Mandarin Uncensored

These notes were taken between Sept. 6, 2011 and  Nov. 29, 2011: 12 classes.

Mandarin I Berkeley Extension
Virginia Mau, professor
425 Market Street
San Francisco, CA
meat = moon in Chinese

Mandarin Uncensored – Class 1

It takes sharp eyes 色 to see at night 晚

Was Chinese simplification a way to make the characters look less like pictures?

Bubble Tea – Boba Nai Cha – and the biggest-breasted woman in China

Wang ba is a cuckold which is a tortoise

You say “gege,” I say “gugu”; you’re Chinese, I’m Akkadian, and we’re both talking about virgins

Puyi had a wet nurse (not shown) until age 14

Why is “woman”女 in the character for “Japanese”倭? Is this an insult?

The sound “be” means “vagina” in Chinese. To be or not to be: up to the vagina

The word for “Eat” looks a lot like a head

Grain has symbolic meaning in China

Who’s up for Mandarin II?

Mandarin II to you too

CAVes and VAGinas are the same concept in Chinese

Tarte de la vaca

Interesting Chinese Characters #1: Mythical Animal that Eats Its Mother

The Large Pool of Bursa, by Jean-Leon Gerome, 1885, depicts a harem of women and children around a series of pools.

Interesting Chinese Characters #2: “Profundity”: you know this has to mean “sex”—in the form of a harem

Interesting Chinese Character #3: Ghost of One Devoured by Tiger

The cunning chipmunk holds something in its mouth.

Interesting Chinese Characters #4 and #5: Cunning involves holding something in one’s mouth

Interesting Chinese Characters #6: To Shoot; To Spurt

The Chinese character for ‘please’ combines the characters for ‘flesh’ and ‘explosion,’ another way to say ‘ejaculate.’ The character for rice includes the character for semen. In the image, semen is suggested by a spoonful of rice pudding.

The roots of “Please 请” are kind of messy