Szeto Wah and Chris Patten

We all know that the last governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten was once vilified by China and described as a 千古罪人, or "sinner for a thousand years".

Why? Mainly for the semblance of democratic reforms he had unleashed on the territory in the years leading up to the return of Hong Kong in 1997.

At a farewell dinner for Mr. Patten, Hong Kong democracy activist Szeto Wah (司徒华) apparently presented a hand-written scroll to Mr. Patten.

The scroll consisted of four words - 千古醉人, which sounded exactly like "sinner for a thousand years".

But unlike the former, there are many ways of interpreting the latter, which differed by only one differently-pronounced word.

As Szeto explained: ""千古的含义很多, 可以解作 "永恒"的, 或 "历史" 的, 或 "过去了的", 甚至是 "死掉了".

"醉人的含义也很多, 可以解作 "喝醉了的人", 或 "使人陶醉", 或 "使人麻醉", 甚至是 "糊糊涂涂的人".

我最后说: "千古醉人"这四个字, 他可以用我的各个解释, 去做自由组合, 找出他自己喜欢的含义. 他听了又是一阵哈哈大笑."

Translated: "千古 has many meanings, it can be interpreted as "eternal", or "historical", or "in the past", or even "dead". 醉人 also has many meanings. It can be interpreted as "someone who is drunk", or "something to make someone mesmerized", or "something to make someone numb", or even "someone who is confused or bewildered".

"Finally I told Patten that he can find a combination of the above that he likes best. After he heard it, he broke into another round of laughter."