Chinese typically root on heroes and peers
alike with the cheer jia you!, the rough
equivalent of “Come on!” or “Let’s go!”. In the lead-up to the Olympics, with national pride under assault from all sorts of natural calamity and human rights
kerfuffle, people are sporting the pick-me-up on everything from T-shirts to bumper
stickers. As in, “Go, Wenchuan,” “Go, Sichuan” - sites of the
devastating quake - or “Go, China!” Beijing Games organizers have even
begun promoting the "Go, China" chant as part of an officially sanctioned routine for Chinese fans, offset by hand clapping,
fist pumping, and a double thumbs-up.
But as you may know by now, jiayou, literally, can mean to “add oil”, or refuel -- i.e., to gas up. And lately the price of the gas in China has gone way,
way up.
Despite skyrocketing international oil prices, most analysts didn’t think Beijing would risk another major spike at the pumps, substantially subsidized in China, until just after the Olympics. Instead Chinese leaders sprung a surprise hike on June 20, allowing the costs to loft as much as 18 percent higher
– to nearly $3 a gallon.
And so it’s been costing drivers a lot more to jiayou.
Put together the double entendre and you get a corny joke now making the rounds
in China by mobile text message, under the guise of ingenious analysis. It came my way recently. In translation:
“The main reason for the current rise in
gas prices is:
Wenchuan jiayou!
Sichuan jiayou!
Beijing jiayou!
Olympics jiayou!
China jiayou!
Which has resulted in the exorbitant rise
in the demand for gasoline, and inadequate supply to meet demand.”
Loading Menu