May you live in interesting times

"Chinese curse" redirects here. For Chinese-language profanity, see Mandarin Chinese profanity.

"May you live in interesting times", often referred to as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse, although it may have originated among the English themselves. It is reported that it was the first of three^{[citation needed]} curses of increasing severity, the other two being:

• "May you come to the attention of those in authority" (sometimes rendered "May the government be aware of you"). This is sometimes quoted as "May you come to the attention of powerful people." (Alternately, "important people".)^{[citation needed]}
• "May you find what you are looking for." This is sometimes quoted as "May your wishes be granted."^{[citation needed]}

Origins

Evidence that the phrase was in use as early as 1936 is provided by a memoir written by Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen who was the British Ambassador to China in 1936 and 1937. The memoir describes an instance of a friend of Knatchbull-Hugessen describing the phrase as a "Chinese curse" when discussing his departure to China.

Frederic R. Coudert also recounts having heard the phrase at the time:

Some years ago, in 1936, I had to write to a very dear and honored friend of mine, who has since died, Sir Austen Chamberlain, brother of the present Prime Minister, and I concluded my letter with a rather banal remark, "that we were living in an interesting age." Evidently he read the whole letter, because by return mail he wrote to me and concluded as follows: "Many years ago, I learned from one of our diplomats in China that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is, 'May you live in an interesting age.'" "Surely", he said, "no age has been more fraught with insecurity than our own present time." That was three years ago.

— Frederic R. Coudert, Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, 1939

The phrase is again described as a "Chinese curse" in 1943's "Child Study Association of America, Federation for Child Study (U.S.)".

The saying does not appear to have a direct equivalent in Chinese. The only traditional Chinese idiom which even seems to be in the ballpark is translated from the original language ("寧為太平犬，不做亂世人") as: "It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period."

Popularization and usage

• The saying was used by Robert F. Kennedy in his Day of Affirmation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1966.
• It is also a saying from the counterweight continent in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and a later novel in the series is named Interesting Times.
• "Interesting Times" is the title of the autobiography of the historian Eric Hobsbawm.
• Writer George Packer calls his New Yorker blog "Interesting Times"; it focuses on the Iraq war and other political issues.
• May You Live in Interesting Times is the title of a short story collection published in 1995 by the writer Tereze Gluck.
• "May You Live in Interesting Times" is the title of a section in the book Kingdom of Fear by journalist and writer Hunter S. Thompson. The phrase was "told to [Thompson] by an elderly dope fiend on a rainy night in Hong Kong near the end of the War in Vietnam". The chapter containing the section refers to Thompson's work as a war correspondent.
• Harry Kim uses the phrase in Episode 6 "The Cloud" of Star Trek: Voyager Season 1.
• The "curse" was also quoted at several instances in the first season of the USA Network Police Procedural series White Collar, though "May you come to the attention of those in authority" is not mentioned.
• Wendy Cope's poem "Being Boring" quotes the Chinese curse beneath her poem title to emphasise her point- that being boring is much more satisfying than living in interesting times.
• Another use of the phrase occurred in 1950, when the April issue of Astounding Science Fiction included the saying in one of the magazine's stories entitled "U-Turn". The story was penned by Eric Frank Russell under the name Duncan H. Munro.
• It was also quoted at the end of the 1994 movie Disclosure with Demi Moore, Michael Douglas and Donald Sutherland. Sutherland quoted in the beginning of the company meeting when talking about the strange sexual harassment lawsuit along with the corporate espionage that had been the intertwined subject of the movie.
• It is used as a chorus in Chester French's single, "Interesting Times"
• It is used in Magnum P.I. in the episode "The Eighth Part of the Village", Season 3 Episode 4.
• It is used in The Mighty Thor 008 (2012) on page 14 by Gaea.

Bibliography

• Maciej Sablik. "CIEKAWOSTKI". Retrieved 2011-05-05. 
• Stephen E. DeLong (May 5, 1998). "Get a(n interesting) life!". Archived from the original on 2004-04-04. Retrieved 2008-08-03. 
• "Origin of Phrase: May You Live In Interesting Times". Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2008-08-03. 
• "Robert F. Kennedy's Day of Affirmation Address, Cape Town, South Africa". Retrieved 2008-08-03.