4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Final Rendering: With no knowledge of spoken Cantonese or written Chinese things were very difficult for me when I arrived penniless in Hong Kong. Acknowledgment: Although Billy and PK arrived at the same time PK brought more with him and helped me to understand well the two meanings and different ways of writing 隻身. One is without a partner, without means, or with neither -- only one's person. Truly a great Chinese expression -- no matter the writing system! Billy did alert me to the fact that I needed to rewrite my original sentence. It turned out to be a far more difficult sentence than I originally thought. My thanks to wherestip and Chinoise for their confirmation. If you hang in their long enough Aaron, you might even score as well! Discussion: Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part3/III-2b-g.html#s1 for further discussion regarding the context of this question. My very best from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides."