Back to 1942 2012
一九四二
In 1942, Henan Province was devastated by one of the most tragic famines in modern Chinese history, resulting in the deaths of at least three million men, women and children. Although the primary cause of the famine was a severe drought, it was exacerbated by locusts, windstorms, earthquakes, epidemic disease and the corruption of the ruling Kuomintang government.
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Vocabulary
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| 僧多粥少 僧多粥少 | lit. many monks and not much gruel (idiom); fig. not enough to go around; demand exceeds supply | Idiom |
| 担惊受怕 擔驚受怕 | (idiom) apprehensive; alarmed; anxious | Idiom |
| 长吁短叹 長吁短嘆 | long moan and short gasp (idiom); continually moaning and groaning in pain | Idiom |
| 同流合污 同流合汙 | to wallow in the mire with sb (idiom); to follow the bad example of others | Idiom |
| 严惩不贷 嚴懲不貸 | to punish severely (idiom) | Idiom |
| 麻木不仁 麻木不仁 | numbed; insensitive; apathetic; thick-skinned | Idiom |
| 助纣为虐 助紂為虐 | lit. helping tyrant Zhou in his oppression (idiom); fig. to take the side of the evildoer; giving succor to the enemy | Idiom |
| 瞎说 瞎說 | to talk drivel; to assert sth without a proper understanding or basis in fact; not to know what one is talking about | Xiehouyu |
| 一锤子买卖 一錘子買賣 | a one-off, short-sighted deal; a one-shot, all-out attempt | Xiehouyu |
| 添乱 添亂 | (coll.) to cause trouble for sb; to inconvenience | Colloquialism |
| 拉稀 拉稀 | (coll.) to have diarrhea; to shrink back; to cower | Colloquialism |
| 宰了 宰了 | (coll.) (typically used hyperbolically) to kill (sb) | Colloquialism |
| 就算 就算 | (coll.) even if | Colloquialism |
| 指着 指著 | Poke | |
| 逃荒 逃荒 | to escape from a famine; to get away from a famine-stricken region | |
| 巡回法庭 巡迴法庭 | circuit court | |
| 花枝 花枝 | spray (sprig of a plant with blossoms); cuttlefish (on dining menus); (literary) beautiful woman | |
| 牲口 牲口 | animals used for their physical strength (mules, oxen etc); beast of burden | |
| 灾情 災情 | disastrous situation; calamity | |
| 蚂蚱 螞蚱 | (dialect) locust; grasshopper | |
| 托生 託生 | to be reincarnated; to be reborn | |
| 掐死 掐死 | to throttle; to choke to death | |
| 财主 財主 | rich man; moneybags | |
| 配制 配製 | to compound (medicines etc); to prepare (by mixing ingredients); to concoct | |
| 保命 保命 | to preserve one's life; to ensure one's survival | |
| 家产 家產 | family property | |
| 祖坟 祖墳 | ancestral tomb | |
| 炸死 炸死 | to kill with an explosion | |
| 公家 公家 | the public; the state; society; the public purse | |
| 通融 通融 | flexible; to accommodate; to stretch or get around regulations; a short-term loan | |
| 上吊 上吊 | to hang oneself | |
| 儿媳妇 兒媳婦 | daughter-in-law | |
| 胜仗 勝仗 | victory; victorious battle | |
| 旨意 旨意 | decree | |
| 社评 社評 | editorial (in a newspaper); also written 社論|社论 | |
| 收回成命 收回成命 | 收: gather together, collect; harvest · 回: return, turn around; a time · 成: completed, finished, fixed · 命: life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction | |
| 军需官 軍需官 | quartermaster | |
| 活命 活命 | life; to survive; to save a life; to scrape a living | |
| 侨胞 僑胞 | countryman living abroad | |
| 公敌 公敵 | public enemy | |
| 不消 不消 | to not need; needless (to say) | |
| 重担 重擔 | heavy burden; difficult task; great responsibility | |
| 存亡 存亡 | to live or die; to exist or perish | |
| 祸福 禍福 | disaster and happiness | |
| 万劫不复 萬劫不復 | consigned to eternal damnation; with no hope of reprieve | |
| 荤腥 葷腥 | meat and fish | |
| 挨饿 挨餓 | to go hungry; to endure starvation; famished | |
| 身家性命 身家性命 | 身: body; trunk, hull; rad. no. 158 · 家: house, home, residence; family · 性: nature, character, sex · 命: life; destiny, fate, luck; an order, instruction | |
| 庇佑 庇佑 | to bless; to protect; protection (esp. divine) | |
| 万贯 萬貫 | ten thousand strings of cash; very wealthy; millionaire |