View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Curse: "May you live in interesting times"
Sounds kind of odd for a curse, huh? "May you live in interesting times". To Western Culture, most of see that as a pleasant wish to bestow on someone. Exciting things happening, new adventures, new opportunities. What could be more 'interesting'. To the Chinese, its a curse.
I think it comes from this: Chinese like calm, predictable life. They like that because their history is riff with turmoil. Warning clans and Emperors, battles with the Mongolians, Civil Wars. China has been occupied buy the Japanese, French, British, Spanish, just to name a few.
So, interesting times means change. Change means upheaval and turmoil. Turmoil means conflict. And with conflict comes suffering. And nobody likes to suffer.
So think about that next time someone gushing about how great it is to live in "interesting times" - there is something to be said for calm predictability.
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