{"id":10584,"date":"2019-11-22T12:26:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/?p=10584"},"modified":"2019-11-22T15:58:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T15:58:55","slug":"a-leftover-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/a-leftover-man\/","title":{"rendered":"A Leftover Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
In China, there is a group of people who are highly educated, earn a descent income and maintain a good appearance, yet most of them are single even though they are in their late 20s or early 30s. These people are known as "\u5269\u7537” (shèng nán) or "\u5269\u5973” (shèn\u0261 n\u01da) in Chinese. Simon happens to meet one such person today.<\/p>\n

           n\u01d0 j\u012bn ti\u0101n kàn q\u01d0 lái h\u011bn yù mèn \u0101
Simon: \u4f60\u4eca\u5929\u770b\u8d77\u6765\u5f88\u90c1\u95f7\u554a<\/strong>\u3002
            You look upset today. <\/p>\n

              shèng nán zhè me du\u014d \uff0cwéi shén me hái qu\u0113 w\u01d2 y\u012b gè
Da Wei: “\u5269\u7537”\u8fd9\u4e48\u591a\uff0c\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48\u8fd8\u7f3a\u6211\u4e00\u4e2a\uff1f<\/strong>
              There are so many "Leftover Men", why does it need one more?<\/p>\n

             shén me \uff1fn\u01d0 hé xi\u01ceo lín fèn sh\u01d2u le
Simon: \u4ec0\u4e48\uff1f\u4f60\u548c\u5c0f\u6797\u5206\u624b\u4e86\uff1f<\/strong>
             What? You broke up with Xiao Lin?<\/p>\n

              ài  y\u012b yán nán jìn
Da Wei: \u5509\uff0c\u4e00\u8a00\u96be\u5c3d\u3002<\/strong>
              Well, it is a long story.<\/p>\n

In the dialogue, Simon wo<\/em>nders why Da Wei is so upset. Da Wei respo<\/em>nds that he is now unfortunately among the group of “Leftover Men” again. "Leftover Men" or "\u5269\u7537(shèng nán)"<\/strong> is a very popular term in modern China. It has two Chinese characters – "\u5269" and "\u7537". We may regard "\u5269" as the short form for "\u5269\u4e0b\u7684<\/strong>" which means "leftover" or "the remainder of something". For example: \u5269\u4e0b\u7684\u4eba<\/strong> means "the remaining people (leftover)". "\u4ed6\u4e0d\u559c\u6b22\u5403\u5269\u4e0b\u7684\u996d"<\/strong> means "He doesn’t like to eat leftovers". “\u7537” means "men" in Chinese. So the word “\u5269\u7537<\/strong>" literally means “leftover men.”Meanwhile, "\u5973" refers to "lady" or "women" in Chinese, so "\u5269\u5973<\/strong>"means "leftover women".<\/p>\n

"\u5206\u624b<\/strong>" comprises the characters "\u5206" and "\u624b". "\u5206" means "divide" or "separate" while "\u624b" means "hand". In some cases, "\u5206\u624b" refers to a "relatio<\/em>nship breakup" as a noun or "break up between couples" as a verb. However, it also means "separate". For example, "\u6211\u4eec\u4e00\u76f4\u8c08\u5230\u6df1\u591c\uff0c \u7136\u540e\u624d\u5206\u624b"<\/strong> means "We talked until midnight and then separated."<\/p>\n

Da Wei replies directly with his reason, but says "\u4e00\u8a00\u96be\u5c3d(yì yán nán jìn)",<\/strong> which means that explanation is a long one. Here "\u4e00\u8a00<\/strong>" means "one word". "\u96be\u5c3d<\/strong>" means that it is difficult for someone to explain all the facts. The whole phrase is used when someone wants to express that it’s hard to explain the whole story in just several words. It is com<\/div>\n