Last Chinese. "The last Chinese warning": the meaning of a phraseological unit, the history of origin

Surely you have heard, and maybe even yourself more than once made the last Chinese warning to someone. The meaning of a phraseological unit is intuitively understandable to many, but the history of this expression is also very interesting. Our article will cover all the details.

China in the midst of conflict

A short digression into the history of the Middle Kingdom will help us understand the meaning of the idiom "the last Chinese warning." This country with a unique culture and beautiful nature, populated by talented and hardworking people, has attracted foreigners from time immemorial. But not all of them rushed to the Far East to admire the ancient architecture and taste unusual national dishes.

After China was discovered by European sailors, it became a real "tidbit". The Old World immediately and categorically labeled the new lands as a "second-class power." The colonialists rushed to the Celestial Empire, trying to snatch a bigger piece.

Wars, devastation, the destruction of cultural monuments, the extermination of the local population - all this was done by newcomers from the West with virtually impunity. As a result, China was torn into many colonies. The situation was further aggravated by the Xinhai Revolution of 1911. It was followed by a civil war. China has practically fallen apart. Centralized state power was completely lost.

Sheet music of Mao Zedong

This continued until the Great Mao came to power. His unshakable authority and iron will made it possible to revive and re-create at least some semblance of a state in the long-suffering Celestial Empire. However, at the initial stage, while the defense of independence was still in full swing, China actually could not yet give a serious rebuff to any of its opponents.

It was from this moment that the history of the latest Chinese warnings began. Where this expression came from is not known for certain. Unfortunately, history is silent about the first of the latest warnings. But it is known for sure that this happened during the reign of Mao. Trying to maintain the authority of the power in the international arena, the official Chinese authorities began to send diplomatic notes of protest to their opponents. It is worth noting that the authors were well aware of the hopelessness of these documents, but they simply could not do anything else.

And what was left for the authorities of a fragile country to do, except to warn an obviously much stronger enemy? By the way, here you can draw a couple of analogies. A card cheat in such a situation would say “bluff”, and a representative of some youth subculture of the early 21st century would use the expression “take on a show off”. Such comparisons and the selection of synonymous expressions help to better understand the meaning of the statement about the last Chinese warning. As you can see, his main idea is to permanently intimidate the opponent in the absence of real prospects for influence.

Taiwan conflict

At the very beginning of the 1950s, Chiang Kai-shek came to power in Taiwan. Its representatives even took their place in the UN Security Council (only in the 70s, delegates from the DPRK were invited instead). America recognized his powers and during the conflict of 1954-1958 between Taiwan and China was on his side. The disputed islands became the subject of strife. At that time, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan tried to build its own model of communism. Oddly enough, the United States provided this country with comprehensive support, including military.

During the armed confrontation, the air and water space of China was repeatedly violated by American reconnaissance aircraft. The authorities of the Celestial Empire were endlessly outraged by such intrusions. In response to the flagrant impudence, China, through the UN, began sending those very “last warnings” to the American side. Each of them was carefully drawn up according to all the rules, including, among other things, the assignment of a serial number. Experts assure that more than nine thousand such warnings have accumulated during the conflict! Moreover, each time the Chinese side assured that this time things were more serious than ever, and tough responses would follow the warning. However, the matter never went beyond shooting down drones.

States reaction

The United States frankly ignored the messages of the Chinese, and the world press covered all the details of the confrontation, not forgetting to mention the next “last Chinese warning”. The meaning of phraseologism eventually acquired an ironic connotation. Journalists scoffed at the next official appeal of the Chinese, full of threats and assurances of the seriousness of the situation, even publishing its three- or four-digit number.

328 latest warnings

Apparently, the confrontation with the Americans and the complete fiasco with notes of protest could not convince China of the futility of such a practice. It didn't take long for history to repeat itself! This time, the opponent of the authorities of the Celestial Empire was the Soviet Union. The cause of the conflict was Damansky Island, which was claimed by both powers.

China bombarded the Soviet Foreign Ministry with warnings. There were exactly 328 of them. It is worth recognizing that by that time everyone was already pretty tired of the expression “the last Chinese warning”. The meaning of a phraseological unit made it possible to use it quite widely, and it became so popular that it eventually became boring. Press coverage of the Damansky Island conflict revived waning interest. The most advanced and politically literate Soviet working people, on occasion, jokingly began to give each other not just the last, but the last 328th Chinese warning.

How things have changed

The meaning and history of phraseological units is, of course, an interesting topic. But it is worth mentioning how things stand with Chinese national security today. Will it ever occur to someone to threaten the Celestial Empire, counting on the meaningless latest Chinese warnings? The meaning of phraseologism refers to the history of this country, but in no way characterizes the current state of affairs.

It is one of the three strongest in the world. The number of personnel exceeds 2.3 million people. China does not show aggression towards its neighbors, but is ready to defend its own interests and, in the event of territorial claims, is unlikely to limit itself to sending out diplomatic papers.

Last Chinese warning. Last thing. And very Chinese. The meaning itself is intuitive even for those who do not use this phraseological unit in their speech. It means some kind of warning, on which everyone put the bolt. That is something like:

- Marina, as your husband, I warn you for the last time - do not shave my legs with a razor !!! And not that...

“Yeah, yeah, the last Chinese warning?”

Let's figure out where the legs grow from this last warning. Yes, and certainly Chinese.

This expression is already sixty years old. It appeared at the time when Mao Zedong came to power in China in the 1950s, and the former ruler of China, Chiang Kai-shek, tried, in spite of Mao, to organize a new government in Taiwan.

The United States defiantly and fundamentally did not recognize the power of Mao, but Chiang Kai-shek supported with all his Pendos forces. And they liked to provoke China with all sorts of different actions - such as flying over sovereign territory or swimming in territorial waters.

Naturally, the Great Mao did not like this at all. But, unfortunately, China was then still extremely weak to respond in such a way that it would not seem small. So the only thing left for the Chinese was to send official notes of protest, on which the Yusovites put a bolt with all their capitalist hatred.

Such notes of protest - the latest Chinese warnings - have accumulated over time a lot, they say, about nine thousand. And each said at the end - if you do not stop - we will take drastic measures. Of course it was funny. Some kind of backward China is trying to threaten an exclusive nation. The Western press enthusiastically picked up this story, developing it to the point of absurdity.

Domestic wits did not stand aside either. Just imagine, almost every day, from the radio speakers (I remind the younger generation, there was no Internet then), the strict and solemn voice of Levitan rushed at you: “The Chinese government, in connection with the violation of territorial waters, expressed a strong protest and a final warning to the US government.” Every day! Naturally, on the eleventh time it already caused laughter, and on the hundredteenth time - Homeric laughter.

You have the last Chinese warning!

Surely many more than once in their lives have heard such a catchphrase as " latest Chinese warning“, which is sometimes used in a comic form, but sometimes quite strictly. As a rule, this catchphrase is used in cases where the interlocutor has already been repeatedly warned about something, but he has repeatedly neglected these prohibitions, which is why the “last Chinese warning” demonstrates a certain limit, followed by completely different actions. At the same time, not many people know about where and at what time this phrase

And what do we owe it to?

In order to track history"Chinese warning" we should return to the middle of the last century, during the post-war redistribution of the world, when the communist and Western models of development confronted each other. In those days, there was a tense struggle for influence in the third world countries and, in particular, for the countries of Asia. The episodes of these events were the Korean and Vietnam Wars, but they began with the victorious march of Marxism across the territory of mainland China. The remnants of the opponents of the communists, the so-called "Kuomintang" under the command of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, were forced to evacuate to the island of Taiwan and declare their own separate state, which to this day does not recognize the PRC. The Kuomintang regime at that time was provided with all kinds of support by the United States, and it was expressed not only in providing financial assistance, but also military. In particular, the US Air Force carried out reconnaissance flights over the territory of the strait separating Taiwan and the mainland, while doing this with absolute impunity, since communist China at that time did not have sufficient air defense systems. For each such flight, the Communist Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted in the form of "a warning that it no longer intends to tolerate such incidents." In the early 60s, when the US Air Force stopped flying, experts estimated that there were about 9 thousand of them, and the Chinese side reacted to each of them in the form of a “warning”.

Throughout the history of existence, mankind has accumulated an enviable baggage of "winged" expressions. Many of them people say almost daily, but rarely does anyone think about how, where and under what circumstances such phrases arose. The meaning of the phraseological unit “the last Chinese warning” can be understood by delving a little into history and considering the events of sixty years ago.

From the moment it was discovered on the map, China has become a target for numerous colonialists, each of whom dreamed of getting a share of the territories of the New World. The Celestial Empire was weakened after the First World War, so it could not repulse the annoying invaders. The islands were a frequent subject of dispute, so in one of the important historical events the struggle was fought between the two sides:

• the leader of the Chinese Republic, Mao Zedong, who made great efforts to revive and strengthen the communist state;
• his opponent Chiang Kai-shek, who is trying to recreate his own model of communism on the island of Taiwan.

The confrontation led to the Taiwan conflict, where the island lands became the subject of the dispute.

The United States took the side of Chiang Kai-shek and provided political and military support to his state. The United States has repeatedly neglected China's air and water borders, sending reconnaissance equipment to its territory. This kind of invasion caused a storm of negativity and indignation among the leadership of the Chinese state. The Celestial Empire rebuffed the violators by sending its first "Chinese warning" to the Americans through the UN. However, both sides were well aware that China was unable to provide adequate resistance, because its resources were depleted during military operations. Therefore, the Chinese could only send their warnings in response to every illegal action of the United States.

Each such message was about taking decisive action to protect their borders, but these were only words that could not carry any real threat. Although the document was drawn up according to all the rules, no one attached importance to its content.

Historians say that more than 9000 such "last warnings" were sent! This is where this expression first came from, meaning empty threats or, in “card” language, a bluff.

After the Taiwan confrontation, the expression "Chinese warning" was colored with notes of irony and sarcasm. No one took the Chinese seriously, even the press scoffed, publishing more and more new messages, the serial number of which had long exceeded one thousand. But the Chinese, for some unknown reason, stubbornly refused to acknowledge the futility of their measures, so the second wave of warnings was not long in coming.

This time, the Soviet Union acted as an adversary of China, the two states could not divide Damansky Island in any way. In 1969, the conflict caused a new stream of "Chinese warnings" now towards the USSR. By this time, the whole world openly laughed at the Celestial Empire, people used this expression, which became “winged”, in everyday life, sometimes adding a serial number to it. But in the struggle for Damansky, the number of "peaceful intimidations" was significantly reduced and amounted to only 328, each of which was not followed by decisive action.

Conclusion

Looking into the history of the now mighty power, it is easy to understand where this expression came from and why it is ironic. The phrase about the Chinese warning, which has become an idiom, means empty threats, words of intimidation, promises of serious consequences that will not be fulfilled. But the days when China was ridiculed by the whole world because of its helplessness are long gone. Now it is one of the most influential states, the conflict with which is unlikely to end with the distribution of unfounded warnings that amuse others and their direct addressee.