Meaning: “关灯” means to “switch off the lights,” and “吃面” means to “eat noodles.” This term, often used by Chinese stock investors, depicts the despair and disappointment felt by those who have lost a lot of money in their investments. The term originated in a post that appeared on a stock forum in December 2011, when an investor of Chongqing Brewery Co., Ltd. (SH 600132) described his despair after the company’s stock price dropped from around 80 yuan to 20 yuan in nine straight days. “I returned home today, cooked myself some noodles and wept as I ate. I didn’t turn on the light, my tears slipping into the bowl,” the post read. The company’s stock nosedived after it announced the failure of a hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine it had been working on. “Eating noodles in the dark” has since been used to describe sad Chinese stock investors. Example: A: 听说你准备买新车? Tīngshuō nǐ zhǔnbèi mǎi xīnchē ? Are you planning to buy a new car? B: 我买的那家公司重组失败了,股价跌了很多,买不了新车,只能关灯吃面了。 Wǒ mǎi de nàjiā gōngsī chóngzǔ shībài le ,gǔjià diē le hěnduō,mǎibùliǎo xīnchē,zhīnéng guāndēng chīmiàn le。 The company whose stocks I bought failed in their planned merger, and the stock price nosedived. I don’t have the money to buy a new car, and can only eat noodles (and weep) in the dark. |