BY LETTER
Penglai Slang
Slang words used on Penglai
45-point syndrome: Disease caused by local microrganism; the immune system wastes energy in attacking certain spores, making the victim tired and susceptible to other diseases.
Ch'u: Thanksgiving feasts held in honour for help from authorities, organisations or celebrities.
Chien-tsing: Insight, the sudden realisation of how things are. The goal for most neo-Taoist meditation.
Chien-lien: "Golden lotus", term for alife simulation.
Dai gut le si: "Big kumquats and money pockets"; Cynical term for big PCA projects. Originally traditional Cantonese new year's greeting, but the term has drifted.
Guanxi: A social network.
Gwai: Foreigner, somebody strange and not from Penglai. Somewhat archaic term.
Hsien: Immortal, a member of the underground neo-Taoist transhumanist movement striving to become more than human.
Hou-t'ien: "After heaven", the world after arrival on Penglai as opposed to the pre-colonial world (Hsien-t'ien).
Hung-fan: The Great Plan, the terraforming project.
Lung-wang: The Dragonkings; poetic term for the gridrays and other big sea animals.
Mudlifter: Heavy lifting vehicle used in constructions around the New Yellow Sea.
Pi-ku: "Abstaining from eating grain". Practice among some neo-Taoists to never eat anything but tank-cultured algae, vegetables and meats (as well as abstaining from alcohol and fat); this is considered both physically and spiritually healthy.
Shan-ta: Mountain-tower, one of the atmospheric converters.
Shen: The intestinal symbiote used by many to adapt to Penglai.
Those Above: The Penglai Ruling Council
T'ien: Heaven, The Highest. Ironic term for the Penglai Ruling Council .
T'ien-ming: Mandate of Heaven, term used for the relationship between the Penglai Ruling Council and the national governments.
T'sun-ssu: A popular form of meditation consisting of concentrating on evolving alife patterns.
Umbrella: Somebody from Hao Chen, refers to the persistent rains.
Wan-wu: The Ten Thousand Things; all of existence, everything there is.
Wu: Emptiness, non-being, synergy. The ideal of neo-Taoist engineering.
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Development Notes
Text by Anders Sandberg
Initially published on 08 March 2010.
Initially published on 08 March 2010.
