#yingyong

Loongkau, the name of the ghetto Miss Kyoshi raids are the start of the book, is in fact, Cantonese for 壟溝 “gutter/ditch”. these intimidating lookin lil suckers r in the traditional script, & the simplified version is 垄沟 (lóng gōu). no funny business here; p accurate name

extremely random, but, when Kyoshi punched the wood table in her mid-ring apartment, it was mentioned that the joinery cracked. traditional Chinese wood constructs are not held together by nails, but rather carved pieces at the ends that join together like puzzle pieces and provides fixture. they r called 榫卯 (sǔn mǎo)

what rly impresses me abt them is that these fixtures are used to hold together wood structures under whole tiled ceilings; oh yes, no glue, no nails, just expertly carved wood. I’m not gonna do it justice here u can search it up to learn more if ur interested ;)

Erhu !!! Ugh I love this one. 二胡 (èr hú) is a traditional Chinese string instrument that looks like a hammer with an elongated handle and two strings wow a horrible description; the notes it plays sound v sorrowful to me and i think it has something to do with the notes being in the minor scale ??? (I can’t music theory AT ALL don’t take my word for anything)

but yeah I have emotional attachment to that instrument bc my mother & my late grandpa both love it. one of my mother’s favorite pieces (also one of the most famous erhu pieces) is a piece called 赛马 (sài mǎ) “horse racing” and it’s a perfectly thrilling and passionate piece that I am also a huge sucker for ok this is getting off topic

oh I love the use of Aiyaa 哎呀 (āi yā, not only limited to the one tone tho — pronouncing it is like singing in this case: depends on the context) it’s just a very common expression for a multitude of emotions it’s so Chinese i love it sm

Jinpa’s bison Yingyong, I am kinda unsure about bc for some reason my first instinct was 阴阳 (yīn yáng) which I believe everyone knows at this point; I think it should be 英勇 (yīng yǒng) “heroic and brave”

...but what’s interesting & a piece of useless info is that mandarin for apps (applications) is 应用 (yìng yòng); same sound, different tones funny kinda?

now this one is absolutely useless but there’s a Chinese soccer player with the name Yangchen, 杨晨 (Yáng Chén)

the closest irl approx. of “kill two spidersnakes with one stone” is probably the idiom “kill two birds with one stone”, which actually has a very close match (both literally and figuratively) in mandarin four-character idiom (四字成语 sì zì chéng yǔ or just 成语 chéng yǔ) — 一箭双雕 (yī jiàn shuāng diāo) “one arrow (shoots down) two eagle”

Koulin, aka the girl who rightfully got decked in the face by Rangi, my guess at the Chinese characters for her name would be 寇林 or 寇琳 (both Kòu Lín; the second choice’s character for Lín is conventionally used for female names). I chose 寇 bc it originally means “bandits/invaders” or just “enemies” in general, and using it in the name of a character usually indicates villainous status.

also technically the Chinese translation of Zuko’s name also has this character (祖寇, zǔ kòu)

Peony and Camellia, oof eek dunno how I feel abt talking abt this. So, peonies, 牡丹 (mǔ dān), are the closest thing to a national flower for China. Camellia, or 山茶花 (mandarin, shān chá huā) / 藪椿 (Japanese, ヤブツバキ yabutsubaki) / Camellia japonica (binomial/scientific name), obviously carries a lot of meaning and history for Japan (even though a little overshadowed by the cherry blossoms) as it has been ever present in a lot of poetry & has some almost religious reverence tied with it.

Now a conflict btw two clans with these flowers as symbols just feels a lil too poignant to miss; like it honestly just may be a passing mention and what happened in the books plot wise has no relation with anything real world but Sino-Japanese Wars flash backs go brrrrrr

zo/so, the character that almost prompted a civil war, is the kanji 祖 (in pinyin it is zǔ), and as mentioned in the text it means “ancestor/forefather”.

the name Huazo, if we’re going by zo = 祖, could be 府阿祖 (ふあぞ), which can mean at least according to this translator I’m using founder of a prefecture (a district under the government apparently) which is kinda fitting for her tbh

the way I didn’t even know what a prefecture was

Joonho, 준호, Korean given name

the ceramic gaiwan, as a drinking vessel used by the woman at the tea shop in the chapter Home Again, is 盖碗 (gài wǎn) “lidded bowl”, a tea serving set popular during the Qing dynasty (Yongzheng times). it is always a set of three: 上有盖, 下有托, 中有碗 “lid on top, supporting dish at the bottom, bowl in middle”

茶托 “tea supporting dish” also was referred to as 茶船 “tea boat” & i just think that is cute & neat