Zimbabwe 'in interesting times' indeed

While purporting to be a blessing, this is in fact a curse. The expression is always used paradoxically, with the clear implication that ‘uninteresting times’, of peace and tranquility, are more life-enhancing than interesting ones.

‘May you live in interesting times’ is widely believed to be an ancient Chinese adage but it is neither Chinese nor ancient, being recent and western. It certainly seems to have been intended to sound oriental, in the faux-Chinese ‘Confucius he say’ style, but that’s as near to China as it actually gets. Confucius’s actual sayings are as elusive as those of his western counterpart Aesop – we have no written records from either of them.