Outrageous Chinese: A Guide to Chinese Street Language
by James J. Wang (China Books and Periodicals, Inc., 1994)
Review by: John Pasden
If you’re at all interested in learning bad words in Chinese, this is the book to have. Chinese people flip out when they see what this book has in it.
In the Love and Sex chapter you can learn how to say “sleep with,” “make love,” “you’ve got a real big dick!” “I am having my period,” and “put on a condom. I don’t want to get knocked up.” All relevant vocabulary is also in there, in both formal and slang terms.
In the Expletives Undeleted chapter you can learn such gems as “fuck your ancestors!” and “what a damned ugly face!” Oh yeah, there’s enough material in here to get you in innumerable fights.
Not all topics are as offensive. Some other chapter titles include Form of Address, Food and Drink, Crime, Toilets, and Judging People. The book provides lots of grammatical and cultural explanation and gives plenty of sample sentences. All words are given in both simplified characters and pinyin.
This book is undoubtedly banned in China. Better get it overseas before coming and do get it if you have any interest at all in this kind of book. This is the best book of its kind on the market.
I actually saw this book for sale at the Beijing Friendship Store a few years ago!
It’s out of print right now and quite pricey to buy used. A pity, because it’s a lot of fun.
I bought a copy for 90 rmb. It’s a gem of a book.
Neal, where did you buy the book? In China?
Any idea where I can pick up a copy of this in Shanghai?
Also, I never find what I’m looking for at the Foreign Language Book Store (Fuzhou Lu). Do you recommend pinyin’ized orders on Amazon, asking friends from abroad to send them, or is there someplace here in China with a wide selection?
If the book is in high demand, why the publisher not updating the book, and publish again? Vince
coulnd’t just somebody scan the whole book?
i’m searching for years, never found an offer i could afford 🙁
You can find copies on the internet…..scans of pages that is. I bought it for $9 last year but seems to have appreciated since. Yes, my Chinese friends can’t seem to stop reading it…
cheers from Shanghai
This is James Wang, author of outrageous Chinese. Some kind of shit happened between me and China Books. As a result, I took back the copyright of the book. If you guys still need the book, please email me at jwang1217@yahoo.com.