Bold Little Swallow

Some people have asked me about the name of this blog, so here’s the explanation of it:

In Chinese culture, the swallow is a well-liked and auspicious creature, often a symbol of springtime and, since they are often seen in pairs, they represent romantic love and couples.  It is also associated with a popular type of kite popular in China, especially in Beijing, which actually was named Yanjing (literally: swallow capital) in older times.  The kite, called “Beijing Swallow Kites”, “Sand Martin Kites” (after the name of a type of swallow), “Beijing Sand Kites” and etc, is colorful and has the shape of a swallow in flight.  This was the inspiration behind one of the Fuwa (Olympic mascots) for the Beijing Olympics.  (Purely by coincidence, I also have a keychain of this Fuwa, given to me by a Chinese scholar who has no idea about this internet alias of mine.)

Swallows seem representative of a sweet, gentle temperament and youthful optimism.  Though still in my twenties, I find myself getting bitter and jaded about quite a few things, and I would like to make an effort to be more happy and joyful.

However, many people who are happy with a sort of youthful, childlike joy are often also meek and can be pushovers.  As a friend of mine put it, I definitely have a bit of chutzpah in me, a quality that I really like in myself.  The best translation I’ve found for chutzpah (and Jewish friends, do feel free to correct me) is audacity, a word that comes from the Latin word for “bold”.  Not only is it good for self-preservation (preventing one from being a pushover), but I think people overall need to be more assertive and bold in whatever they do.  There is too much injustice in this world, too many people who will take advantage of others, too many goals and dreams that are abandoned, too many fears and worries bogging people down.  In order to make this world a better place, it takes a proper ratio of starry-eyed optimism (the spirit of a twitterpated springtime birds) and chutzpah or boldness.

Hence the name.

For those who know some Mandarin Chinese, this blog’s name also was chosen along with its Chinese translation: 大胆小燕 (dàdǎn xiǎo yàn).  Not only is it four characters (and Chinese just loves four character phrases), but it also plays with the contrast of “大/big” and “小/small” within the phrase.