MEotW: Zhōngguó

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Zhōngguó

How has the worldly nation of China long viewed itself?

The earliest known appearance of “Zhōngguó (中國)”, inscribed on the Western Zhōu bronze vessel Hé Zūn

“To Jehovah, for whom ‘a thousand years is as one day’, Chinese civilization has only been around for a few days.…

“…we should boast in Jehovah, not in needlessly and self-indulgently complex knowledge relating to a mere worldly human culture” https://t.co/emXNAng9W2#MEotW pic.twitter.com/xEjlDPAkud

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) June 9, 2024

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MEotW: nándào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• nándào

How can we ask rhetorical questions in Mandarin?

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MEotW: hélí

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• hélí

How can the beaver’s impressive industriousness and construction ability help us to reach the hearts of people in the Mandarin field?

A screenshot of the article “The Beaver’s Construction Ability” on jw.org

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MEotW: bìyào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• bìyào

Are Chinese characters really indispensable? Is it really true that the Chinese languages cannot be written alphabetically?

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MEotW: dòngnù

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• dòngnù

Is anger an appropriate reaction to the suggestion to focus less on characters and more on Pīnyīn?

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MEotW: Hànzì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Hànzì

In the big picture, how should we Mandarin field language learners view Chinese characters?

(The above picture is from near the beginning of the book The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, by John DeFrancis.)

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MEotW: Zhōngwén

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Zhōngwén

How do human language experts and God’s Word disagree with traditional Chinese culture regarding what aspect of Mandarin should be the primary focus of Mandarin field language learners?

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MEotW: róngyào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• róngyào

In the Mandarin field, what kinds of glory should we be mindful of?

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MEotW: zìmǎn

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• zìmǎn

How can pondering the Needham Question help us in the Mandarin field?

“Never, never, never in this office say, ‘But we’ve always done it that way.’”
—Admiral Grace Hopper, computer programming pioneer

Re writing Mandarin with Chinese characters, many say, “But we’ve always done it that way.”

However, as _Lǔ Xùn_ asked, does that make it right? pic.twitter.com/eFCN6fPYtY

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) September 10, 2024

Chinese characters are the punched cards of writing systems. Punched cards were not totally impossible to use, but there are now much better and easier-to-use ways to control computers.
 BinaryApe

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MEotW: guīju

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• guīju

In the Mandarin field, how can we avoid acting indecently in God’s eyes?

In God's organization, our unity is based on God's truth, not on human tradition.

[image or embed]

— tiandi, Links News (@tiandilinksnews.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 8:27 AM

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MEotW: Lǐ Huá

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Lǐ Huá

Who is Lǐ Huá? Why have so many Chinese people and American people been talking about Lǐ Huá on the Chinese social media app Xiǎohóngshū (RedNote)?

Learning Mandarin out of spite? You're not alone.

We’ve seen a ~216% growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year. https://t.co/9hzwBxfTgD pic.twitter.com/qWM9f5oFYA

— Duolingo (@duolingo) January 15, 2025

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MEotW: zìdà

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• zìdà

In the Mandarin field, how can we avoid being inferior B players or unserious tourists?

China relegating _Pīnyīn_ to being just a pronunciation aid for characters is like a company hiring a talented A player executive and then making that person just get coffee for the CEO, because the established power base’s top priority is to preserve itself—B players in action. https://t.co/fNHsBWEsWO

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) May 15, 2024

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MEotW: chuīxū

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• chuīxū

Might Chinese characters present a test for Mandarin field language learners? If so, what might they test?

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MEotW: háowú

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• háowú

How does the Mandarin NWT Bible’s translation of 1 Corinthians 13:3 emphasize to us how futile it is to do things out of pride and not out of love?

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MEotW: jiàoyù

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jiàoyù

Why should Mandarin field language learners be wary of what the world’s education system teaches people about Chinese characters?

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MEotW: zìkuā

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• zìkuā

Is Jehovah God impressed by one who boasts about having deep knowledge of Chinese characters?

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MEotW: jítǐ zhǔyì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jítǐ zhǔyì

How might collectivism and zero-sum thinking be connected to the obsessive attachment many have to Chinese characters?

Maybe this is connected to why so many Chinese people seem to think,

“I suffered with Chinese characters, so you must suffer with them too!”

rather than,

“I want you to use _Pīnyīn_ so you won’t have to suffer with Chinese characters like I did.” https://t.co/rgv337FoFi

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) April 13, 2024

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MEotW: gāo’ào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• gāo’ào

How did the Pharaoh that Moses and Aaron dealt with prove himself to be a bozo? How have many Chinese scholars acted similarly?

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MEotW: shěshēn

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• shěshēn

Are Chinese characters worthy and good just because they’re hard?

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MEotW: xīndé

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• xīndé

In the Chinese fields, is it enough to just fill our minds with knowledge about Chinese characters?

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