Absurdity, Allegory and China

Don’t go reaching for your chengyu books. This one’s not in it, although it ought to be.

It’s no real surprise to learn that the world’s most expensive luxury passenger train service will be Chinese. Also no surprise to learn that it’ll be heading for Tibet – Beijing to Lhasa, three times every eight days, conveniently making its initial run at the tail end of the Olympics. Ticket price: $5,600. That’s US dollars.

Was there ever any question that this was going to happen?

Did anyone ever doubt it?

So, when you come up with a meaning for the title, submit it to CASS for inclusion in the next run of dictionaries. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with chickens and monkeys. Then again, maybe it does. You decide.