土洋 (tǔyáng): domestic and foreign (combined)

Meanings

1 domestic and foreign (combined)
2 indigenous and Western
3 low-tech and high-tech (combined)

Characters

土

tǔ

local; homemade; earth

洋

yáng

foreign; ocean

Examples

工厂采用土洋结合的方法解决问题。

Gōngchǎng cǎiyòng tǔ yáng jiéhé de fāngfǎ jiějué wèntí.

The factory used a combination of homemade and imported methods to solve the problem.

这家小店土洋并举,既卖煎饼也卖咖啡。

Zhè jiā xiǎo diàn tǔ yáng bìng jǔ, jì mài jiānbing yě mài kāfēi.

This little shop mixes the local and the foreign — selling both jianbing and coffee.

Tips

usage

Almost always in compounds: 土洋结合 (combine homegrown and imported methods), 土洋并举 (use both at once), 土法洋法 (local methods and Western methods). 土 carries both 'local' and 'crude/unsophisticated' connotations; 洋 means both 'foreign' and 'modern/Western'.

history

Peaked in 1950s–60s industrial slogans like 土洋结合,以土为主 ('combine local and Western, with local as the main') — the Mao-era push to industrialize using whatever methods were on hand. The phrasing survives in factory and engineering speech today.