how to translate "metaverse" in Chinese?

If culture is capable of anything, then it is finding that which unites us all

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It’s been a while frens.

Since writing on a weekly basis has become impossible, I decided to shorten this newsletter to cultural Hot Takes only, which means:

• more memes

• more grassroot crypto trends

• less repetitive news (e.g China bans crypto, for the nth time)

Memes of Late

How to translate metaverse in Chinese?

Many have translated it into 元宇宙, which is kind of weird.

The word “meta” in English means “beyond”—but 元 in Chinese means “the original.”

A “new-ish” definition, offered by Qian Xuesen, the legendary Chinese mathematician and father of China's missile and space program in the 90s, is the best we’ve seen thus-far.

He translated “Metaverse” into “灵境.”

灵 = spirits, which conveys a sense of virtual
境 = environment, which conveys a sense of universe

More importantly, 灵境 can also be associated with traditional Chinese Pavilion.

Imagine, immersing yourself into a garden full of peony, ancient bonsai, and fantastic beasts.

so meta.

Crypto Trends

• For the first time in four years, venture investors are backing more crypto and blockchain startups in the U.S. than they are in Asia

• Yang speaks my mind:

  Mindao Yang @mindaoyang

  I think crypto regulation in China probably marks as the worse public policy on tech in the past century. China has been pro tech and science since 1919 and never categorically missed any mega trend over the past 30 years,

  

  Feng Liu @fishkiller

  1- 中国的 crypto 创业者确实很难。 2- Proof of NGMI quality of CB Insights data on crypto. https://t.co/Cq2seRvXLy

• Chainnews, China’s largest crypto news outlets, decided to shut down. As a long-term reader and friend of the publication, I see this event as more damaging than any type of government bans. Why?

• Chainnews has been THE knowledge and cultural bridge between crypto and the Chinese community. They’ve been translating articles, writing research analyses and hosting events through bulls and bears.

• Now that the bridge has been burned, information - especially objective knowledge - become difficult to discover. As a result, crypto in China will experience a tough period of isolation, until web3.0 media platform such as Mirror and Twitter Space, becomes widely available.

• Market is down but MAODAO never rests. The NFT DAO just launched a research guild.

The biggest benefactor of Crypto leaving China might be Singapore as OGs and crypto enthusiasts move to the country.

We will likely see the rise of crypto innovation and mass adoption in South East Asia as a result of such a talent migration.

Follow my twitter for more timely hot takes.