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Exclusive: This adidas Dame 4 with Gold Chinese Characters is Ready for War

adidas dame 4 gold black
Photo via @evol_zzz

A striking new adidas Dame 4 colorway has surfaced online and it has some very strong verbiage on it — albeit in Chinese.

Dressed in all black with select gold accents at the three stripes branding and tongue patches, this Dame 4 is strong and ready for war (although the Portland Trail Blazers are out of the Playoffs).

According to a translation provided by WearTesters staffer Jason Tatman, the first two words on the left shoe 黃沙 mean “yellow sands”; the next two 百戰 mean “to fight one hundred battles”; and the next character, 穿金, means “to wear gold.” Unfortunately, the characters on the right shoe are not clear enough in the image to be deciphered. Overall, the characters use lots of symbolic power words to describe the power of these shoes.

There is no word on whether this adidas Dame 4 will release, or if it is a one-off sample for Damian Lillard. Of course, the shoes may release in China — like the adidas Basketball Year of the Dog pack — and never come Stateside.

Would you cop this Dame 4 if it become available? Let us know in the comments because this writer sure would.

You can learn more about this shoe by checking out Nightwing2303’s adidas Dame 4 Performance Review.

UPDATE 4/30/18: According to Jason Tatman, WearTesters staffer who did the translation and interpretation, the characters on this Dame 4 come from a 5,000 year-old Tang Dynasty poem from Wang Changling’s (王昌齡) “Seven Campaign Songs” or  “從軍行七首” (congjun xingqishou). He was known for using seven characters in a line of poetry, a technique called “七言絕句” (qiyanjueju), as well as depicting battles in Western China. The poem reads:

黃沙百戰穿金甲 (Yellow sands and a hundred battles have pierced our golden armor)

不破樓蘭終不還 (If we do not defeat Kroraina [Loulan] we vow to never to never return home)

Each line of the poem uses seven characters and according to Tatman, the first line refers to the durability and strength of the shoes. The second line refers to a historical battle that took place at Kroraina (or Loulan), and it is used to refer o the power of the soldier’s vow — promising to fight until he in victorious.

adidas dame 4 chinese characters
Photo via @evol_zzz

 

Source: Epoch

8 comments
  1. The 2 lines are supposed to be read starting from the left shoe; “黄沙百战穿金甲” means that the warriors have spent so much time fighting in the desert that their golden-hued armour has worn through.

    The right shoe reads;”不破楼兰终不还” (2 of the words on the shoe are in traditional Chinese, only used in Taiwan, meaning these could be a Taiwanese release). The phrase means the warriors, will not return home until Lou Lan, an ancient city along the Silk Road, are taken.

    Could be a shoe that’s supposed to show the resolve the Blazers and Dame is supposed to have, with regards to the Playoffs, how the odds are stacked against them but they will continue to fight.

    1. Taiwan only? This is incredibly ignorant, it’s used in both Hong Kong and Macau as well. Not all Chinese people need help in learning Chinese characters (literally the reason why simplified Chinese was created).

  2. I think it’s “黃沙百戰穿金甲,不破樓蘭終不還”. Meaning of the words are something like “A warrior will not stop fighting for his goals despite his armor/body has been wear out by countless fights”.

  3. Aw dang! I like to suss out the translations, too (former Chinese language student)! 🙂

    I bought the Jordan 32 CNY for its unique Chinese styling & embroidery, so I’d most definitely cop these if I could.

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