The "V" sign

[LeeFisher3]

Not sure when it began in China. Anyone recall the pictures of Nixon exiting the plane on his first trip to China?

[Yuanyang]

Try the V sign in Tiananmen square the next time and see the effects. It would be interesting

 

I have seen the V sign used there with no ill affects - Zilch

Same here with all of the family. No big deal.

[SmilingAsia]

It's actually a secret Chinese gesture that, loosely translated means ... "I've hooked my self a laowei!"

What if your teenager daughter gave the same V sign? Does it mean "I have helped my mother hook a laowai successfully"?

[BillV 8-16-2004]

Try the V sign in Tiananmen square the next time and see the effects. It would be interesting

 

I have seen the V sign used there with no ill affects - Zilch

 

I always thought it meant peace.

[LeeFisher3]

Try the V sign in Tiananmen square the next time and see the effects. It would be interesting

 

I have seen the V sign used there with no ill affects - Zilch

 

I always thought it meant peace.

Flower child?

[SmilingAsia]

Since TV became popular in China, we saw people on TV, like soccer team won a game, someone won a campaign, they gave V sign before camera. V sign is a sign for picture taking.

If I ask my brother's wife why she gave me a V sign, she'll say that's for picture taking--everybody else does this

 

Double V sign, tu zi is Chinese invention - she feels happy, fun.

[phantom1949]

Try the V sign in Tiananmen square the next time and see the effects. It would be interesting

 

I have seen the V sign used there with no ill affects - Zilch

 

I always thought it meant peace.

Flower child?

 

Your both dating yourself, But then that's what I always thought it meant.

[phantom1949]

Since TV became popular in China, we saw people on TV, like soccer team won a game, someone won a campaign, they gave V sign before camera. V sign is a sign for picture taking.

If I ask my brother's wife why she gave me a V sign, she'll say that's for picture taking--everybody else does this

 

Double V sign, tu zi is Chinese invention - she feels happy, fun.

 

In the TV series Star Trek, the Russians always invented everything first....

[jbray]

I asked have asked several Chinese people about it. They have all said, "We learned if from America... American's do it when you take pictures." I always thought they confused it with the annoying "rabbit ears", mixed in with "Peace" and "Victory". I think they have misunderstood....

 

Actually, I have seen several things in China/Asia where they misunderstood western customs and adopted and evolved it. For example, in many large Chinese cities (like Chengdu), people go out in groups on Christmas Eve and beat people with plastic bats and spray people in the face with spray snow... I asked many people why they do that. They all said, "That's what you do in the West." Uh... Yeah... I have been all over the US and Europe and never saw anything like that... I think they saw New Years in Time Square and confused it...

 

I have also seen in South East Asia, there is a phrase, "Same Same". I was told that foreigners started saying it as a way to be understood better. So, the locals thought it was a western phrase and adopted it. Now, the foreigners think it's a local thing and use it even more.

[SirLancelot]

Try the V sign in Tiananmen square the next time and see the effects. It would be interesting

 

I have seen the V sign used there with no ill affects - Zilch

 

I always thought it meant peace.

 

Exactly. It never occured to me it was the victory sign until someone mentioned this in another thread somewhere else. The Chinese see this more as the peace sign from the hippie age rather than the "V" for victory sign that many older Americans think of dating back to World War II.

 

For example, in many large Chinese cities (like Chengdu), people go out in groups on Christmas Eve and beat people with plastic bats and spray people in the face with spray snow... I asked many people why they do that. They all said, "That's what you do in the West." Uh... Yeah... I have been all over the US and Europe and never saw anything like that... I think they saw New Years in Time Square and confused it...

 

I've spent several Christmas in Shanghai; I've never see any Chinese in SH do this bat beating and snow spraying ritual. Maybe it's a Chengdu thing.

 

Speaking of what other nations think what American do for Christmas, ask the Japanese about going to KFC to eat chicken for Christmas. It's seems to be their belief that all Americans eat fried chicken for Christmas and that's why so many Japanese have now adopted this tradition for Christmas too. I've only recently learned of this ritual in Japan.

[jim_julian]

It's actually a secret Chinese gesture that, loosely translated means ... "I've hooked my self a laowei!"

What if your teenager daughter gave the same V sign? Does it mean "I have helped my mother hook a laowai successfully"?

 

In fact it does .... and, as you know, she did!

[jim_julian]

For example, in many large Chinese cities (like Chengdu), people go out in groups on Christmas Eve and beat people with plastic bats and spray people in the face with spray snow... I asked many people why they do that. They all said, "That's what you do in the West." Uh... Yeah... I have been all over the US and Europe and never saw anything like that... I think they saw New Years in Time Square and confused it...

I've spent several Christmas in Shanghai; I've never see any Chinese in SH do this bat beating and snow spraying ritual. Maybe it's a Chengdu thing.

 

 

Bat beating is also standard fare on Christmas and western New Years in Chongqing ... maybe this phenomenon is related to the consumption of chili peppers?