Meaning of "Zhing Zhong"

[m***@minmm.com]

Does anyone know what is the meaning of "Zhing Zhong"? This phrase has
been used in Zimbabwe for cheap made-in-China products. What is its
original meaning in Chinese?

For more about Zhing Zhong, please Google
http://www.google.com/search?q=Zhing+Zhong&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

Thanks.

Min

[Arndt Jonasson]

Post by m***@minmm.com
Does anyone know what is the meaning of "Zhing Zhong"? This phrase has
been used in Zimbabwe for cheap made-in-China products. What is its
original meaning in Chinese?
For more about Zhing Zhong, please Google
http://www.google.com/search?q=Zhing+Zhong&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

I have no idea about the background for the expression in Zimbabwe,
but in Sweden we use something similar to convey a general impression
of the Chinese language. This implies more that one knows nothing
about it (beyond the fact that -ing and -ong are common sounds) than
anything necessarily derogatory. If we write it, we use the Swedish
spelling "tjing tjong". The pinyin would be Qing Chong. If it actually
happens to mean something in Chinese (Mandarin), I don't know.

"Zhing Zhong" seems to be a misunderstanding of pinyin too. If I
remember correctly, the first syllable is written Jing.

[Jacques Guy]

Post by Arndt Jonasson
I have no idea about the background for the expression in Zimbabwe,
but in Sweden we use something similar to convey a general impression
of the Chinese language. This implies more that one knows nothing
about it (beyond the fact that -ing and -ong are common sounds) than
anything necessarily derogatory. If we write it, we use the Swedish
spelling "tjing tjong". The pinyin would be Qing Chong. If it actually
happens to mean something in Chinese (Mandarin), I don't know.

Hmmm... qing is "light (not heavy)" and zhong4 is "heavy". So
qingzhong4 ought to be "weight".

[Geoff]

Post by Jacques Guy

Post by Arndt Jonasson
I have no idea about the background for the expression in Zimbabwe,
but in Sweden we use something similar to convey a general impression
of the Chinese language. This implies more that one knows nothing
about it (beyond the fact that -ing and -ong are common sounds) than
anything necessarily derogatory. If we write it, we use the Swedish
spelling "tjing tjong". The pinyin would be Qing Chong. If it actually
happens to mean something in Chinese (Mandarin), I don't know.

Hmmm... qing is "light (not heavy)" and zhong4 is "heavy". So
qingzhong4 ought to be "weight".

There are about 20 qingzhong's in the Hanyu Da Cidian: (UTF-8)

青鍾
清中
清忠
清衷
青冢
青塚
青腫
清種
清重
清眾
傾重
輕重
鯖鍾
鯖鐘
情衷
情鍾
情種
情重
磬鍾
磬鐘

Go for it!

[Dylan Sung]

Post by Geoff

Post by Jacques Guy

Post by Arndt Jonasson
I have no idea about the background for the expression in Zimbabwe,
but in Sweden we use something similar to convey a general impression
of the Chinese language. This implies more that one knows nothing
about it (beyond the fact that -ing and -ong are common sounds) than
anything necessarily derogatory. If we write it, we use the Swedish
spelling "tjing tjong". The pinyin would be Qing Chong. If it actually
happens to mean something in Chinese (Mandarin), I don't know.

Hmmm... qing is "light (not heavy)" and zhong4 is "heavy". So
qingzhong4 ought to be "weight".

There are about 20 qingzhong's in the Hanyu Da Cidian: (UTF-8)
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
??

How about Zheng Zhong, zeng zhong, zeng zong, zheng zong etc?

Maybe it's on par with taunt "ching chong".....

Dyl.

[Tak To]

Post by Dylan Sung
Maybe it's on par with taunt "ching chong".....

That was what I thought of first.

Tak
--
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Tak To ***@alum.mit.eduxx
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[taode takto ~{LU5B~}] NB: trim the xx to get my real email addr

[Lee Sau Dan]

Post by Arndt Jonasson
I have no idea about the background for the expression in
Zimbabwe, but in Sweden we use something similar to convey a
general impression of the Chinese language. This implies more
that one knows nothing about it (beyond the fact that -ing and
-ong are common sounds) than anything necessarily
derogatory. If we write it, we use the Swedish spelling "tjing
tjong". The pinyin would be Qing Chong. If it actually happens
to mean something in Chinese (Mandarin), I don't know.

Jacques> Hmmm... qing is "light (not heavy)" and zhong4 is
Jacques> "heavy". So qingzhong4 ought to be "weight".

Yes. A derived meaning is "importance". This derived meaning is more
often the intended meaning of this compound word. For physical
"weight" (this could actually mean "mass"), we usually use <zhong4
liang4> "heavy quantity" instead. For other meanings of "weight"
(e.g. in a weighted average), we use other compounds containing
<zhong4>.