|
Download People in Taiwan use the term woxin to indicate the feeling of warmth and happiness, but the same word means the exact opposite, "upset", on the mainland. Tudou, which means potato on the mainland, refers to peanuts in Taiwan. People who travel between Taiwan and the mainland are often puzzled by such differences in the vocabularies used on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. In an effort to solve the problem, a group of literary people from Taiwan and the mainland compiled a Cross-Straits Dictionary of Life, which explains common vocabulary words from Taiwan with their equivalents on the mainland. Designed to be a manual for mainlanders who travel to Taiwan, the dictionary was released by the Culture and Art Publishing House at the Third Cross-Straits Chinese Character Art Festival, which concluded recently in Zaozhuang, Shandong province. Presented by the Chinese National Academy of Arts and the General Association of Chinese Culture of Taiwan, the festival gathered a group of experts from both sides of the Straits to discuss the "origin and evolution of Chinese characters." According to Yang Tu, editor-in-chief of the dictionary, the differences in the vocabularies of Taiwan and the mainland can be attributed to historical, social and cultural reasons. Taiwan has been separated from the mainland for most of the time since 1895, when it became a colony of Japan. Japanese and the dialect of the Fujian people who make up the majority of Taiwan's population have influenced the Chinese language they speak. | 
