The King Is Dead, Long Live His Spirit

When you fall into a deep pit, someone comes along, but instead of pulling you up, he drops a stone on you (落井下石, Chinese would say). How would you feel then? If you don’t know, ask Pluto.

Even since the planet-not has lost his crown, Chinses chatrooms are in uproar. "It’s unfair dismisal" the young Netzines insist. To them Pluto is a hero who stands on the frontier in defence of the solar empire against nomadic tribes of meteors.

But not everybody thinks highly of the one on the marginal seat. Presently Pluto is called Minwang Star (冥王星 ) in Chinese, meaning Ghost King. The King is dead, some Chinese scientists reason, and he should be retitled as Minshen Star (冥神星), Ghost Spirt.

What can you say, signs Pluto, I’m in a dog house (Remember? This is a Dog year).

Other nobilities in the solar empire and their Chinese titles:

Jupiter: Wood Star

Mars: Fire Star

Saturn: Earth Star

Venus: Metal Star

Mercury: Water Star

Uranus: Heavenly King

Neptune: Sea God

Blame on Dictionaries

How to know if you spell a word correctly?
Answer: Check with your dictionary.
How to know if the spelling on my dictionary is correct?

Well, that could be quite tricky.

Firstly you have to check whether your dictionary has missing pages. Secondly you need to find out if the entry elements are double over or run together without white space. Thirdly, and most importantly, you must exam whether the print is authorised, because, according to the figure disclosed by China’s central TV station, in some Chinese cities such as Shenzhe, one in every ten new copies of the dictionaries is the product of the copyright violation, with missing pages and double over entries as the trade marks.

That’s depressing. But the up side is, hey, whenever you spell incorrectly, you can always blame on dictionary.

4000 People Play Taichi on Closing Ceremony

The Second Daoist Festival wrapped up last Friday with four thousand people playing Taichi on the closing ceremony.