ON THE

CHARACTER

變

ON THE

CHARACTER

Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

計(jì)劃變更，生物變異，社會變革，時(shí)代變遷——世間萬物，唯有變化才是永恒

Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived at the foot of two mountains. He hated the mountains for blocking his way and decided to move them one bucket at a time. Determined, the man devoted his life and his posterity to the effort. In the end, the god of heaven decided to move the mountains for him. Imagine how easy a task (and how short a story) it would have been if the old man just moved house instead.

There are many similar stories in Chinese mythology; humanity triumphs over nature. Little did they know that in the future—with melting Poles, sinking cities, and shrinking glaciers—that there would be a price to pay for humankind’s arrogance in nature’s realm.

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Faced with global warming (全球變暖 quánqiú biàn nuǎn), 變 (biàn, change, transform) is the character we all desperately need to learn. From its early, pictorial form, we know this character emphasizes the human element in causing change. The top half of the character is a complicated pattern, consisting of a pair of hands trying to sort through a mess of silk threads. This is the radical, which means“chaos”. The bottom half is a hand holding a stick, which later evolved into the radical攴. So essentially, our ancestors wanted to use a stick to bring order to a mess.

A saying from the I Ching《 (易經(jīng)》, Classic of Changes) stressed the importance of 變:“窮則變，變則通，通則久?！?(Qióng zé biàn, biàn zé tōng, tōng zé jiǔ. When constrained, make a change; change will clear the pathway; a free flow ensures continuous development.)

In modern Chinese, a series of verbs and nouns are based on this character, which can be attached to different subjects. 變化 (biànhuà, change, vary) is used in more general cases, such as, 十年來，城市發(fā)生了很大的變化。(Shí nián lái, chéngshì fāshēng le hěndà de biànhuà. The city went through great changes over the past decade.) But if you want to change a timetable or a plan, use 變更 (biàngēng, alter, modify). When it’s social transformation you’re talking about, use 變革 (biàngé, transform).

In biology, there’s 變異 (biànyì, variation) and 變種 (biànzhǒng, mutant). Interestingly, the chameleon is literally and quite fittingly called “color-changing dragon” or 變色龍(biànsèlóng) in Chinese.

But of course, 變 is not always for the better. The idiom 變本加厲 (biàn běn jiā lì) means “worsen, intensify, and become aggravated”, as in 他們變本加厲地互相攻擊。(Tāmen biàn běn jiā lì de hùxiāng gōngjī. They attack each other with intensified severity.)

There are words consisting of 變 that cannot quite be explained by literal interpretation, such as 變臉 (biànliǎn), literally “changing face”, which means“to turn hostile”. 變心 (biànxīn), literally“changing heart”, means “to break faith”. Meanwhile, 變態(tài) (biàntài) usually means“pervert”, but, don’t be alarmed when you have to go to the 變態(tài)反應(yīng) (biàntài fǎnyìng, abnormal reaction) department in the hospital. Here, it’s just a medical term for allergies.

There are also phrases with both literal and figurative usages. For instance, 變質(zhì) (biànzhì, change of quality, usually for the worse) can appear in 牛奶變質(zhì)了。(Niúnǎi biànzhì le. Milk has turned sour.) And 他蛻化變質(zhì)了。(Tā tuìhuà biànzhì le. He has become a moral degenerate.) 變味 (biànwèi, change of flavor, to go bad) can be used on food, as well as to mean a “change in nature”. For instance, 麻將是一種娛樂活動，如果加上金錢就變味了，成了賭博。(Májiàng shì yì zhǒng yúlè huódòng, rúguǒ jiāshàng jīnqián jiù biànwèi le, chéng le dǔbó. Mahjong is an entertainment activity, but if you add money, it changes into gambling.)

Other undesirable changes include 病變(bìngbiàn, pathological change), 婚變 (hūnbiàn, marriage crisis), 嘩變 (huábiàn, mutiny),政變 (zhèngbiàn, coup) and 變故 (biàngù, catastrophe, misfortune). When offering condolences you can use the phrase 節(jié)哀順變 (jié'āi shùnbiàn, reconcile your grief and embrace change).

To be able to embrace change shows flexibility, therefore 變 can form phrases that refer to flexibility. For instance, 隨機(jī)應(yīng)變 (suíjī yìngbiàn) means “to act according to circumstances”. Along the same lines, 變通(biàntōng), which means “to make changes according to specific cases”, i.e. stretch a point, is the word you might need when you’re trying to get out of a traffic ticket, as in, “能為我變通一下嗎？(Néng wèi wǒ biàntōng yíxià ma? Could you stretch a point for me?)”

Change may not always be good, but it is inevitable. The challenge of climate change means that, for the first time, the entire human population of planet Earth is going to have to make some serious 改變 (gǎibiàn, changes) so that there can be a sustainable future for us all.

- HUANG WEIJIA (黃偉嘉) AND LIU JUE (劉玨)