 

我固然不能理解 TW被割让后各种政治错位导致的对大陆的疏离, 但是, 那些留言的人, 也根本不理解我们, 生于七零、八零年代的大陆人, 对 TW 的记忆和感情吧?

I'll retranslate: "So indeed I couldn't understand the alienation towards the mainland produced by the various political misalignments following secession; yet those people who had left messages possessed totally no understanding of our memories and emotions towards Taiwan as mainlanders born in the 70s and 80s." [looks like you got it right]

 

Hope this helps, 加油！

 

 

[Fred0]

Thanks very much. These corrections are very helpful. I am still hoping for help with the last two paragraphs. Thank you.

 

非典来临, 如果说台湾民间各种喧嚣尘上的 wuhan 病毒之说我还能无视, 不能理解的是, 疫情初期台湾官方以物资吃紧对口罩的封锁。

As the atypical pneumonia approached, if one were to say that among the Taiwanese people there was all kinds  of clamor over the Wuhan virus. I was able to ignore it. (6. What does 喧嚣尘上 mean? Is it a variation of 甚嚣尘上？) What I can’t understand is, in the early stage of the epidemic, the Taiwan government, because of short supplies, blocked face masks.

但是当新加坡出现疫情时, 却忙不迭第一时间送上问候, 不是说自己的口罩都不够吗? 新加坡总理夫人大概也是不能理解的吧, 所以在FB上回应了一个大大的“呃....”这是她发的原文, 意味深长的标点符号都是总理夫人所发。

however Singapore, at that same time as the epidemic appeared, hurriedly, as soon as possible, sent their good wishes. Did they say that they didn’t have enough masks? The wife of the prime minister of Singapore was perhaps also unable to understand, so she responded on Facebook with a large “呃...” meaning “WHAT?...  .” This was her original text. It was a profound piece of punctuation that she sent out.

 

呃...我真的不能理解。我只知道, 也许我对台湾的亲情, 是时代、文化、媒体综合而成的错位, 我欲将心照明月, 奈何明月不珍惜。

What?...I really don’t understand. I only know, maybe my familial love of Taiwan is completely alien to the composite of the present day attitudes, the culture, and the media. I want the intuitive sensitivity of my heart, to make the pearl shine brightly, but it is to no avail, as the pearl does not cherish its own light. (7. Here I am really lost. This sentence is the central problem I am asking about. It seems that this is a poetic expression alluding to the “luminous pearl” of Chinese  tradition that gives off its own light, but I doubt that I have gleaned the correct meaning. Is the writer saying that Taiwan is to blame for not reciprocating the writer’s warm familial love for the island, is it the idea that the general zeitgeist is opposed to these kinds of warm human feelings, or some other idea?)

我中年的清醒与失落, 也许也是成长必经的过程?

My middle-aged clear-headedness, and sense of disappointment and loss are maybe necessary to the process of becoming a mature person.

[Fred0]

A band of slave trader’s captured a peasant man who was out gathering firewood.

怕他们逃走，剥得一丝不挂丢入「巴腊坑」

What does 巴腊坑 mean? I can’t find a reference to it anywhere. Thank you.

[Woodford]

I think it's a transliteration of the term "Barracoon!" The middle character, 腊, takes on the pronunciation of "la" (balakeng).

[Fred0]

That makes sense. Thank you. How in the world did you figure that out?

[Woodford]

I ultimately pasted it into Google! However, it was odd—the word you posted here is likely an alternate spelling, because the Google results only showed the word spelled with 拉 rather than 腊。So that confused me at first, but I figured out that it must be the same word.

[Fred0]

That's a good tip. Thanks.

 

 

[vellocet]

酒店 = hotel, not wine shop.

[anonymoose]

I think your understanding of the penultimate paragraph is more or less correct.

 

As for 我欲将心照明月, 奈何明月不珍惜, I couldn't understand it initially either, but clearly it has its origins in literature. I quick Google search shows it is adapted from 琵琶记, the original text being 本将心向明月，奈何明月照沟渠. The explanation I found (from here) is:

 

Quote

直白地说意思是,你喜欢明月但明月不解风情，就是本来我一心向明月的，但是呢明月没有照我却照满沟渠。喻自己很喜欢/很想做的事没有得/做到，更无奈的是自己喜欢/想做到的人/事物却做的更不好。

 

That original means something like, "I devote my heart to the moon. Why does the moon light up the gutters?". The quote from the blog post, along the same lines, means something like, "My heart shines on the moon. Why does the moon not cherish this?". Obviously, the moon here is a euphemism for Taiwan. 

[Fred0]

Thank you. This is really helpful.