07.16.09
Neil Armstrong and Chinese Urinals
On multiple occasions during my stop through Zhejiang this past March, I noticed stickers such as the one below, posted above urinals in Internet bar bathrooms.
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It reads 上前一小步， 文明一大步, or in English “Step forward one small step, (become) civilized one big step.” This notice, urging male patrons to inch closer to the facilities while urinating, is actually a play on words from another famous quote in China, “这是一个人的一小步，却是人类的一大步,” which is the Chinese rendering of “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” the famous words uttered in 1969 by Neil Armstrong upon the first successful Moonwalk, 24 years before Michael Jackson accomplished a similar feat.
The “XX一小步，XX一大步” slogan format is not uncommon in China, as 40 years ago Mr. Armstrong inadvertently unleashed the perfect template, when translated into Chinese, for parallel metaphorical (I’m sure there’s a more technical term) public service announcements that still resonates today, even in dingy netbar lavatories.
The most prominent example of the “Armstrong template” is probably “个人文明一小步，社会文明一大步,” meaning “One small step for personal civility, one big step for society and civilization.” This slogan can be observed in public areas as a general reminder to people to wait in line, throw away trash, not spit on the floor, or anything else which is associated with “civilized” behavior.
The reason that Armstrong’s quote has stuck so well (in addition to the sheer magnitude of the moon landing) is that short, concise quotations, often with minimal (or no) grammar, are probably the most poignant ways to make witty statements in Chinese. The prime example would be the 成语 (cheng2 yu3), where four characters are muttered in succession, and communicate an implicit meaning which usually requires several sentences of English to explain.
While Neil Armstrong’s command of the Chinese language is likely far superseded by his knowledge of the universe and astrophysics, I do imagine he would be humored to know that his legacy has produced one of the more indelible slogan templates in the Chinese lexicon…Or at very least to know his speech patterns are memorialized in the coveted real estate above Chinese netbar urinals.
GAC
said,
July 16, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Funny stuff. I believe the technical term for that is snowclone. Maybe the Chinese translation of that should be 一步. I know some people that might be surprised about Chinese slogans coming from an American hero (granted, given the accomplisment Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew should really be considered heroes to all humanity), but hey, doesn’t surprise me.
Tex
said,
July 16, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I had seen this before and thought about this concept, though my Chinese/English translation didn’t quite make the smooth transition. Good read.
Wesley
said,
July 18, 2009 at 3:57 am
I’ve seen that exact urinal verbiage somewhere, but on a totally generic looking black on white sign — I think it was Chengdu?
FOARP
said,
July 20, 2009 at 10:52 am
Had the shock of my life when I discovered just how many ordinary Chinese folk don’t know who the first man on the moon was, probably a good 30-40% even in the cities.
GAC
said,
July 20, 2009 at 11:07 am
@FOARP
Why would that be shocking? I’m sure a good number of Americans don’t know that, either.
Ji Village News
said,
July 30, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Another common phrase pasted on top of urinals is 来也匆匆，去也充充, meaning “come in a rush, leave with a flush”. I saw this English translation at 武夷山, which I thought is really brilliant. It is a word play based on a pop song lyric in the 80s, 风雨兼程. One line says, 来也匆匆，去也匆匆，就这样风雨兼程.
Joel
said,
August 31, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Ahaha. Tianjin had these, too: June’s slogan gets full marks
At the time I thought they were intentionally trying to be funny/allude to the moon landing, but now I’m not so sure.
Joel
said,
August 31, 2009 at 1:12 pm
oops, i messed up that link. anyway, our bathroom moon landing slogans didn’t have pictures, but it was still pretty funny for beginning language students because we could actually figure it out in the time it took to pee.
Peter
said,
September 30, 2009 at 4:35 pm
@FOARP
Shocked? Really? Did you try asking that in the US?
I’ve met supposedly “educated” people in the good ol’ US of A who don’t know who Yuri Gagarin was or that Canada is in fact not a US state!
The average Chinese has more things to worry about than remembring the name of a public-shy American astronaut from the 60’s who landed on the moon (IF in fact he did land on the moon and not on some Hollywood set in NASA’s back yards!)