Mandarin Monday: Is Cursing in China Hen Hao or Lowbrow?

You're on your way home from work. Three people jump ahead of you in line as you make your way to an overflowing subway car where you're thrashed by hundreds of commuters staring into their smartphones and jockeying for position. At street level, a Jingdong delivery trike appears out of nowhere and blasts its shrill horn as a black Audi comes from the opposite direction and nearly flattens you. You barely resist the urge to give the guy in the Audi a piece of your mind. But is it worth it?

Cursing is useful in countless ways in all of our lives. It instigates conflict, diffuses tensions, and helps us to sound cool. But the way profanity is used is by no means universal, and it is worth considering whether or not to employ these dark arts as a foreigner in China.

In 2012, a video went viral of the principal cellist for the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Oleg Vedernikov, refusing to remove his feet from the seat back of a fellow train passenger and calling the woman a “shabi.” Following his naming and shaming in Chinese media, Vedernikov issued an apology video over Sina Weibo and lost his job. Though both passengers acted like children and the confrontation could easily have been averted, the use of such a strong word clearly raised the stakes. 

Public opinion shifted within a matter of hours from sympathy to rage in the case of a foreigner who allegedly struck a woman with his motorbike on a Beijing crosswalk in 2013 and was later deported. Initial rumors were dispelled that the woman was feigning injury to extort money and a video emerged of the man berating the middle-aged woman in front of a crowd of onlookers with numerous shabi's and other expletives. The authorities charged the man with multiple motorbike violations and went after him and his father for illegally working in China. Had he held his tongue, the media would have had much less to run wild with.  

Foreigners in China are increasingly under the microscope due to the pervasiveness of social media, and negative stereotypes are like candy for millions of faceless netizens ready to pounce on those who convey disrespect towards Chinese culture. Foul language can really help get people's attention, but not necessarily in a good way.

Eveline Chao, author of Niubi!: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught In School, said that although her book provides a full arsenal of putonghua profanity, laowai should exercise caution.

"It's just so hard to know if you're reading a situation correctly enough to pull off a phrase or a word that has a really strong impact on people," Chao, who lived in Beijing from 2006 to 2011, said. “You may not be understanding all the tiny little signals of tone, context, social situation, the relationship, and background of all the people involved.”

No matter how universal certain values might feel, or how westernized certain aspects of Beijing might seem, the concept of face (mianzi) is always simmering below the surface. Whereas trouncing someone with a barrage of four-letter words back home may be commonplace, the potential for inflicting deep and profound offense is much higher in China. As a foreigner you don't have to be obsessed with your own face or lack thereof, but you should be aware of others', as well as the fact that going off the handle can lead to a loss of face for everyone involved, not to mention getting your ass kicked.

These dynamics can also come into play in private settings between acquaintances.

A friend of mine recently ran into difficulties when out in Beijing with Chinese friends for a night of drunken street chuan'r. As people said their goodbyes, he casually dropped a “cao ni ma” to one his friends, attempting to convey a sense of being “bros” and regret that the night was coming to an end. His friend flew into a rage and had to be physically restrained by three others as my friend just smiled dumbly back in a Yanjing-induced haze.

After my friend realized the cross-cultural faux pas he had committed, he swore off cursing in Chinese altogether. His was an extreme example, but he said that he decided the risks outweighed the rewards, and I've since heard the same from others.

If you're looking for examples of what not to say unless you're looking for a fight, the Chinese Language Blog has a good run-down of savory and less savory phrases.

Photo: india.com