The Chinese Have a Word for It : The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Culture (Paperback)

by Boye De Mente (Author) "Romantic love between men and women has been rare in the history of China..." (more)
Key Phrases: zuo pengyou, fenpei system, xin yong, Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedung, Cultural Revolution (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is an ideal introduction to the Chinese language and culture for business people, students, and travelers. It sheds light on the character and personality of the Chinese by examining the meaning, historical significance, and use of more than 300 Chinese expressions. This practical guide will help readers anticipate Chinese behavior and avoid cultural faux pas.

About the Author
Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a renowned sinologist and has written many books on language and culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0658010786
• ISBN-13: 978-0658010781
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #646,559 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but very condescending, January 1, 2004

By	H. Yin "sight_reader" (Fort Collins, CO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

On the positive side, the format of this book is wonderful and easy to read, and the commentaries are educational and often insightful. However, this book is suffused with a bitter, judgemental, and condescending interpretation of Chinese culture. De Mente portrays the Chinese as misogynistic, ruthlessly authoritarian, and socially backwards, pointing to an obviously negative experience De Mente had living there.

The easiest way to illustrate this problem is with an example. Let us turn the tables and use De Mente's style to do a silly definition of "Liberty" in American culture: "The American concept of liberty has created a culture that is exclusively focused on the self centered pursuit of indulgence, entertainment and wealth. This corrosive desire to be free of any form of social obligation prevents the healthy formation of any family or communal relationships. Although a growing number of Americans are being exposed to the benefits of Chinese culture, it is unlikely that this trait will ever be fully exorcised from the American psyche until several generations have experienced life in a society that understands and values responsibility and respect."

The last few sentences of this example were actually lifted right out of the book, but with the value judgements reversed. As you can see, this commentary may be true, educational, or even insightful, but it is obviously offensive and condescending when there really is no need to be. If you are using this book to learn about Chinese culture, keep these cautions in mind, as De Mente vents frustration on Chinese culture in almost every definition.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fraught with language errors and cultural misconceptions, February 27, 2006

By	J. Heller "the real deal" (Dongguan, China) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author paints China as this complex system of mannerisms and beliefs, when people are just people here in China. If you want a truly real perspective on China, I suggest you buy another book. If you are going to be on a plane for 14 hours, then it might be worthwhile to flip around in it, as it touches on a few interesting topics.

Although the book tends to get it right on the larger scale of things, I thought the author must have been a person who collaborated the book from previous texts while on a "study vacation" of no more than 2 years in China. As soon as I read the first section on love, I hastily flipped to the front of the book to see when this book was published; horrificially I discovered it was first published in 2000 and furthermore would like to note was horrified as I was sure the book must have been published in the late 80s.

There are so many language errors in this book, even of the Chinese characters written on the top of each section, that this author lost all credability with me immediately. The author attempts to portray that he is an expert on the subject of China, but I kept wondering the entire time: "Who edited this book? They should have caught these language errors." For example on page 26 entitled "Engaging in Melancholy", the correct romanization of the character should be qiu, not chou; and the first thing I thought of was "stinky" (which is one of the translations for the word chou).

Another culturally insensitive, completely erroneous, and embarassing mistake is that the author contends that the word 'haole' (a Hawaiian word) translate to "white pig", while discribing other cultural ways of terming foreigners (see page 145). Having absolutely nothing to do with the subject of the book and being completely in error, I wish the editor or the author would have removed the unnecessary comment.

Furthermore on page 145 the author asserts the term yang gui zi means "ocean ghosts", when in fact the character yang was used specifically to describe foreign things or items during the Opium War (things coming from beyond the ocean), during which this specific use of the language came out. The term should be corrected to mean "foreign devil".

Again, page 404 title "A Chinese Nooner", the correct romanization should be wu xiu, not wu xin, or more colloquially refered to as zhong xiu.

Anyway, maybe I am being picky...but this book does not represent China. If I could take the subjects in this book and write my own paragraph on them, I think it would be a lot different. That's the beauty of China, everyone takes away something different. I just have a lot more positive view than the author.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book deserves 5 stars..., February 17, 2004

By	Jad (TJ) Duwaik (Liaoyang, Liaoning China) - See all my reviews

But I'm going to give it four because the fort collins reviewer who points out the author's "bitter, judgemental, and condescending interpretation" is actually correct. I wouldn't characterize De Mente so harshly, but as much as the author loves and understands Chinese culture, it's clear that De Mente just doesn't get it. He points out, for example, a quotation from Mao Zedung who said that the Chinese are like grass. If you mow them over, more will grow to replace them.

De Mente uses this example to shock western sensibilities and show how far "behind" the Chinese are in individual rights. Yet this is what makes China China: the focus on society and not the individual.

For what it's worth, though, individual rights are coming to China because the Chinese want them. And so De Mente's judgements while perhaps inappropriate are not irrelevant.

Personally, my biggest criticism of this book is that every Chinese word he presents is accompanied with his own transcription that I found worthless. I would've preferred that he used pinyin with tonal markers. But that's a small criticism considering the focus of the book is the exposition of each word, a collection of maybe a 100 essays, that give wonderfully concise -- and ignoring the subjective judgements, accurate -- summaries of Chinese culture.