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\tIf you learn Chinese festival, you must know the common word \u8282\uff08jié \uff1ait means festival or holiday\uff09. The character \u8282 is, in a word, an instant party—attach it to the end of just about anything and you’ve got yourself a holiday. Tack it on to \u52b3\u52a8 (láodòng), or labor, and you’ve got \u52b3\u52a8\u8282 (Láodòngjié)<\/strong>, Labor Day; add it to \u5987\u5973 (fùn\u01da), woman, and you’ve got \u5987\u5973\u8282 (Fùn\u01dajié)<\/strong>, Women’s Day. Add it to spring, \u6625 (ch\u016bn), and you’ve got the biggest holiday of the year: \u6625\u8282(Ch\u016bnjié)<\/strong>, or Spring Festival. \u8282, in other words, has the power to transform the dead of winter into a raging, baijiu-fueled, firework-popping celebration.
\tGiven its alchemical powers, you might be surprised at \u8282’s rather prosaic roots—its original meaning, as recorded in bronzeware inscriptions (1300 BC-200 BC), was “bamboo joint,” the ridges along poles of bamboo. At that time, \u8282 was written as \u7bc0, which combined the radicals at the top of the character for bamboo, \u7af9 (zhú), with the pronunciation character \u5373 (jí).
\tThe appearance of the character started to change during the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-207 BC), when cursive writing simplified the \u2eae at the top of \u7bc0 to \u8279. Later still, people started leaving out the left side of the character \u5373, simplifying it into the modern \u8282.
\tThe meaning of \u8282, on the other hand, took a much more convoluted path. Around the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), dictionaries began listing a second definition for\u8282, “bamboo cord,” thanks to the resemblance between bamboo ridges and knotted up bits of twine.
\tHere’s where the semantic gods of Association begin to run wild. Because twine was used as a restraint, \u8282 gave birth to \u8282\u5236 (jiézhì), which means “restrict” or “moderate.” This spun off a host of new words related to restraint or restriction: \u8282\u7ea6 (jiéyu\u0113) and \u8282\u4fed (jiéji\u01cen), for example, both refer to frugality; \u8282\u98df (jiéshí) means to diet; \u8282\u6b32 (jiéyù) is abstinence and\u8282\u54c0 (jié’\u0101i) refers to overcoming grief. When people pass away, we often say \u8282\u54c0\u987a\u53d8 (jié’\u0101i shùnbiàn), which is short for \u8282\u5236\u54c0\u4f24 (jiézhì \u0101ish\u0101ng) “restrain grief,” and \u987a\u5e94\u53d8\u6545 (shùnyìng biàngù) “accept misfortune. ”
\t\u8282 took another interesting turn with the word \u7b26\u8282 (fújié), which in ancient China referred to the bamboo certifications given to royal envoys. Diplomats came to be called \u4f7f\u8282 (sh\u01d0jié), which in turn gave way to an army of terms related to the messengers’ supposedly noble characters. Among these are \u6c14\u8282 (qìjié, integrity) and \u8282\u64cd (jiéc\u0101o, moral principles). In ancient Chinese culture\u8282\u64cd was extremely important, a sentiment expressed in the phrase,“\u997f\u6b7b\u4e8b\u5c0f\uff0c\u5931\u8282\u4e8b\u5927”(È s\u01d0 shì xi\u01ceo, sh\u012bjié shì dà), which means that starving to death is nothing compared with losing one’s integrity.
\tA third line of semantic evolution was based on the observation that bamboo joints occur one after the other. As a result, \u8282\u8282 came to describe something that occurs steadily or in succession. During a war, two defeats followed by a retreat is called \u8282\u8282\u8d25\u9000 (jié jié bàituì). When prices continually rise it’s called \u8282\u8282\u4e0a\u5347 (jié jié shàngsh\u0113ng). The saying \u829d\u9ebb\u5f00\u82b1—\u8282\u8282\u9ad8 (zh\u012bma k\u0101ihu\u0101—jié jié g\u0101o, sesame flowers open—and grow steadily tall) means that things are always changing for the better, like a sesame flower blossoming upwards.
\tBecause bamboo joints divide the pole into sections, \u8282 is also used to describe things in life that have stages. Book chapters and sections are called \u7ae0\u8282 (zh\u0101ngjié)<\/strong>; performance order is called \u8282\u76ee (jiémù)<\/strong>; and seasons are called \u5b63\u8282 (jìjié)<\/strong> and \u8282\u6c14 (jiéqì). It’s this that led to the use of\u8282 to refer to holidays, which were originally used to mark seasonal changes. In addition to \u6625\u8282 (Ch\u016bnjié)<\/strong>, there’’s also \u6e05\u660e\u8282 (Q\u012bngmíngjié\uff09<\/strong>or Tomb Sweeping Day, \u7aef\u5348\u8282 (Du\u0101nw\u01d4jié)<\/strong> or Dragon Boat Festival, \u4e2d\u79cb\u8282 (Zh\u014dngqi\u016bjié) <\/strong>or Mid-Autumn Festival, and so on. Go ahead, try and invent your own. My first nomination: \u5de7\u514b\u529b\u8282 (Qi\u01ceokèlìjié<\/strong>, Chocolate Festival)…
\tWelcome to China and enjoy all kinds of \u8282.<\/p>\n