放羊娃

fàngyángwá
noun

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 shepherd boy
  2. 2 young shepherd

Examples

Shānpō shàng yǒu gè fàngyángwá zài chànggē.
There's a shepherd boy singing on the hillside.
Tā cóng xiǎo jiù shì gè fàngyángwá, méi shàng guò xué.
He was a shepherd boy from childhood and never went to school.

Tips

culture
An iconic image of rural northwest China (陕西, 甘肃, 宁夏). Made famous by a 2002 documentary interview where a Ningxia 放羊娃 told a journalist his life plan: 'Tend sheep — sell sheep — earn money — get a wife — have kids — let them tend sheep.' The exchange became a viral parable about the cycle of rural poverty.
memory
(to release/let out) + (sheep) + (kid, often -wá in northwestern dialects) = 'kid who lets the sheep out' — i.e., takes them out to graze.

Stroke Order

fàng
yáng