HOW do you say “excuse me” in Chinese the Beijing way?

Many of us have learnt to say dui bu qi, which is equivalent to “sorry” or “excuse me”.

And we use dui bu qi very often in our day-to-day conversations, be it in Malaysia or in China.

But here in the Chinese capital, I have learnt to say “excuse me” the Beijing way – and that is lao jia.

When you say lao jia, you are showing good manners.

I had seen the phrase lao jia in the martial arts novels of the famous author Jin Yong (also known as Zha Liangyong). In the novels, lao jia is frequently used in conversations.

But it was only when I came to live and work in Beijing that I really noticed the phrase, which we in Malaysia rarely use in our Chinese conversations, being said all the time.

“Lao jia, guo yi xia (Excuse me, please let me pass).”

“Lao jia, wen ge lu (Excuse me, I’d like to ask for directions)”

I have heard the locals saying it so often I have almost forgotten that we don’t normally use it in Malaysia or in other parts of China.

Very often, when a pedestrian is blocking the way in a hutong (small alley) here, the rider on a bicycle will shout lao jia and most pedestrians will move aside.

The lao Beijing (literally old residents of Beijing, which means the natives) normally use lao jia when they need to be excused for causing trouble to other people.

“Lao” is a polite way of asking to be excused for putting you or someone in a spot of trouble.

The locals in Beijing also use lao together with fan (lao fan as in “to trouble”) and lao dong (dong as in “to move” but it also means to trouble).

“Shi fu, lao dong nin bang wo tai yi xia er!” is a very useful phrase to use whenever I take the cab in Beijing to go to the airport – the cabby will happily help me to carry my heavy bag!

And the word jia is a very respectful way to address someone.

In ancient times, jia referred to the emperor or to an image of Buddha or the Buddha.

So it has become natural for me to sometimes say lao jia to mean “excuse me”, “may I trouble you …” and “would you please …” to show good manners in the Beijing tuhua (slang)!

http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=beijingexpress&file=/2008/6/29/columnists/beijingexpress/21691618&sec=Beijing%20Express