A character for when you need to shake things up

Ever dreamed of overnight success? Probably you’ve at least once imagined winning a million-dollar jackpot or inheriting a fortune from a distant relative. The concept of sudden effortless wealth was expressed in ancient China by the term 搖錢(qián)樹(shù)?(y1oqi1nsh&, “shaking-money tree”), a legendary arbor that showered gold coins on all those who shook its trunk. As one ballad put it, “The money tree and treasure-gathering basin drop gold in the daytime and amass silver at night.” (搖錢(qián)樹(shù)，聚寶盆，日落黃金夜裝銀。)

The tree’s mythical history dates back at least as far as the 3rd century, as evidenced in the hundreds of cast-bronze statues of money trees unearthed from Han dynasty tombs in southwest China. At the time, these were considered auspicious objects and, even now, some people keep a type of chestnut tree also called “搖錢(qián)樹(shù)” at home or at work in hopes that it will bring good fortune.

According to the Eastern Han dictionary , the pictophonetic character 搖?(y1o) means “to move” or “to sway.” The “hand” (手, sh6u) radical gives clue to this meaning, while the

??(y1o) radical indicates pronunciation.

By itself, 搖?can serve simply as a verb preceding a subject, as in 搖頭?(y1ot5u, to shake [one’s] head) and 搖鈴?(y1ol!ng, to ring the bell). It can also be coupled with other verbs to suggest similar movements in different contexts: tables and chairs 搖晃?(y1ohu3ng, shake) during an earthquake, boats 搖蕩?(y1od3ng, rock from side to side) in choppy waters, and candles 搖曳?(y1oy-,?flicker) in the wind. Meanwhile, 搖搖晃晃?(y1oy1ohu3nghu3ng, staggeringly) serves as an adverb, as in 病人搖搖晃晃地站起來(lái)了。(B#ngr9n y1oy1ohu3nghu3ng de zh3n q@lai le. “The patient staggered to his feet.”) In contrast to physical movements, 動(dòng)搖?(d7ngy1o, to vacillate or undermine) is mainly used to refer to psychological uncertainty. For example, 她的決心不會(huì)動(dòng)搖。(T` de ju9x~n b%hu# d7ngy1o. “Her determination will never waver.”)

Idioms with the 搖?character are often used metaphorically. For instance, 搖旗吶喊?(y1oq!-n3h3n) derives from ancient battlefield techniques, when soldiers waved their flags and shouted battle cries to boost morale, but now refers to “drumming up support” (often in a pejorative sense): 他們還在為封建思想搖旗吶喊。(T`men h1i z3i w-i f8ngji3n s~xi2ng y1oq!-n3h2n. “They are still trying to drum up support for feudal thinking.”) 地動(dòng)山搖?(d#d7ng-sh`ny1o, “The Earth moves and the mountains shake”) describes a movement as strong as an earthquake.

Because 搖?implies instability, which has extremely negative connotations in Chinese culture, phrases that use the character are often demeaning, especially when applied to people. Waverers are those who 搖擺不定?(y1ob2i-b%d#ng, “sway continuously”); to show off is 招搖?(zh`oy1o). Likewise, physical swaying is often symbolic of an unpleasant bearing or personality. For instance, 搖頭晃腦?(y1ot5u-hu3ngn2o, “wagging [one’s] head”) suggests an air of conceit or self-satisfaction, and 搖尾乞憐?(y1ow0i-q@li1n, “wag [one’s] tail and beg”) describes an obsequious person, as in 他只會(huì)向領(lǐng)導(dǎo)搖尾乞憐。(T` zh@ hu# xi3ng

l@ngd2o y1ow0i-q@li1n. “He is capable of nothing but fawning on his superiors.”)

In Chinese fantasy novels, characters with supernatural powers can often change their form with a simple shake (搖身一變?y1osh8n-?y!bi3n). The best-known and most powerful of these shapeshifters, the Monkey King Sun Wukong from , has 72 transformations. Nowadays, the idiom refers to a villain who adopts a pleasing appearance in order to deceive.

But 搖?does not always have a negative or uncertain meaning. For instance, a cradle rocking (搖籃?y1ol1n) to the sound of a lullaby (搖籃曲?y1ol1nq^) conjures a peaceful domestic scene, as does the rocking chair

(搖椅?y1oy@), which is traditionally favored by elderly people for its soothing rhythm. In rock ’n’ roll music, translated quite literally as 搖滾樂(lè)?(y1og^nyu-), the character had a mix of good and bad connotations. When the genre arrived on the mainland in the 1980s, conservative listeners were unsettled by its strong rhythms, but many youths embraced it as a symbol for an uncertain decade, and the term is now neutral.

A common modern use of the character is in 搖號(hào)?(y1oh3o, “rocking the numbers”), referring to the lottery (搖獎(jiǎng), y1oji2ng) systems often used to allocate limited social resources, such as license plates for drivers or enrollment spots at the best schools in densely populated cities. Due to traffic and environmental concerns, eight cities in China currently use a lottery to issue license plates. Accordingly,?據(jù)說(shuō)，有人可能一輩子都搖不上號(hào)。(J&shu4, y6u r9n k0n9ng y!b-izi d4u y1obush3ng h3o. “It’s said that some people will never have their number picked in their lifetime.”)

Acquiring the license plate is one thing; affording it is another. In Shanghai, where the license lottery includes an auction portion, the average price of a plate has risen steeply (扶搖直上?f%y1o-zh!sh3ng) from 13,000 RMB to 90,000 RMB over the last 17 years, in spite of strict anti-inflation measures. It’s enough to make one give up, put on some headphones, and rock out to some Earth-shaking bass and guitar riffs. After all, in the words of Pete Townshend, “Rock ’n’ roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them.”

– Huang Weijia (黃偉嘉) and TAN YUNFEI (譚云飛)