凤毛麟角 (feng4mao2 lin2jiao3)

lit. phoenix feathers, unicorn’s horn

“as rare as hen’s teeth”

必由之路 (bi4you2 zhi1lu4)

lit. the road one must take

“the only way”

蛛丝马迹 (zhu1si1 ma3ji1)

lit. spider’s web, horse’s hoof prints

“traces", “clues”

龙飞凤舞 (long2fei1 feng4wu3)

lit. flying dragon, dancing phoenix

“flamboyant brush strokes”

亡羊补牢 (wang2yang2 bu3lao2)

lit. mend the fold after the sheep is lost

“close the barn door after the horse has bolted”

心慈手软 (xin1ci2 shou3ruan3)

lit. kind heart, soft hands

“kindhearted and hesitant in action”

青梅竹马 (qing1mei2 zhu2ma3)

lit. green plums, bamboo horses

“childhood playmates”

The Chinese have a great sense of humour. Here’s an example:

An emperor, returning to the capital after many years touring his empire, hears that one of his concubines has given birth to a son. He thinks, “I’ve been away for so long, how can she be pregnant? It must be one of the eunuchs!” In a rage, he summons all the eunuchs, commands them to line up and number off: 1, 2, 3, 4 (high-pitched eunuch’s voices), 5 (deep voice). “Stop!” barks the emperor. “Lock up number five. We’ll behead him tomorrow.” At the third watch, the concubine, holding her child, sneaks into the prison and says to number five “I’ve bribed the guard. We can run away to a place where no one will find us and we can live happily ever after.” Number five says “No we can’t. You’re already too late” (high-pitched voice).

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When the New Number Two Primary School fell, parents, relatives and friends of pupils rushed to the site. Sang Jun arrived about 20 minutes after the earthquake to look for his son. “There were already five people digging,” said Sang. He jumped in to help. His arms and legs, like Bi’s and other parents here, are now scarred with scrapes and bruises from the frantic efforts to pull apart the rubble and get to their kids below. Holding a pair of dirty blue jeans and a blue work shirt stained with blood, Sang said: “I was wearing these. I pulled out more than 20 children … Only five were alive.”

Zhang Chao was recovering from surgery in a hospital nearby. When he heard the school was demolished, he got up and went to help, pulling several bodies from the wreckage.

Down the road, a hefty farmer with a buzz cut named Zuo Jun hobbles with a crutch along a dirt path beside a golden field of wheat. Zuo injured his left foot prying through the rubble in search of his 11-year-old son, Zuo Hao, who appears pudgy with a crew cut and a jovial smile in family photos. At the end of the raised path in the corner of the field is a mound of fresh dirt where Hao is buried. “If the teachers had been there, he would be alive,” said Zuo with a pained look. “During the lunch break, the teachers put two classes together, locked them in and then went to play mahjong. This is what students said.”

“Did quake really kill my little girl?”, The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 16th May, 2008

Jiang, who comes from distant Kaili city in Guizhou province, was working in the highway administration department in Yingxiu, the town in Wenchuan County at the epicentre of last Monday’s quake. Jiang was working the night shift, so was asleep at the Yingdian Hotel when China’s worst natural disaster in a generation struck at 2.28pm. “I was buried in complete darkness, but my quilt was covering my body; that must have protected me,” he said. “I knew that I wanted to live. I didn’t want my parents to grieve for me. Their voices, telling me to work well before I left home for Sichuan, echoed from time to time in my ears in that darkness.

Jiang’s mother, Long Jinyu, a 52-year-old administrative worker at a vocational school, flew into Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, at 4am on Saturday, then took a taxi out to Dujiangyan city… Police and soldiers were preventing civilians from going any further… They would not let her continue, but when they were distracted, she began to climb the mountain. “I kept scrambling up, sometimes on my feet, sometimes on my hands and knees. I don’t know where my strength came from. I caught up with a team of soldiers heading the same way. I was the only civilian there.” Running over in her mind as she kept travelling on were the words, “Son, hold on, Mum is coming to help you.” When she arrived at the ruins of the town, a firefighter told her a quite stable signal had been found where the Yingdian Hotel had been, indicating there was still one person alive, buried under the pile of tiles and bricks. “I ran up to the ruins, and shouted into them, ‘Erge, Erge!’ - my son’s special pet name from when he was little. “And I heard him answer ‘Mum’. It was like a voice from heaven. I can’t tell you how I felt.

“Mother’s voice saves son”, The Australian, Monday 19th May, 2008

Chongqing Dog (Chongqing quan)

This remarkable looking dog is found only in Chongqing City and eastern Sichuan province. The Chongqing is a distinct and ancient bloodline with no genetic connection to the boxer, despite possessing a strong resemblance to that family of dogs. They were traditionally used by officials and gentry for hunting, to guard property and as status symbols. The breed is even rarer than the panda and little known even inside China. Owners say the Chongqing is a noble, loyal and very intelligent dog.

Formosan Mountain Dog (Taiwan quan)

The Formosan Mountain Dog category contains a variety of indigenous Taiwanese dogs that are defined by great athleticism, triangular features and large, upright ears. They are closely related to other primitive or original Asian dogs and are ideally adapted to living and hunting in Taiwan’s thickly forested mountains. Due to centuries of interbreeding with imported dogs, today very few pure blood Formosan Mountain dogs remain; however, their genetic legacy is evident in street dogs all over the island.

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