A Chinese character “biáng”, which even a majority of Chinese people don’t recognize because of its unique pronunciation and complicated overlapping strokes, has suddenly gone viral on Reddit, a foreign social platform. It started when a Reddit user posted a video showing how it took him nearly a minute to write the character.

“biáng”一个让大多数中国人都感到极难的字，最近突然在国外论坛网站Reddit上火了。起因是有人发了一条视频，视频中他花了将近一分钟才把这个字写完。

Foreign netizens were shocked after watching the video. Some said, “I would have been illiterate if I were born in China.” Others said jokingly, “I thought he was going to draw a QR code.” “So is he writing an essay, a sentence or just one word?”

视频一出，评论区的老外们炸锅了。有的人表示：“如果出生在中国，那我肯定是一个文盲。”有的人开玩笑说：“我以为他要画一个二维码。”还有人说：“他到底是在写一篇论文、一句话、还是一个字呀？”

Actually, even in the Chinese context, the character “biáng” is rarely seen. It refers only to a kind of food, biángbiáng noodles, in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province.

事实上在我国，“biáng”这个字也很少见。现在只用于陕西特色美食“biáng biáng面”这一种场景。

Alternatively known as youpo chemian in Chinese, the noodles, touted as one of the “eight strange wonders of Shaanxi”, are described as being like a belt, owing to their thickness and length.

这种面条在我国还被称为油泼扯面，作为“陕西八大怪”之一，被描述为面条宽的像裤带。

The character “biáng” doesn’t actually exist, at least not in official Chinese dictionaries. It is onomatopoeic, meant to mimic the sound of people pulling the dough and slapping it on the counter. Upon closer inspection of the symbol, it is comprised of many distinct elements that, together, paint a picture of Xi’an’s rich history.

“biáng”实际上并不存在，至少在官方汉语词典中不存在。这个字其实是拟声词，意在模仿面团撞击案板的声音。仔细观察这个汉字，它是由许多不同元素构成的，共同描绘了西安深厚的历史。

As a representative of Chinese civilization, Chinese characters are extensive and profound and have undergone thousands of years of development and evolution.

作文中华文明的代表，汉字博大精深，经历了数千年的发展演变。

As the Chinese character “biáng” has become a hot topic on the Internet, it is not difficult to find foreign people’s interest of and affection for interesting Chinese characters and Chinese culture.

随着汉字“biáng”成为网络上的热门话题，不难发现外国人对汉字和中国文化的兴趣和喜爱。

英语知识丨biáng！这个字让老外懵圈了… 02:08 Share

China Daily Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

英语知识丨biáng！这个字让老外懵圈了…