The name Shit Happens in Chinese / Japanese...

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Shit Happens

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 shì shì nán liào
Shit Happens Scroll

世事難料 is a polite Chinese version of “shit happens.” This phrase suggests that things happen (for no reason, and for which we have no control).

The first two characters mean the affairs of life, things of the world, worldly affairs, or ways of the world.

The third character means disaster, distress, problem, difficulty, difficult, hardships, troubles, or defect.

The last character in this context means: to expect, to anticipate, or to guess.

If you put this back together, you have something like, “In life, troubles [should be] expected.”

One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet

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 cháng zài hé biān zǒu nǎ néng bù shī xié
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Scroll

常在河邊走哪能不濕鞋 is an old Chinese proverb that is sometimes compared to the English saying “Shit Happens.”

It's a reflection that there are risks in life, and you should not be surprised when things don't go your way.

A secondary translation might be, “When walking by a river, often one cannot avoid wet shoes.”


The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersVarious forms of Romanized Chinese
Shit Happens世事難料
世事难料		shì shì nán liào
shi4 shi4 nan2 liao4
shi shi nan liao
shishinanliao		shih shih nan liao
shihshihnanliao
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet常在河邊走哪能不濕鞋
常在河边走哪能不湿鞋		cháng zài hé biān zǒu nǎ néng bù shī xié
chang2 zai4 he2 bian1 zou3 na3 neng2 bu4 shi1 xie2
chang zai he bian zou na neng bu shi xie		ch`ang tsai ho pien tsou na neng pu shih hsieh
chang tsai ho pien tsou na neng pu shih hsieh
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line.
In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.


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One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Scroll
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Scroll
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Scroll
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Scroll


And formats...

One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Vertical Portrait
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Horizontal Wall Scroll
One who walks by the river may end up with wet feet Vertical Portrait
Dictionary

Lookup Shit Happens in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary


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When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.

Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!

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A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form of art alive.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.

A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.


Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.

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