“hit swell-up face pose-as fatty”
出處：姚雪垠《李自成》* 第一卷第十八章
chūchù: Yáo Xuěyín “Lǐ Zìchéng” dì yī juàn dì shíbā zhāng
Source: Chapter 18, Volume 1 of “Li Zicheng”* by Yao Xueyin
(*出版於 / published 1963–1999)
This saying breaks down as “hitting one’s face until it swells up to look like a fat person”.
It is most revealing about the attitude of the Chinese where face (metaphorically, i.e., pride) is concerned, and also what “fat” means to them.
Everything is relative. Take “fat” and “thin” for example. In some cultures, “fat” is not a positive state to be in, health considerations aside — fat is not beautiful. Some cultures, however, think “fat” is beautiful. The Chinese for one, traditionally anyway, because fat means one has enough to eat, that one does not have to toil but can afford to sit around all day doing nothing. It implies monetary wealth, and therefore social status.
When one has put on weight, people say, 你發福了 / 你发福了 nǐ fāfú le / “you have generated good-fortune”.
The characters for “fat” (肥 féi; 胖 pàng) are written with the flesh radical (月), whereas the one for “thin” (瘦 shòu) is written with the sickness radical (疒 nè)
Read also:
https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2013/06/one-way-of-putting-on-weight-or-not.html
https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-chinese-perspective-on-fat-vs-thin.html
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