What is heaven? Tian Tang 天堂 by Zheng Yi 鄭怡, 天路 Tian Lu Heaven Road by 韩红 Han Hong: lyrics, pinyin, English translation, quotes about heaven

Heaven in Mandarin Chinese, we call it 天堂 tiāntáng.
天堂基本上有两个定义:一是某些宗教指人死后灵魂居住的永远幸福的地方(跟‘地狱’相对)。 二是比喻幸福美好的生活环境。
tiāntáng jīběn shang yǒu liǎng ge dìngyì : yī shì mǒu xiē zōngjiào zhǐ rén sǐ hòu línghún jūzhù de yǒngyuǎn xìngfú de dìfang ( gēn ‘dìyù ’xiāngduì ) . èr shì bǐyù xìngfú měihǎo de shēnghuó huánjìng .

Basically, there are two definitions about heaven: First, some religions refer heaven as the eternal happiness place where people’s soul will live after people die (the opposite of hell). Second, the term – heaven – is used as a metaphor to refer to a wonderful living environment.

If you still believe in love, maybe love is your heaven …. If you don’t believe in love, then might as well enjoy Zheng yi’s voice; she is great!

天堂 / 鄭怡
tiāntáng / zhèng yí

嘿! 親愛的 不是我不想留在你身旁
hei ! qīnài de  bù shì wǒ bù xiǎng liú zài nǐ shēn páng
Hey My dear, it is not that I don’t want to stay by your side.

我以為天堂總是在遠方
wǒ yǐwéi tiāntáng zǒngshì zài yuǎnfāng
I always thought heaven is at far away place.

嘿! 親愛的 坦白說我的過去
hei ! qīnài de  tǎnbái shuō wǒ de guòqù
Hey, my dear, frankly talk about my past.

有幾分很像你 一樣在尋覓
yǒu jǐ fēn hěn xiàng nǐ yī yàng zài xúnmì
Somewhat it was like yours, the same I was seeking and searching.

只是日日夜夜 歲月過去 走盡千萬里
zhǐ shì rìrì yè yè  suì suì yuè guòqù  zǒu jǐn qiān wàn lǐ
Just day after day, night after night, years have passed, and I went through ten million miles.

我也曾嚮往 也曾徬徨 夢想的路上
Wǒ yě céng xǐang wǎng  yě céng páng huáng  mèngxiǎng de lùshang
I also once longed for, also once hesitated, on the road of dreams.

哦! 日日夜夜 輕輕嘆息 只想告訴你
ò ! rìrì yè yè  qīngqīng tànxī  zhǐ xiǎng gào sù nǐ
Oh, day after day, night after night, silently sighed, just wanted to tell you:

沒有愛情的地方 沒有天堂
yǒu àiqíng de dìfang mei yǒu tiāntáng
The place where without love has no heaven.

年輕的日子裡 我走了好長好長的路
nián qīng de rìzi  Wǒ zǒu le hǎo zhǎng hǎo Cháng de lù
Those days when I was young, I walked a long long road.

只為了想去找屬於我夢想中的天堂
zhǐ wéi le xiǎng qù zhǎo shǔyú wǒ mèngxiǎng zhōng de tiāntáng
Just wanted to find the heaven of dream which belonged to me.

如果真的有那樣的地方
rúguǒ zhēnde yǒu nà yàng de dìfang
If there is such a place

我想應該是一雙渴望你的眼睛
Wǒ xiǎng yīnggāi shì yī shuāng kě wàng nǐ de yǎnjīng
I think it should be a pair of eyes which are longing for you.

一雙熱情等待你的臂膀 還有一盞溫暖的燈
yī shuāng rèqíng děngdài nǐ de bìbǎng  hái yǒu yī zhǎn wen nuǎn de dēng
A pair of arms which are passionately waiting for you and a warm lamp.

那就是天堂
nà jiùshì tiāntáng
That is heaven.

沒有你的地方就沒有天堂
Any place without you is not heaven.

Translated by Shu

As for how to get to heaven, there is a song called heaven road – 天路. If you want to go to heaven, maybe you should go to Tibet first!

韩红—天路

天路
Tian lu
Heaven Road

韩红
Han Hong

清晨我站在青青的牧场
qing1 chen2 wo3 zhan4 zai4 qing1 qing1 de5 mu4 chang3
In the early morning I stood in the green pastures.

看到神鹰披着那霞光
kan4 dao4 shen2 ying1 pi1 zhe5 na4 xia2 guang1
Saw the magical eagle was draped by those rays of morning sunlight.

象一片翔云飞过蓝天
xiang4 yi2 pian4 xiang2 yun2, fei1 guo4 lan2 tian1
It was like a roaring cloud flying across the blue sky

为臧家儿女带来吉祥
wei4 zang4 jia1 er2 nv3 dai4 lai2 ji2 xiang2
Bringing auspiciousness for the children of Tibetan families.
(臧 refers to Tibet. Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average elevation of 4,900 metres (16,000 ft).)

那是一条神奇的天路
na4 shi4 yi4 tiao2 shen2 qi2 de5 tian1 lu4
That is a magical heaven road

把人间的温暖送到边疆
ba3 ren2 jian1 de5 wen1 nuan3 song4 dao4 bian1 jiang1
Sending the warmth of human world to the frontier region.

从此山不再高路不再漫长
cong2 ci3 shan1 bu2 zai4 gao1, lu4 bu2 zai4 man4 chang2
From now on mountains will no longer be tall and roads will no longer be long.

各族儿女欢聚一堂
ge4 zu2 er2 nv3 huan1 ju4 yi4 tang2
The sons and daughters of all races gather happily under one roof.


黄昏我站在高高的山岗
huang2 hun1 wo3 zhan4 zai4 gao1 gao1 de5 shan1 gang1
In the dusk, I stood on the tall tall hill.

看那铁路修到我家乡
kan4 na4 tie3 lu4 xiu1 dao4 wo3 jia1 xiang1
Looking at the railway built to my hometown.

一条条巨龙翻山越岭
yi4 tiao2 tiao2 ju4 long2, fan1 shan1 yue4 ling3
One after another, giant dragons passed over mountains ridges
(翻山越岭: to pass over mountains ridges (idiom); fig. hardships of the journey )

给雪域高原送来安康
gei3 xue3 yu4 gao1 yuan2 song4 lai2 an1 kang1
Bring peace and health to the snow-covered plateau.

那是一条神奇的天路
na4 shi4 yi4 tiao2 shen2 qi2 de5 tian1 lu4
That is a magical heaven road

带我们走进人间天堂
dai4 wo3 men5 zou3 jin4 ren2 jian1 tian1 tang2
Bringing us to enter the heaven of human world.

青稞酒,酥油茶会更加香甜
qing1 ke1 jiu3, su1 you2 cha2 hui4 geng4 jia1 xiang1 tian2
Highland barley wines and butter teas will be sweeter and more fragrant.

幸福的歌声传遍四方
xing4 fu2 de5 ge1 sheng1 chuan2 bian4 si4 fang1
The songs of happiness spread throughout to all the four directions.

Translated by Shu

Quotes of heaven

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

“In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.”
― Erma Bombeck

“Earth’s crammed with heaven…
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.”
― Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”
― Mark Twain

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”
― Will Rogers

“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s.”
― Mark Twain

“The path to paradise begins in hell.”
― Dante Alighieri

“I believe that everything that you do bad comes back to you. So everything that I do that’s bad, I’m going to suffer from it. But in my mind, I believe what I’m doing is right. So I feel like I’m going to heaven”
― Tupac Shakur

“Heaven and hell seem out of proportion to me: the actions of men do not deserve so much.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

These great quotes come from: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/heaven

Posted in Chinese songs, Quotes | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Learn Mandarin Chinese, how to say: It is not fun at all, she got a speeding ticket tonight. Grammar 一点都不 yi dian dou bu structure, idiom story and usage 一毛不拔 yi mao bu ba, lame excuses for parking ticket appeal, Chinese traffic violation terms / types of tickets with pinyin, English translation, and Fun Some Nights Lyrics

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Learn Mandarin Chinese, how to say: It is not fun at all, she got a speeding ticket tonight.
[ca_audio url=”http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/traffic.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player” autoplay=”false”]

她今晚因超速被开了一张罚单,真是一点都不好玩。
tā jīn wǎn yīn chāo sù bèi kāi le yī zhāng fádān , zhēn shì yī diǎn dōu bù hǎowán .
她 (pronoun, she) 今晚 (noun phrase, tonight) 因 (conjunction, because) 超速 (noun phrase, speeding) 被 (indicates passive-voice clauses, similar to was + verbed in English) 开 (verb, originally means open, but here it means write out) 了 (past tense marker/ a particle to show action occurred) 一 (number, one) 张 (measure word for ticket), 罚单 (noun phrase, violation ticket / infringement notice ) 真 (adverb, really) 是 (verb, is) 一点 (adverb, a bit or a little; it is common to add an er sound after it — 一点儿) 都 (adverb, all) 不 (negate word- not) 好玩 (adjective phrase, fun or interesting).

“Tonight” in the above English sentence is placed at the end, however, in Chinese, we have to put the time phrase –今晚 tonight– at the beginning of the sentence or right after the subject.
**今晚**她因超速被开了一张罚单,真是一点都不好玩。
她**今晚**因超速被开了一张罚单,真是一点都不好玩。
It is not fun at all, she got a speeding ticket tonight.

If you want to express “not at all” in Chinese, you can use the phrases “一点也不 (Adj)” or “一点都不 (Adj)” structure, and both means “not at all (Adj) or not (Adj) at all.”
In today’s sample sentence
一点都不好玩 = 一点也不好玩
好玩 is an adjective phrase
一点都不 = not at all
thus,
一点都不好玩/一点也不好玩 = not fun at all or not at all fun
If you want to exaggerate the degree of the no-fun-ness then you can add 真是 (really is) in front of the 一点也不 structure.
For example, you want to borrow one dollar from your friend, but your friend is too stingy to lend you one dollar. Then you can say:
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My friend is really not generous at all.
我的朋友真是一点都不大方。
Wǒ de péngyou zhēnshì yīdiǎn dōu bù dàfāng .
大方= generous
or
我的朋友真是一点也不大方。
Wǒ de péngyou zhēnshì yīdiǎn yě bù dàfāng .

You can also express the same meaning with
My friend is really stingy.
我的朋友真是小气。
Wǒ de péngyou zhēnshì xiǎoqì .
小气= stingy or extremely thrifty

or you can use the Chinese idiom 一毛不拔 (yi mao bu ba) stingy, and say:
我的朋友真是一毛不拔。
Wǒ de péngyou zhēnshì yī máo bù bá .
My friend is really stingy.

This idiom comes from a story about a super rich Chinese old man. The day before he died, he told his family:
[ca_audio url=”http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/yimaobuba.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player” autoplay=”false”]

“我死后,别用棺材来盛我,挖个坑,把我埋了。”
” Wǒ sǐ hòu, bié yòng guāncái lái shéng wǒ , wā ge kēng , bǎ wǒ mái le . ”
After I die, don’t put me in a coffin. Just dig a hole and bury me.

“我死后,不要请和尚念经,我在黄泉下自己会念经的。”
” Wǒ sǐhòu, bù yào qǐng héshang niànjīng, wǒ zài huángquán xià zìjǐ huì niànjīng de . ”
After I die, don’t hire a monk to chant Buddhist scripture for me. I will chant Buddhist scripture for myself in the underworld.
(黄泉: literally, it means Yellow Springs, and it refers to the underworld in Chinese mythology; the equivalent phrase of Hades or Hell in English.)

“我死后,把我的皮剥下来,卖给皮匠;把我的毛拔下来卖给做刷子的人,一根都别丢了.”
” Wǒ sǐ hòu, bǎ wǒ de pí bāo xià lái , mài gěi píjiàng ;bǎ Wǒ de máo bá xià lai mài gěi zuò shuāzi de rén , yī gēn dōu bié diū le .”
After I die, peel off my skin and sell it to a cobbler; pull out my hair and sell it to the person who sells brushes. Don’t lose any single string of hair.
(根 is the classifier for long slender objects, thus, 一根 means 一根毛 a single string of hair.)

Thus, the Mandarin Chinese idiom 一毛不拔 means a person can’t afford to lose a single string of hair; the idiom is used to describe a person is extremely stingy and selfish.

Now, back to our topic about traffic / parking fine:
Have you ever been fined for parking, speeding or other traffic violations? I know it is not fun at all to be stopped by a police officer on the road or see a parking ticket on your windshield.
If you have a good reason, you might be able to challenge a parking ticket by writing a parking ticket appeal letter. However, the followings are a dozen of lame excuses which are not good enough to win the parking appeal:
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1.There was no sign that said I couldn’t park there.
那儿没有标志说我不能在那儿停车。
nàr méiyǒu biāozhì shuō wǒ bù néng zài nàr tíngchē .

2. I couldn’t find another parking space.
我找不到别的停车位子。
Wǒ zhǎo bù dào bié de tíngchē wèizi .

3. A lot of people were parking there too.
许多人也都停在那儿。
xǔduō rén yě dōu tíngzàinàr .

4. I didn’t see any signs saying: NO PARKING.
我没看到禁止停车标志。
Wǒ méi kàn dào Jīnzhǐ tíngchē biāozhì.

5. I was late for a meeting.
我开会迟到。
Wǒ kāihuì chídào .

6. I had a stomachache.
我肚子痛。
Wǒ dǔzǐtòng .

7. The meter expired before I got back.
我回来的时候停车计时器的时间已经用完了。
Wǒ huílai de shíhou tíngchē Jìshíqì de shíjiān yǐjīng yòng wán le .

8. I only parked there for 5 minutes.
我只在那儿停了五分钟。
Wǒ zhǐ zài nàr tíng le wǔ fēnzhōng .

9. I’ve always parked there and you never gave me a ticket before.
我总是在那儿停车,你们以前从来也没给过我罚单。
Wǒ zǒngshì zài nàr tíngchē , nǐmen yǐqián cónglái yě méi gěiguò wǒ fádān .

10. Other cars parked there and they didn’t get a ticket.
别的车也停在那儿,可是他们没被开罚单。
biéde chē yě tíngzàinàr , kěshì tāmen méi bèi kāi fádān .

11. Your parking regulation is not reasonable.
你们的停车规定不合理。
nǐmen de tíngchē guīdìng bù hélǐ .

12. It was raining and the road was slippery.
下雨,路很滑。
xiàyǔ , lù hěn huá .

Learn how to say some of the most common traffic violations in Chinese

Speeding
超速 chāosù

Running a red light
闖紅燈 chuǎng hóngdēng

Not signaling
未打方向灯 wèi dǎ fāngxiàng dēng

Crossing the median
超越中线 chāoyuè zhōngxiàn

Driving without valid vehicle registration
驾驶未经登记车辆 jiàshǐ wèi jīng dēngjì chēliàng

Not stopping for pedestrians
未禮讓行人 wèi ràng xíngrén

Not using seat belt
未系安全带 wèi xì ānquándài

Driving on shoulder
路肩驾驶 lù jiān jiàshǐ

Passing in a no passing zone
於禁止抄车处超车 yú jìnzhǐ chāo chē chù chāochē

Drunk driving
酒醉驾车 jiǔzuì jiàchē

Reckless driving
危險駕車 wēixiǎn jiàchē

Driving without a license
無照行駛 wú zhào xíngshǐ

Running a stop sign
禁止标志未停车 jìnzhǐ biāozhìwèi tíngchē

Leaving the Scene of an accident/hit and run
逃离肇事现场/撞人逃跑 táolí zhàoshìxiànchǎng /zhuàng rén táopǎo

Illegal U-Turn
违法掉头 wéifǎ diàotóu

Not yield to a pedestrian
未禮讓行人 wèi ràng xíngrén

Failing to turn on headlight
未開大燈 wèi kāi dà dēng

FUN Some Nights Lyrics

Posted in Chinese grammar, Chinese idiom stories, English song, One Chinese sentence a day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Learn Mandarin Chinese, how to say: It is not fun at all, she got a speeding ticket tonight. Grammar 一点都不 yi dian dou bu structure, idiom story and usage 一毛不拔 yi mao bu ba, lame excuses for parking ticket appeal, Chinese traffic violation terms / types of tickets with pinyin, English translation, and Fun Some Nights Lyrics