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Niubi!: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School
How to talk dirty and influence people - in Chinese!
Are you looking to learn the Chinese only a native speaker knows? Niubi! will teach you the colorful vernacular phrases used by Chinese people of all ages in a wide variety of situations, including flirting and dating, fighting and partying, and all the swear words you'll ever need. Learn why many Chinese insults involve turtle eggs, how code words referring to Internet censorship have evolved, multiple names for body parts your textbook skipped, and how they've perfected the art of everyday abuse and insults.
For complete novices ( Niubi! newbies), intermediate students of Mandarin Chinese, or just anyone who enjoys cursing in other languages, this hilariously illustrated guide is packed with irreverent anecdotes, mini cultural lessons, and contextual explanations. So whether you're planning a trip to Beijing, flirting with an online acquaintance from Shanghai, or just want to start a fight in Chinatown - Niubi! will ensure that nothing you say is lost in translation.
Are you looking to learn the Chinese only a native speaker knows? Niubi! will teach you the colorful vernacular phrases used by Chinese people of all ages in a wide variety of situations, including flirting and dating, fighting and partying, and all the swear words you'll ever need. Learn why many Chinese insults involve turtle eggs, how code words referring to Internet censorship have evolved, multiple names for body parts your textbook skipped, and how they've perfected the art of everyday abuse and insults.
For complete novices ( Niubi! newbies), intermediate students of Mandarin Chinese, or just anyone who enjoys cursing in other languages, this hilariously illustrated guide is packed with irreverent anecdotes, mini cultural lessons, and contextual explanations. So whether you're planning a trip to Beijing, flirting with an online acquaintance from Shanghai, or just want to start a fight in Chinatown - Niubi! will ensure that nothing you say is lost in translation.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
27 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
Eveline Chao
3 books72 followersI'm a freelance writer based in Brooklyn, New York. I previously spent 5 years living in Beijing, China, where I spent a lot of time jotting down dirty words I overheard and asking Chinese friends inappropriate questions about what they say in bathrooms, bedrooms, and brawl-rooms. Eventually, I put it all together into a book, called "NIUBI! - The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School."
My articles about China, Chinatowns, and numerous other topics have appeared on the BBC, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, the Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, Atlas Obscura, the New York Times Chinese-language site, and the Sydney Morning Herald, among others. My radio pieces have appeared on the BBC’s “Business Daily.” I also write a regular "Chinese Corner" language column for the LA Review of Books China Channel.
To stay posted on articles I've written, stray China and language-related news, or just random things that made me laugh, be sure to follow me on Twitter @EvelineChao or "Like" the NIUBI! Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/NiubiBook ).
My articles about China, Chinatowns, and numerous other topics have appeared on the BBC, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, the Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, Atlas Obscura, the New York Times Chinese-language site, and the Sydney Morning Herald, among others. My radio pieces have appeared on the BBC’s “Business Daily.” I also write a regular "Chinese Corner" language column for the LA Review of Books China Channel.
To stay posted on articles I've written, stray China and language-related news, or just random things that made me laugh, be sure to follow me on Twitter @EvelineChao or "Like" the NIUBI! Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/NiubiBook ).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 10, 2011
I have read a few books detailing "real Mandarin" and this is by far the best. Not only does it tell you slang but often gives a detailed explanation of the cultural context and that is what sets this book apart. It creates a fun learning experience rather than just teaching you how a slang phrase is said in Mandarin. Like many things crossing a language barrier the expression may fit in your native though process and not be correct in context in another language. Anyone of adult age or close to it who is learning Chinese should have this book.
November 20, 2012
Really fascinating, not so much for memorising the words as for the explanations and cultural knowledge attached to them. It was particularly helpful and fascinating to see coverage of gay and lesbian culture and slang, given that it's completely ignored by textbooks. The stuff on gender politics was great, too.
September 2, 2014
This is a great, funny, and comprehensive overview on cursing in Mandarin Chinese.
Almost all of the curses that I heard during my time in Taiwan are featured in here, so if you memorise all of these you will never be short of a good retort (in real life OR online)! The assessments on the "severity" and tone of each phrase is spot on (at least according to my own my experience), and the explanations are both entertaining and enlightening.
The division into themes is useful and clear, and makes it easier to use as a reference work. The book is mostly aimed at people who already have a basic understanding of Mandarin (if you have lived in Mandarin-speaking areas for an extended time, you will probably be familiar with most of these curses though); but the literal translations, explanations, and the English pronunciation hints make it accessible even to the complete layman (I think? This is hard to judge as a non-layman xD... But at least those pronunciation prompts are surprisingly not awful!).
There were some editing mistakes here and there, such as typos or wrong pinyin/tone marks, and the addition of some form of index in the back would have been nice, but these were only very minor gripes for an otherwise lovely little book.
Almost all of the curses that I heard during my time in Taiwan are featured in here, so if you memorise all of these you will never be short of a good retort (in real life OR online)! The assessments on the "severity" and tone of each phrase is spot on (at least according to my own my experience), and the explanations are both entertaining and enlightening.
The division into themes is useful and clear, and makes it easier to use as a reference work. The book is mostly aimed at people who already have a basic understanding of Mandarin (if you have lived in Mandarin-speaking areas for an extended time, you will probably be familiar with most of these curses though); but the literal translations, explanations, and the English pronunciation hints make it accessible even to the complete layman (I think? This is hard to judge as a non-layman xD... But at least those pronunciation prompts are surprisingly not awful!).
There were some editing mistakes here and there, such as typos or wrong pinyin/tone marks, and the addition of some form of index in the back would have been nice, but these were only very minor gripes for an otherwise lovely little book.
August 7, 2018
Actually I was - but only because my lăoshī was a saucy linguistics grad who warned me not to practice the tricky phoneme 日 or 入 on the street, or ever to shout “3-8!”.
Anyway this is funny and valuable for understanding the place’s (otherwise inaccessible) working-class or web or queer registers – and for generally not seeming like a prig.
So: language is fossilised sociology; Chao excavates what would take us decades. She begins with slurs of all sorts, but doesn’t list any homophobia – claiming it isn’t a well-rooted hatred there (…). There’s loads and loads of ableism, though. Gets more serious as it goes, with whole chapters on gay culture and web ‘activism’ (恶搞 is ‘evildoings’, lulz). This turns up details like the infallibly hilarious “potato queen”. I also loved her decoding the ancient innuendoes: 云雨 (clouds and rain), 鱼水之欢 (the fish and the water, happy together), 余桃 (sharing peaches), or “playing the bamboo flute” or “bamboo harmonica”.
(BTW, the title term is 牛屄 – ‘Cow-cunt’ – and means “Awesome!”. It is generally not included in mainstream Hanzi keyboard programs.)
Anyway this is funny and valuable for understanding the place’s (otherwise inaccessible) working-class or web or queer registers – and for generally not seeming like a prig.
So: language is fossilised sociology; Chao excavates what would take us decades. She begins with slurs of all sorts, but doesn’t list any homophobia – claiming it isn’t a well-rooted hatred there (…). There’s loads and loads of ableism, though. Gets more serious as it goes, with whole chapters on gay culture and web ‘activism’ (恶搞 is ‘evildoings’, lulz). This turns up details like the infallibly hilarious “potato queen”. I also loved her decoding the ancient innuendoes: 云雨 (clouds and rain), 鱼水之欢 (the fish and the water, happy together), 余桃 (sharing peaches), or “playing the bamboo flute” or “bamboo harmonica”.
(BTW, the title term is 牛屄 – ‘Cow-cunt’ – and means “Awesome!”. It is generally not included in mainstream Hanzi keyboard programs.)
June 4, 2020
I need a paperback version of this book.
July 20, 2012
For sure I will learn about ten of the best curses and put downs, and when some idiot cuts me off on the freeway will unleash all I know.
Wish there were more stories and anecdotes because everyone loves a good story. But it just goes to show people are people no matter what skin and country they are born into. Yes folks we are all the same.
Not knowing much of the language I would never dare to try to use any of these slang terms with a native speaker, man would that get me into deep trouble very quickly because I can't think of any way to make a fool of myself trying to impress someone this way. And I would probably eff up the pronunciation anyway, but this was a fun book.
Wish there were more stories and anecdotes because everyone loves a good story. But it just goes to show people are people no matter what skin and country they are born into. Yes folks we are all the same.
Not knowing much of the language I would never dare to try to use any of these slang terms with a native speaker, man would that get me into deep trouble very quickly because I can't think of any way to make a fool of myself trying to impress someone this way. And I would probably eff up the pronunciation anyway, but this was a fun book.
November 15, 2009
I couldn't stop laughing as I read through the book.
July 8, 2016
Overall this book is well researched, well organized, comprehensive, and very good at accomplishing its purpose of teaching Chinese slang and obscenities to foreigners. The biggest issue I noted was some weirdnesses and outright mistakes in the pronunciation guides -- but in other places the pronunciation guides are better explained than many more traditional teaching-Chinese texts. (And besides, no one was ever going to learn correct Chinese pronunciation from a written guide anyway.)
The book generally does a very good job of briefly explaining both the literal meanings of terms as well as their meanings in common usage (English example: "asshole" has a literal meaning, but it is also used to refer to an inconsiderate or mean person, usually male), along with notes about term origins (where relevant/helpful) and about intensity of offensiveness ("poop" and "shit" are both common slang words that ostensibly have the same meaning, but quite different usages).
I should say that a lot of the slang in the book is based on specific subcultures that may barely exist outside of the major cities and much of which I am unfamiliar with (despite living in China for over 3 years and considering myself basically fluent, the majority of my time was spent in
smaller cities); therefore I am unable to judge its accuracy. For example, there is a section about drugs, including proper and slang names for a variety of drugs as well as related terms such as being "high", etc., but in my time here I have literally never seen drug use and the young people I've talked to about it have been unfamiliar with it and uninterested in it, regarding it as at worst evil and at best incomprehensible (very different from my experience with American culture). But since throughout the book the terms that I know were, with a few exceptions, correctly defined and well explained, I trust that the rest of the content is predominantly accurate as well.
There are of course things that have changed in the seven years since the book was published (the lack of mentions of weibo and weixin are glaring) but it's actually surprising how well most of the content still holds up.
The book generally does a very good job of briefly explaining both the literal meanings of terms as well as their meanings in common usage (English example: "asshole" has a literal meaning, but it is also used to refer to an inconsiderate or mean person, usually male), along with notes about term origins (where relevant/helpful) and about intensity of offensiveness ("poop" and "shit" are both common slang words that ostensibly have the same meaning, but quite different usages).
I should say that a lot of the slang in the book is based on specific subcultures that may barely exist outside of the major cities and much of which I am unfamiliar with (despite living in China for over 3 years and considering myself basically fluent, the majority of my time was spent in
smaller cities); therefore I am unable to judge its accuracy. For example, there is a section about drugs, including proper and slang names for a variety of drugs as well as related terms such as being "high", etc., but in my time here I have literally never seen drug use and the young people I've talked to about it have been unfamiliar with it and uninterested in it, regarding it as at worst evil and at best incomprehensible (very different from my experience with American culture). But since throughout the book the terms that I know were, with a few exceptions, correctly defined and well explained, I trust that the rest of the content is predominantly accurate as well.
There are of course things that have changed in the seven years since the book was published (the lack of mentions of weibo and weixin are glaring) but it's actually surprising how well most of the content still holds up.
January 9, 2010
Awesome title:The Chinese slang term "Niubi!" sums up this book!
This is the perfect book for the person who has a basic understanding of the Chinese lang and wants to learn how to express themselves in a way you won't learn in school.
Not all of the book is profanity, there are some very funny sayings like " Wangba kan ludou, kan dui yan le" - buy the book to find out the meaning - it is well worth it!
This is the perfect book for the person who has a basic understanding of the Chinese lang and wants to learn how to express themselves in a way you won't learn in school.
Not all of the book is profanity, there are some very funny sayings like " Wangba kan ludou, kan dui yan le" - buy the book to find out the meaning - it is well worth it!
June 6, 2011
As an ABC, I found this to be extremely informative, especially since my parents were never the type to use these words and my exposure to "real" Mandarin has been limited. This book is basically a list of words to say for every occasion that requires cussing or slang. It does assume that you already know at the very least the basics of Mandarin, but one could have gathered that from the title. Definitely a fun read with words worth memorizing and using.
February 5, 2014
This was totally brilliant! Gives you a great insight into swearing and the language itself. I particularly liked the chapter on Internet use and the creative ways people have come up with for getting around Internet censorship. I also loved the concept of soy sauce guy. There is so much in here and I definitely recommend it to students of Chinese language and culture. It's really educational and very funny as well!
October 28, 2011
This is not your brother's how-to-hook-up-with-locals-on-study-abroad phrasebook. It's an informed, humorous, and often hilariously profane guide to vulgarities and slang even some of my Chinese friends found novel. Anyone who doesn't speak like Tom Brokaw in English shouldn't speak like a Putonghua instructor or a CCTV broadcaster. This will help.
August 28, 2015
Pretty much like the title says. One gets a bit of knowledge about the more colloquial lingo of chinese mandarin and history on why or how it came about. Personally I'd like to know if I have just been insulted in any language I've endeavored to learn and don't have the guts to ask someone to teach me. Especially for a girl wanting to know profane language.
March 27, 2013
I remember almost none of the new curse words and vulgar phrases I learned in this very entertaining and enriching book, but I did come away with a renewed love for Chinese. What an amazing and hilarious language! Highly recommended!
April 20, 2013
Really interesting and enjoyable to read! Love learning about language and subcultures in China - also helpful in sooo many ways... I can now navigate through a forum in Chinese with some idea about what is going on and why things don't actually mean what they mean.
February 22, 2017
Highly entertaining manual that'll have readers spouting Chinese profanities in no time--like the use of both Chinese characters and Pinyin romanization for linguistic clarity. The slang, obscenities, and idiomatic phrases also provide a fascinating look into contemporary Chinese culture.
May 28, 2017
This book is Niubi! (pun intended). Most books for learning Mandarin will start with the polite "Nihao" and so forth. Niubi gets straight to the unfiltered and uncensored territory. The explanations on the euphemisms are also amusing to read.
January 26, 2011
Easy to read, detailed definitions of Chinese colloquialisms and swear words. (Assumes some prior knowledge of Chinese, though.)
Read
August 9, 2011Very useful if you want to make Chinese people embarrassed and laugh at you, deliberately. Not just from mispronouncing stuff.
October 25, 2011
Now I know how to say damn and fuck in chinese. Yay.
January 4, 2013
Just ordered this book. Studying up on the fun stuff for my sci-fi novel set in China.
November 18, 2012
I thought this was much better than Dirty Chinese. It even includes internet speak!
June 21, 2013
Similar to Dirty Chinese.
December 2, 2024
Is the book true to the title? Sure, 90% of the time but a lot of these words were taught to me so that I won't embarrass myself in front of native speakers. The words are accurate, the pinyin is accurate, the "phonetic pronunciation" is abysmal at best and the meanings are well researched. Two stars for all of that.
Now the scathing review.
I guarantee you that if you take away the made-up "phonetic pronunciation" that isn't at all accurate or even make sense andthis book will be at least 30% lighter. Seriously, who tries to reinvent a system when pinyin and zhuyin are right there with their exact purpose being "pronunication." "Niubi is pronounced nyoo-bee" no, it is not. B in mandarin chinese is literally pronounced P! There's no English "B" sound in standard mandarin! Just stick with pinyin! or zhuyin! or IPA! Or literally any other standardized pronunication that already exist in the world.
Another problem I have with this book is that it ignores another reason we're not taught these: you're not taught how to call other people r-word in Chinese because it's ableist. Congrats! You taught non-native speakers slurs and didn't even emphasize on how those words are unacceptable because they are slurs. The author should really stop trying to excuse explicit bigotry, by going "oh, these are just what Chinese people say UwU They just love you so much they have to curse at you for being a bastard" like okay. You don't need to bend over backwards for these words. You can admit they're hateful slurs used by some Chinese people. It's fine to say "this word is sexist but it's frequently used so I'm putting it here" instead. It's fine.
I also think this could've been a blog post instead of a book. Okay, I'm done.
Now the scathing review.
I guarantee you that if you take away the made-up "phonetic pronunciation" that isn't at all accurate or even make sense andthis book will be at least 30% lighter. Seriously, who tries to reinvent a system when pinyin and zhuyin are right there with their exact purpose being "pronunication." "Niubi is pronounced nyoo-bee" no, it is not. B in mandarin chinese is literally pronounced P! There's no English "B" sound in standard mandarin! Just stick with pinyin! or zhuyin! or IPA! Or literally any other standardized pronunication that already exist in the world.
Another problem I have with this book is that it ignores another reason we're not taught these: you're not taught how to call other people r-word in Chinese because it's ableist. Congrats! You taught non-native speakers slurs and didn't even emphasize on how those words are unacceptable because they are slurs. The author should really stop trying to excuse explicit bigotry, by going "oh, these are just what Chinese people say UwU They just love you so much they have to curse at you for being a bastard" like okay. You don't need to bend over backwards for these words. You can admit they're hateful slurs used by some Chinese people. It's fine to say "this word is sexist but it's frequently used so I'm putting it here" instead. It's fine.
I also think this could've been a blog post instead of a book. Okay, I'm done.
July 24, 2019
Decent context and description of various settings, locations and types of relationships you would say certain phrases, but quite a few printing errors where a character is completely missing, extra pinyin is added after the wrong phrase or the phonetic spelling is for a different character. The book isn't riddled with errors, mind you, but I did catch singular errors every few pages. Read it more for the context of the chapters and not to learn the phrases themselves.
August 19, 2022
"NIUBI!" is a book full of chinese vocabulary that you would never learn in a classroom! Evelyn Chao has descovered me a whole world of words related with s*x , prostitution , gay vocabulary, swearing and many other topics. I think all of them are useful, but I am not gonna use them in class for sure! 哈哈哈 （hahaha)
April 11, 2019
Really effective slangs and further explanation, to some extent rude and real dirty.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
January 20, 2023
Can’t stop laughing while reading through this book. Never thought anyone even a foreigner to make such great collection of these. Brilliant.
May 20, 2025
It’s more of a dictionary. It needed more anecdotes and explanations and history behind the terms. There’s a lot of BJ specific slang but the author does a good job distinguishing the terms by region. I’ve definitely heard some of these!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews