Shudaizi (excited schoolboy): "ni
pai di ji ming? (Meaning: Where are you ranking?)"
After each term examination, the school
teacher will put up a ranking list with all the school children's
names. Shudaizi always gets number one while Yanghunzi's name disappears
at the bottom, so whoever asks this question first is usually on
the top, therefore the question "ni pai di ji ming?" can
easily cause uneasy memory if the person you are talking to had
bad experience of the examination ranking system.
Year: 1985
Location: Ground for selling cabbage
Shudaizi (very proud): "ni pai
di ji ming?"
To buy the freshest cabbage for the
winter, one has to go to the selling ground very early. The long
queue can sometimes curve around so much that the beginning can
be just a few steps from the end. Shudaizi has to go there at 3
o'clock in the morning to get the first number.
Year: 1999
Location: A developed country's embassy
Shudaizi (angry visa officer): "Do
you want to know ni-pai-di-ji-ming?"
So little information is available when
you have to collect so many documents when applying for a visa to
go abroad, Yanghunzi has to go to the embassy several times, but
in the end, he is one photo short, so he gets a number which puts
him back at the end of the line.
