we're not gays ok?! we're "comrades" (also called "tong zi" in
china).
quote from wikipedia:
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In Chinese, the translation of
comrade is "同志" (pinyin: tóng zhì), literally meaning "(people with)
the same spirit, goal, ambition, etc." It was first introduced in
the political sense by Sun Yat-Sen to refer to his followers.
The Kuomintang (Nationalist
Party), which was co-founded by Sun Yat-Sen, has a long tradition
of using the term Tongzhi (comrade) to refer to
its members, usually as a noun rather than a title; for example, a
KMT member would say "Mr. Chang is a loyal and reliable
comrade."[5]
Nevertheless, the term was promoted most actively by the
Communist Party of
China during its struggle for power. It was used both as a noun
and as a title for basically anyone in mainland China after the People's Republic of
China was founded. For example, women were nü tongzhi
(female comrade), children were xiao tongzhi (little
comrade) and seniors were lao tongzhi (old comrade).
However, after the 1980s and the onset of China's market-oriented
reforms, this term has been moving out of such daily usage. It
remains in use as a respectful term of public address among
middle-aged Chinese and members of the Communist Party of China.
Within the Communist Party, failure to address a fellow member as
tóng zhì is seen as a subtle but unmistakable sign of
disrespect and enmity.
At party or civil meetings, the usage of the term has been
retained. Officials often address each other as Tongzhi,
and thus the usage here is not limited to Communist Party members
alone. In addition, Tongzhi is the term of preference to
address any national leader when their titles are not attached
(e.g. Comrade Mao Zedong, Comrade Deng
Xiaoping).
Chinese territories such as Hong Kong and Macau do not have
comrade in its popular vernacular due to the long occupation by
foreign Western powers which instilled
a different language paradigm in the natives of those regions.
Of late, tongzhi
has become a common equivalent for the English term gay in mainland China. While it probably originated as a
pun on 同性恋 (tóngxìnglían, "homosexual"), it has come to be used with the
aim of presenting same-sex relationships as positive and suggesting
solidarity between LGBT people.
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what??? tong zi, what is that??? not Boon tong kee chicken rice
mah, or tung ler shark fins, ..yummy!!
tong tong chang! tong tong chang! tong tong chang!!! tong tong
tong chang chang chang...hmmmm whose funneral ar??
