New Members The_Curious_Cat Posted February 7, 2017 at 06:43 PM New Members Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 at 06:43 PM Hello, I’m new here, and I have an interesting story to tell. My Dad ordered a battery charger and he got it from China. It came in an envelope complete with a customs declaration form. Since this form is from China Post, it has a lot of Chinese characters, along with English phrases. My Dad doesn’t speak Chinese, but he is curious to know what it says. He asked me about it, because I took some Chinese language classes. Right now, I’m translating the Chinese parts into English. Even though I’m close to done, there are some parts that I’m having a hard time figuring out. The phrase that stumps me the most is 可以经行开拆. I know it is being used as an equivalent for “May be opened officially”. I was able to find out that 可以 means “May/Can”. That part I’m pretty sure I get. Examples I have come across indicate that 开拆 means “To open”. I’m having a hard time finding these characters together in Chinese dictionaries. Does it mean “To open”? The part I don’t get is 经行. I have seen sentences with these characters, but the English translations seem unhelpful in understanding them. I have had little luck finding this combination in Chinese dictionaries. The closest entry I found is 经行记 (Jīngxíngjì), which Wikipedia translates as “Record of Travels”. It doesn't seem to correspond to “Officially”. Does anyone know what it means? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabiothebest Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:00 PM Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:00 PM I think that there may be a mistake in the sentence. Instead of 经行 (jing1 xing2) it could be 进行 (jin4 xing2). Did you see well? You are right that 可以 means "may"/"can". 进行 means "to carry out"/"to conduct", also "to be in progress"/"to be underway"/"to go on". 开 means "to open" and it can be followed by another character to give a more specific meaning. Search 拆 separately in the dictionary. In this case 开拆 should mean "to tear open". Basically it means that it can be opened, yes. I'm not a native speaker. Correct me if I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:01 PM Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:01 PM No, it doesn't mean "officially." It refers to passage (through the mail system). Think of the original sentence as reading 可以经行中开拆。 I'd translate the note along the lines of "May be opened in transit." No doubt somebody has a better word than "transit," though. Now you can see why 经行记 can be translated as “Record of Travels.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
陳德聰 Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:10 PM Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:10 PM Are you sure it doesn't say 逕行開拆? 逕 means "directly" 行 here just means "do" 開拆 = 拆開 = open 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:17 PM Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 at 08:17 PM That does make more sense than my first thought. There's a China Post reference online to "并可由邮局迳行开拆." Plus, it'd be easy to confuse 经 and 迳. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted February 8, 2017 at 07:08 AM Report Share Posted February 8, 2017 at 07:08 AM It should be 逕/迳/徑/径 meaning 徑直 directly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members The_Curious_Cat Posted February 8, 2017 at 07:58 PM Author New Members Report Share Posted February 8, 2017 at 07:58 PM Everyone, I would like to thank you for responding so quickly! I am glad to get some help with this! I checked the sentence again to make sure I got the characters right. That's a good idea, considering how hard Chinese characters are to decipher at a small font size. It definitely has 经 in it. It could very be a mistake in the sentence. I mean, everybody makes mistakes, right? On a side note, I think "officially" in "May be opened officially" is an odd choice of words. I mean, it makes it sound like there's an official way to open an envelope. What, is there a way to open an envelope unofficially? (Laughs) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eslang Posted February 9, 2017 at 04:34 AM Report Share Posted February 9, 2017 at 04:34 AM 这还真不是人类语言，是邮政专用术语。 开拆 是什么意思？ 1：开拆是邮政专用术语，并不是指将邮件拆开，简单说是将邮件从发寄邮局的邮袋中取出，并录入机器，以便分拣发往下一环节。 2：因为邮件都是用邮袋装的，所以要分拣邮件需要先拆袋子，这一环节简称“ 开拆”。 http://www.xue163.com/18880/146696944472/1466969444726488.html 可以 May/Can 经行 Undergo 开拆 Packet and Parcel Sorting System 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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