Chinese Tuesdays: While the snow is hot
The Chinese expression for “strike while the iron is hot” is more or less exactly the same: 趁热打铁 (chènrèdǎtiě).
There has been heavy snow in Harbin lately, and apparently people were taking advantage of the situation to charge drivers whose cars had become stranded on icy roads 30-50 yuan to help push them out of trouble. This behaviour was described as 趁雪打劫 (chènxuědǎjié), replacing 热 (hot) with 雪 (snow) and 打铁 (strike iron with 打劫 (rob/plunder/loot). The result could be translated as “Steal while the snow falls.”
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A version of this Chinese Tuesdays post originally appeared on Sam Duncan's blog
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Tue 10 December 2013 in
