Our phrase of the week is: “universally acclaimed” (脍炙人口 kuài zhì rén kǒu)
Context
Liu Huan (刘欢) is one of China’s best-loved singers. He died on September 25, at the age of 63.
The news broke the next day when a short obituary was published by the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, where he had taught for more than thirty years.
Liu is probably most famous outside China for his performance at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when he sang the theme song “You and Me” (我和你), with the British singer, Sarah Brightman.
Inside China he is best known for creating the theme tunes and music scores for some of China's most popular TV series in the 1980s and 1990s.
He sang the theme songs for the police drama Plainclothes Police (便衣警察) and Snow City (雪城) in 1988, wrote and sang the music for A Native of Beijing in New York (北京人在纽约) in 1993, and sang "Song of the Heroes" (好汉歌) for Water Margin (水浒传) in 1998.
Later, he became a familiar face to a new generation as a judge on hit music talent shows such as The Voice of China (中国好声音) in 2012 and Sing My Song (中国好歌曲) in 2014
Social media feeds have been full of tributes to Liu over the last week. A tribute by music critic, Li Wan (李皖) in Lifeweek (三联生活周刊) summed his life up as:
“Most of Liu Huan’s performances came in the opening and closing themes of hit TV dramas.
These were universally acclaimed masterpieces sung in the spotlight on the great stage of their era.”
刘欢表演、表现的场所，大部分都是热播电视剧的片头片尾曲，时代舞台上聚光灯下的脍炙人口之作。
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
“Universally acclaimed” is the English translation of a classical four-character idiom (脍炙人口 kuài zhì rén kǒu). The individual characters mean “finely minced meat” (脍 kuài), “roast” (炙 zhì), “people” (人 rén) and “mouth” (口 kǒu).
It originally described delicious food that everyone loves to eat. Today, it’s used to praise poems, writing and songs that are widely loved and acclaimed.
The roots of the idiom lie in Mencius (孟子), a record of conversations between the philosopher Mencius (孟子) and his disciples. Mencius (c. 372-289 BCE) is regarded as the most important Confucian thinker after Confucius himself.
The story begins with two of Confucius’s own disciples, a father and son. The father, Zeng Xi (曾皙), was especially fond of “sheep dates” (羊枣), a small, round, purple-black fruit. After he died, his son Zengzi (曾子) could not bring himself to eat them. Followers of Confucius held this up as a model of devotion to a parent.
Generations later, Mencius’s student, Gongsun Chou (公孙丑), found this puzzling. So he puts the question to his teacher, which is recorded in the chapter, Exerting the Heart, Part Two (尽心下):
“Zeng Xi loved sheep dates, and his son Zengzi could not bear to eat them after his father’s passing.
Gongsun Chou asked: ‘Which tastes better, roast meat, or sheep dates?’
Mencius said: ‘Roast meat, of course!’
Gongsun Chou said: ‘So why did Zengzi eat roast meat, but not sheep dates?’
Mencius said: ‘Roast meat is a taste everyone shares. Sheep dates were his father’s taste alone. In mourning observance, one avoids a deceased parent’s personal name but does not avoid their surname. The family name is shared by many, whereas the given name is his alone.’”
曾皙嗜羊枣，而曾子不忍食羊枣。
公孙丑问曰：”脍炙与羊枣孰美？”
孟子曰：”脍炙哉！”
公孙丑曰：”然则曾子何为食脍炙而不食羊枣？”
曰：”脍炙所同也，羊枣所独也。讳名不讳姓，姓所同也，名所独也。”
Mencius’s point was that everyone loves roast meat, so eating it did not remind Zengzi of his father. But the sheep dates reminded him of the loss of his father.
From then on, “roast meat” (脍炙) came to stand for things everyone enjoys.
The full four-character idiom first appears in Gleanings from the Tang (唐摭言), a collection of anecdotes about Tang dynasty scholars and the imperial examinations. It was compiled by Wang Dingbao (王定保), a scholar-official writing during the Five Dynasties period (907-960). Quoting lines of poetry, he wrote:
“Lines such as ‘The sound of water is always in my ears, the colour of the mountains never leaves my door’ and ‘Sweeping the floor leaves shadows of the trees, dusting the bed brings forth the music of the zither’…
All of these are universally acclaimed.”
如”水声常在耳，山色不离门”，又”扫地树留影，拂床琴有声”……皆脍炙人口。
This meaning still stands in modern Chinese.
“Universally acclaimed” can describes a poem, a story, or a song that is widely appreciated by many. As in “a song that is on everyone’s lips” (脍炙人口的歌曲).
And that is how Liu Huan’s songs are remembered by many people in China today.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource which helps you bridge the gap to real-world fluency in Mandarin, stay informed about China, and communicate with confidence—all through weekly immersion in real news. Subscribe for free here.
