B`ei (被) , a verb meaning “to suffer/to receive” in Old Chinese, has practically lost all of its ability to function as a verb in modern Chinese (Sun 1996). Furthermore, the Chinese passive of one of these markers almost always implies a sense of adversity, or misfortune.
弟弟天天都被媽媽罵 (d`ıdi ti¯an-ti¯an d¯ou b`ei m¯ama m`a/ Little brother is scolded by mother every day.)
妹妹總是被同學欺負 (mèi mèi zǒng shì bèi tóng xué qī fù/ My sister is constantly bullied by her classmates.)
However, under the influence of English, the passive marker B`ei (被) is widely used in sentences with positive meanings nowadays.
妹妹總是被同學讚美 (mèi mèi zǒng shì bèi tóng xué zàn měi/ My sister is always praised by her classmates.)
Reference: Chinese: a linguistic introduction by Chao Fen Sun
