The Translation for ShanLiang

I never found an accurate translation for this Chinese phrase “Shan Liang”, it basically means being kind in heart, having a soft spot in his soul, having some symphony for those who are weak, poor, hurt or sad.

Michael Jackson died. Probably he was the only other American guy beside Michael Jordon that every Chinese knows as well. There are many articles online about him. About how he died, how his company pushed him to the very last minute with rehearsals, how many debts he had burdened himself, and how different people from all parts of the world were so remorseful over his death.

Then today I saw this tiny article on how he was a person of “shan liang”. It seems right before he passed away, two female American journalists, perceived as national spies, were put into prison in North Korea. After Michael Jackson got to know this, he called up one of the famous journalists and asked him the phone number of Kim Jong-il. Michael thought Kim Jong-il wears military clothes all the time, and Michael himself likes military clothes as well, so he thought Kim Jong-il would very likely be one of his fans. So he decided to call Kim Jong-il to plea to him and to testify that the two American journalists were not spies.

Maybe this is simply a fake one. But I was deeply touched by how shanliang and even naïve he was. So naïve that I wanted to laugh, but when I wanted to laugh I felt slightly sad and weak at the same time. This story touched my soft spot and for a moment I thought to myself, so this is what it is like to be a human being.

I read this Chinese novel the other day. It is about competition, hidden rules, capabilities, promotions, friendship, love, betrayal, and ultimately trust within a large PR firm. Life is easy for nobody, and along the way many of us became less and less of a human. Some people turned into machines, some people turned into animals, and some people turned into devils…yet some remained. They remained vulnerable; they also remained strong.

Be thankful, if you look inside of your heart, you are still human.