Yao Nie Bing Wang (WSK) Chapter 144

Chapter 144

Earlier than usual surprise!

Translation Notes:

抠脚 Kōu jiǎo – ‘pull feet’, translated as ‘slovenly’. Perhaps you may have noticed someone touching their feet a lot – this is considered a disgusting habit, so people who ‘pull their feet’ are generally considered unhygienic and dirty. I guess you can liken it to the kid that always has his hands in his pants in manga (and irl too I guess xD).

Bringing Money to a Grand Opening – In Chinese culture, the gift of money is not considered tacky, or un-thoughtful. In fact, if you attended a Chinese wedding and tried to pull a West on them and bring them a blender or something, that would be quite strange to them. This varies for second generation Chinese and up of course. The culture prefers the flexibility of cash as opposed to buying something that may be perhaps useless, something the West really ought to pick up (gift cards are getting closer ;p).

For weddings or say the opening of a friend’s business, you will typically come to give them face and bring a red envelope of money. Your contribution numbers will indicate how well you are doing and how much you value the relationship, so bringing $10 will just make you look like an ass. A few hundred at least, is expected for your typical civvies, idk about rich families.

People don’t necessarily need to be invited to show up, but if you show up, bring a red envelope. In the case of our characters who have plenty of status, many people will come out of nowhere just to say they’ve shown up, and shown you respect. Each guest who comes will have their red envelope amounts painstakingly recorded with their names.

I should also add that ‘face’ culture is probably biggest in mainland China. Overseas Chinese, even in other parts of Asia, do not adhere so heavily to the concept of face. When dealing with a mainlander for instance, you may say “I’ve given you plenty of face” and they may consider backing down, curbing their demands or generally considering if they have overstepped their position. Saying that to overseas Chinese from other areas has, from my own experience, not been nearly as effective, and in conversation it has hardly come up.

North Temple Pagoda in Suzhou. Behind it is the typically gloomy night all over China. No, it is not always a giant cloud of pollution, though of course there are incredibly polluted cities.