The people of Hubei are called “nine-headed birds (九头鸟)” by other Chinese people, with the saying of “天上九头鸟，地上湖北佬。”which, in wikipedia, is translated as "In the sky live nine-headed birds. On the earth live cunning Hubei people." (See Hubei in Wikipedia.) But the Chinese sentence does not have any word that means “cunning”. So the emotion of this sentence is rather vague. It can be both complimentary and derogatory.
On the positive side, the nine-headed bird stands for aggressive, acumen and competent, and on the other side, it has the sense of cunning. Some Chinese use “nine-headed birds” to show their dissatisfaction to Hubeiness, however, some Hubeiness are very proud to call themselves that name.
The character of Hubei people is thought to be the outcome of Hubei’s geographical position. Hubei is called “The Thoroughfare to Nine Provinces (九省通衢)”, and here gathers people from all over the country. Wuhan used to be a center of politics and commerce of China half a century ago. And the city character is shaped by the flourishing small business.
See Nine-headed Bird inWikipedia
P.S. Blogspot is unblocked in China. Bingo!
On the positive side, the nine-headed bird stands for aggressive, acumen and competent, and on the other side, it has the sense of cunning. Some Chinese use “nine-headed birds” to show their dissatisfaction to Hubeiness, however, some Hubeiness are very proud to call themselves that name.
The character of Hubei people is thought to be the outcome of Hubei’s geographical position. Hubei is called “The Thoroughfare to Nine Provinces (九省通衢)”, and here gathers people from all over the country. Wuhan used to be a center of politics and commerce of China half a century ago. And the city character is shaped by the flourishing small business.
See Nine-headed Bird inWikipedia
P.S. Blogspot is unblocked in China. Bingo!
