Christian & Wine in China

Why Christian in general has anything special to wine?  Well, the question to ask is "What do Christian and Wine have in common in China?".  You may wonder there must be something special to Chinese wine or something unique to Chinese Christian.  You are right, there is something common between Wine and Christian in China, it is 'confusion' and it has nothing to do with Confucius.  Both confuse a lot of people not only in China but also people in the world who deal with Chinese.  It is the language and the way Chinese define Christian and Wine.  The definition defined in dictionary is one thing, how Chinese people understand and interpret the word is another thing.  Now let's take a look at the word and its translation.

From English dictionary and its Chinese translation:

Wine: alcoholic drink made from the fruits or plants.  葡萄酒 .

Whiskey: strong alcoholic drink made from various grains, esp. rye and barley.  威士忌酒

Brandy: strong alcoholic drink made from wine.  白蘭地酒.

Liquor: an alcoholic drink.  酒類

Liqueur: a kind of strong and sweet alcoholic drink.  芳香的烈酒

Cocktail: a mixed alcoholic drink.  雞尾酒.

From Chinese dictionary:

酒: 用米麥等和酒麴發酵釀成的麻醉性飲料.

Most Chinese people understand and interpret:

酒: liquor, any kind of alcoholic drink. 

For example, in Chinese poem, most of time you see '酒', it means any kind of alcoholic drink or liquor, such as 高粱,紹興,紅露.  Another example, the translation of 'New wine in old bottles': 裝在舊瓶中的新酒.

So 酒, 狭義的是 wine, 廣義的是 Liquor.  Chinese most of the time ignore  狭義 or 廣義, and consider wine as liquor and it is misleading.  It can cause some embarrassment in a potluck party when you agree to bring a bottle of wine, instead you bring in a bottle of whiskey.

Now let's take a look at Christian and its Chinese translation:

Roman Catholic: 天主教, 

Eastern Orthodox: 東方正教

Protestant: 新教, 抗議教

Christian: 基督徒 or 基督教的

Most Chinese people understand and interpret:

Christian: 基督徒 that includes Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox.

天主教: Catholic

基督教: Protestant; few people use 新教 or 抗議教, they simply call it 基督教.

So 基督教 狭義的是 新教 (Protestant) , 廣義的是 天主教 + 新教 + 東方正教

Here is the analogy:

Wine (酒): 基督教 or 新教, protestant (狭義)

Liquor (酒類): 基督教 (天主教 + 新教), Christian (廣義)

Now we know 基督教 and 酒 have something in common in China.  With its 狭義的 and 廣義的 definition, it confuses a lot of people.  One way to remove the confusion is to create a new word for Wine: 草頭加酒, or 洒 (酒少一横). Meanwhile for Christian, 既然所有基督徒都信天主,為什麽祇有 Catholic 稱 '天主教', it is misleading.  let's create some new translation:

Roman Catholic: 基羅教 (罗馬教會派)

Eastern Orthodox: 基正教 (希臘正教派)

Protestant: 基新教 (耶稣新教派)

Christian: 基督徒

We need to be creative when it comes to the language and its translation.  Language itself has life, it evolves with the society and the people who use it.  If it never changes, it will be like Latin, an obsolete language.  A good language should remove words and expressions which confuse its users as much as possible.