Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Another book to be given away is a Chinese book titled 中国人, 日本人, 韩国人 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) written by Korean-Chinese writer 金文学 (김문학?).

In the book, the author wrote that different words written in Chinese characters mean different things to people from the three different countries.

For instance the expression "性味好". In Korean it means that the person has a good temperament. But in both Japanese and Chinese, it means "sexy/sex is good".

Also the word "汤". The book told of a story about a Chinese student in Japan who wondered why men and women holding basins were queuing up to enter a shop with two queues marked "male" and "female".

In Chinese, "汤" means soup, but in Japanese it means bathhouse. Of course, the Chinese student found out for himself eventually when he saw men walking around naked in the bathhouse.

Then there is the word "冷藏库".

Here, there is another story of how a Chinese student in Korea was told by his Korean landlord that he will be provided with a "冷藏库". The Chinese student was puzzled. "No matter how well-off the Koreans are, surely they don't have to go round providing frozen warehouses", the student wondered.

But as it turned out, the landlord meant "refrigerator". But of course.

Then there is "金玉满堂" which has an auspicious meaning in Chinese. It means having lots of gold and jade, or abundant wealth.

Here, there is yet another story about how a Japanese received a gift from his Chinese friend. The gift was a scroll with the four words written and framed up as a gift.

The Japanese reportedly flew into a rage, thinking that the "joke" had gone way too far. But as it turned out, the Japanese had reasons to be upset. Coz in Japanese, "金玉" means "male testicles". Hence "金玉满堂" means to have "an abundance of male testicles."