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上 and 下 in Chinese: Beyond the Basic “Up” and “Down”

Michael Ma — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 07:58:57 +0000

Have you ever stopped to consider how often you use the words 上(shàng) and 下(xià) in your daily life? These two characters are so ubiquitous in the Chinese language that it’s easy to take them for granted.

We say 上班 (shàng bān, on duty), 下班 (xià bān, off duty), 上车 (shàng chē, get on), 下车 (xià chē, get off), 上厕所 (shàng cè suǒ, go to the bathroom), but we never say 下厕所 (xià cè suǒ, get out of the bathroom). What’s the reason behind this? In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of 上(shàng) and 下(xià) and explore their various meanings and nuances. So, get ready to discover the hidden depths of these two commonly used characters!

First, Let’s look at the background of the two characters:

上’s written character in different forms:

下’s written character in different forms:

These characters are both derived from the pictographic character of a horizontal line. Adding a stroke above the line creates 上(shàng, up) while adding one below it creates 下(xià, down). These two characters are essentially inverted versions of each other. Many dictionaries define them as opposites, so you can try to understand them like antonyms.

1. Positions

The character 上(shàng) means “up high”, while 下(xià) means “down below.”

For example, 楼上 (lóu shàng) means “upstairs”, and 楼下 (lóu xià) means “downstairs”. Similarly, 上铺 (shàng pù) means “upper berth” and 下铺 (xià pù) means “lower berth”.

For example:

他住在楼上，我住在楼下。(Tā zhù zài lóushàng, wǒ zhù zài lóuxià.)
He lives upstairs, and I live downstairs.

2. Time and sequence orders

上(shàng) refers to the “front”, while 下(xià) refers to the “back”. For instance, 上册 (shàng cè, Volume One) and 下册 (xià cè, Volume Two), or 上次 (shàng cì, last time) and 下次 (xià cì, next time).

For example:

上次你借了上册, 下次你借下册吗？(Shàngcì nǐ jiè le shàngcè，xiàcì nǐ jiè xiàcè ma?)
Last time you borrowed the volume one book, next time will you borrow volume two?

3. Levels

上(shàng) means “upper,” while 下(xià) means “lower” or “nether.” For example, 上等 (shàng děng, superior) and 下等 (xià děng, inferior), 上级 (shàng jí, higher-up) and 下级 (xià jí, subordinate).

For example:

尊重上级, 也尊重下级。(Zūnzhòng shàngjí，yě zūnzhòng xiàjí.)
Treat superiors with respect, and also treat subordinates with respect.

4. Directions

上(shàng) means “going from the bottom up” and 下(xià) means “going from the top down”.

For example:

上船 (shàng chuán, get on; aboard) and 下船 (xià chuán, get off; debark)

上楼 (shàng lóu, go upstairs) and 下楼 (xià lóu, go downstairs)

上山 (shàng shān, go uphill) and 下山 (xià shān, go downhill)

上升 (shàng shēng, go up; ascend) and 下降 (xià jiàng, pull down; descend)

For example:

旅客刚开始上船。(Lǚkè gāng kāishǐ shàngchuán.)
Passengers were just starting to board the ship.

5. Starting and finishing activities

In organized activities, 上(shàng) means “to start” and 下)xià) means “to finish.” Examples include 上班(shàng bān, go to work),下班(xià bān, finish work), 上课(shàng kè, start class) and 下课(xià kè, finish class).

For example:

他每天早上8点上班, 下午5点下班。(Tā měitiān zǎoshàng bā diǎn shàngbān, xiàwǔ wǔ diǎn xiàbān.)
Every day he goes to work at 8am and gets off work at 5pm.

Apart from these relative meanings, sometimes they are not opposites, and this can often confuse us:

I. Sometimes, 上(shàng) doesn’t have an equivalent expression with 下(xià), and it can be confusing. For example, in phrases like 上街(shàng jiē, go into the street), 上网(shàng wǎng, get on the Internet), and 上厕所(shàng cè suǒ, go to the bathroom), 上(shàng) means to “go to” a place, but 下(xià) doesn’t actually mean “to leave” those places.

For example:

你哪去儿了? 我上街了。(Nǐ qù nǎ er le? Wǒ shàng jiē le.)
Where did you go? I went into the street.

II. Some phrases use 下(xià) to mean “get into,” like 下海(xià hǎi, go into business) and 下基层(xià jī céng, get into grassroots). In other phrases like 下面条(xià miàn tiáo, cook noodles) or 下饺子(xià jiǎo zi, cook dumplings), 下(xià) means “cook.” However, 上(shàng) cannot be used in this way.

For example:

妈妈说，要先烧水, 再下饺子。(Māma shuō, yào xiān shāoshuǐ, zài xià jiǎozi.)
My mother says that you need boil water first and then cook dumplings.

Conclusion

上(shàng) and 下(xià) are two Chinese characters that have many different meanings in different contexts. They are often used to describe positions, orders, levels, directions, and starting and stopping activities. Understanding the meanings of these two characters can help you better understand Chinese language and culture. So next time when you hear someone say 上(shàng) or 下(xià) in conversation, you will know exactly what they mean and how to respond correctly.

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Slang Similarities in English and Chinese

Michael Ma — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:47:03 +0000

In the process of learning Chinese, you may find that many slangs or idioms between Chinese and English are similar, like in English “a piece of cake”and in Chinese “小菜一碟 xiǎo cài yì dié”, both expressing how easy something is; in English “casting pearls before swine” and in Chinese “对牛弹琴 duì niú tán qín”, both meaning chatting with the wrong one who could not ever understand you. These slangs and idioms are always used in daily communications. They make learning Chinese more and more interesting and easier for us, don’t they? Now, let’s get more examples:

1、物以类聚，人以群分(wù yǐ lèi jù, rén yǐ qún fēn)

This idiom is from a story. During the warring states period, the king of JiXuan hoped Chun yukun would recommend some wise men. XuanWang was surprised that Chun recommended seven persons a day, and asked him whether he made up a number without active work . Chun yukun said: “the birds have theirs groups, the beasts have theirs herds. Because I often talk with wise men, so I can do this for you.” “物 wù” is “staffs” or “animals”, “人 rén” is “people”, “类lèi” and“群 qún” have the same meaning of “spices or group”, “聚jù”and“分fēn” are “around or together”, “以yǐ” is used as the preposition like “by.” So this sentence means “Staffs will get together by their spices, people will be around by their groups”. Now this idiom refers to the idea that a good person always make friends with good people, and the bad guys always get together with bad people.

Just like “Birds of a feather flock together” in English, isn’t it?

E.g. 他们俩都很内向，兴趣爱好又差不多，所以总在一起玩儿，真是“物以类聚，人以群分”！
tāmen liǎ dōu hěn nèixiàng, xìngqù ài hǎo yòu chà bù duō, suǒyǐ zǒng zài yìqǐ wánr, zhēn shì “wùyǐlèijù, rén yǐ qún fēn”!
They both are very introverted, having many interests and hobbies in common, so they always hang out together. It is so “Birds of a feather flock together”!

2、一日被蛇咬，十年怕井绳(yī rì bèi shé yǎo, shí nián pà jǐng shéng)

“蛇shé” is “snake”，“井绳jǐng shéng” is “well rope”, “咬yǎo” means “bite”, because the well rope looks like the snake, so if someone were bitten by a snake one time, he would feel scared even at the sight of the well rope for decades. So this idiom means, “Bitten by the snake, once bitten, decades feared”. This idiom refers to the idea that, once hurt after the event, he will be afraid to encounter the same or similar things.

Just like what we have in English, “A burnt child fears the fire,” right?

E.g. 他小心翼翼地做着每一个决定，一日被蛇咬，十年怕井绳，他不想历史的错误再次发生。
tā xiǎoxīnyìyì dì zuò zhe měi yígè jué dìng, yī rì bèi shé yǎo, shí nián pà jǐngshéng, tā bùxiǎng lì shǐ de cuòwù zàicì fāshēng.
He is very careful in making every decision; a burnt child fears the fire, and he doesn’t want the historical mistakes happening again.

3、未雨绸缪(wèi yǔ chóu móu)

This idiom comes from the book The Collection of Songs. It describes a mother bird that works hard for her nest. There are a few words in the poetry that mean: during the day it has not rained, hurry up to entangle the gap for the bird’s nest, only the nest is strong, not afraid of a storm. “未wèi” means the perfect tense “haven’t,” “雨yǚ” is the verb “to rain,” “绸缪chóu móu” in this idiom means repaired all the staffs. Nowadays, we put this in a few words of poetry extended to “save for a rainy day,” meaning to prepare for what is impending but has not yet happened.

Exactly the same as in English, “Always prepare for a rainy day,” isn’t it?

E. g. 期末考试离我们还有一段时间，但我们都未雨绸缪地开始复习了。
qīmò kǎoshì lí wǒmen háiyǒu yíduàn shíjiān, dàn wǒmen dōu wèiyǔchóumóu dì kāi shǐ fù xí le
Till the final exam, there is a period of time for us, but we have already started to review, like preparing for a rainy day.

4、覆水难收(fù shuǐ nán shōu)

In the Shang dynasty’s last years, there was a resourceful, knowledgeable man, named Jiang Shang. Livelihood issues happened in his home, his wife balked at his poverty, no longer willing to live together with him, and left him. A few years later, Jiang helped Zhou Wu Wang establish the western Zhou dynasty. His wife saw him wealthy and high status, was remorseful that she had left him, and hoped to restore the relationship with him. He poured a pot of water on the earth, and called her to put the water away. She hurried onto the floor to collect the water, but only received some of the mud. He said to her: “you have left me, we can’t get together, just like spilt water cannot be gathered up again.”“覆水fù shuǐ” means “spilt water ”, “难nán” means “difficult ”,“收shōu”means “collect back”,so this idiom means “Spilt water cannot be gathered up again”, “what is done is already done”.

Just like in English, “Don’t cry over spilt milk,” isn’t it?

E.g. 这件事你既然已经做错了，覆水难收，还是吸取教训避免以后再犯吧。
zhè jiàn shì nǐ jìrán yǐjīng zuò cuò le, fù shuǐnán shōu, háishì xīqǔjiàoxùn bìmiǎn yǐhòu zàifàn ba.
Since you have done wrong about this matter, what is done cannot be undone, just learn to avoid it again at a later time.

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