China Bound, Revised: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC (1994)
Chapter: Glossary of Chinese Terms
Glossary of Chinese Terms
The following Chinese terms, used in China Bound, are listed below for quick reference.
Chinese word (pinyin) Meaning
ayi
female helper
biaozhun
grade or standard
cesuo
toilet
chunjie
"Spring Festival," or Lunar New Year, which symbolically marks the end of winter
danwei
Chinese work unit
dong chuang
chilblains
fen
local currency (the Chinese penny)
fudao
private tutoring
fuwufei
service fees (in research)
fuwuyuan
service personnel
gaoji jinxiusheng
senior advanced student
getihu
"privately owned" (restaurants, etc.)
gonganju
Public Security Bureau
guanlifei
administrative costs (in field research)
guanxi
personal connection, relationship
jiao
local currency (the Chinese dime)
jiating
family
juan
fascicles (of research material)
kuai
Chinese dollar (colloquial)
laobaixing
ordinary Chinese people (literally, old hundred names")
Laowufei
work compensation fees (in field research)
Liuxuesheng bangongshi/liuban
The Foreign Student Affairs Office
Luxingshe
China Travel Service
Mao
Chinese dime (colloquial)
maotai
a strong Chinese liquor
mian'ao
cotton padded jacket (same as mianyi)
mianbaoche
mini-buses (literally, "bread trucks," named for their shape)
miandi
yellow minivan taxis
neibu
"internal" or classified materials that cannot leave the country
neiwai youbie
difference between "insiders" and "outsiders" and the treatment thereof
paidui
to line up
pipa
a Chinese guitar-like musical instrument
renminbi
local currency, Chinese dollar (same denomination as yuan)
shaobing
Sesame-seed cake
shifu
Term of address used for Chinese service personnel
suibian
Casual
taijiquan
a kind of traditional Chinese shadowboxing
tiaojie jia
the "adjusted rate" of monetary exchange, higher than the official rate available at the Bank of China
tongxue
Schoolmates
waihuijuan
Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) (no longer printed)
waishi banshichu/waiban
The Foreign Affairs Office
wen ya dian yuan
Surge protector
xian
County
xiang
Township
xiuxi
rest, as in the rest period from noon until 1:30 or 2:00 p.m.
xitong
the larger system of which the danwei is a component, such as the CAS, CASS, or SEDC
youtiao
fried dough sticks, most often eaten with shaobing and/or doujiang (soybean milk) for breakfast in North China
yuan
local currency, Chinese dollar (same denomination as renminbi)
