Indirect Signals Archives - understand-culture

Edgar Snow on the Rostrum

On October 1, 1970, the American journalist Edgar Snow stood beside Mao Zedong on the Tiananmen rostrum. People’s Daily later carried a photo of the two men there on its front page. A Chinese account calls it a “subtle message with deep meaning.” A People’s Daily article of 2018 says: “The thaw in China-US relations began with Mao Zedong’s invitation to Snow to visit China in 1970.”

Sources disagree on when the photo was printed. One account says that it was arranged for the next day’s paper. Others place it with the report on Mao’s meeting with Snow in December 1970, or a week after that meeting.

Study It, Study It

In May 2016, a commentary in the Procuratorial Daily, republished by People’s Daily Online, criticized officials who hide behind procedure. It described their habits with two set phrases: “When something comes up, they do not handle it, but ‘wait and see.’ They kick the ball back and forth and ‘study it, study it.'” (遇事不办”等等再看”，来回踢球”研究研究”。)

The Vocabulary of Sounding Out

打招呼 To call out a greeting. Also to tell someone about a matter beforehand or afterward, or to remind them of it.

吹风 To blow wind. To let information out, or to make an opinion known.

通气 To let the air through. To keep each other informed.

摸底 To touch the bottom. To find out the real situation and the inside story.

探口风 To probe the wind from the mouth. To sound out what another person thinks. The Handian dictionary’s example comes from marriage. Instead of proposing a match, the other side first sent someone to “throw a stone to test the road” and sound things out.

A Frank Exchange of Views

In Chinese diplomatic reports, a meeting at which the two sides “had a frank exchange” (进行了坦率交流) is understood to mean that they disagreed seriously.

In a 2022 article on diplomatic language, the scholar Wang Yizhou explains this reading. He also lists other phrases that take the place of plain words in diplomacy: “concern,” “serious concern,” “deep unease,” “great regret,” “strong dissatisfaction” and “severe condemnation.”

Seeing the Guest Out

The Chinese dictionary Handian gives two meanings for 送客, to see a guest out. The first is to see a visitor off. The second is that “the host signals that the guest should leave.”

Its example comes from chapter 49 of the novel A Brief History of Enlightenment (文明小史): “When he had finished speaking, he raised his teacup, and someone beside him called out: ‘See the guest out!'”

Noted

In 2005, the National Palace Museum in Taipei held an exhibition. The cover of its guidebook showed a reply by the Kangxi Emperor in red ink, in Manchu and Chinese. It had three characters: 知道了, “noted.”

A company later added 朕, the word an emperor used for “I,” and printed the phrase on masking tape: 朕知道了, “We have noted it.” The tape went on sale in July 2013. By December 2014, more than 200,000 rolls had been sold, according to People’s Daily. An early buyer wrote that it was for use when the boss’s tasks were annoying.

Words for Later

再说 Let’s talk about it later. Literally “speak again.” Used to put a decision off.

从长计议 To plan for the long term. Not to decide now.

好说 Easy to discuss. A modest, polite phrase. It can also mean “that can be arranged.”

推三阻四 To push three and block four. To give one excuse after another.

敷衍 To deal with something only on the surface.