Chinese Language Blog

2011 - The Year of Transparent Chinese.

It’s been an amazing year for Transparent Chinese. Our Facebook page passed the 50,000 fans mark, our YouTube and Twitter pages have had great success, and our blog looks better than ever. Of course, we couldn’t have done it without YOU! We’d like to thank all of our readers for supporting us and making 2011 the best year yet, and we look forward to bringing you an even better year in 2012. For those of you who may be newcomers, here’s a list of our personal favorite posts from this year:

Chinese Idioms: Explained, Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

Musical Instruments: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Pipa, Bianzhong (bells), Drumming, Bamboo Flute, Erhu (Chinese violin), Guqin (Chinese harp)

Chinese Love: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven

Saying Yes and No in Chinese: Written Post

How to say Yes and No in Chinese.

School: Vocabulary, Chinese Universities

The Web: Internet Slang, Chinese Websites, Social Media

Chinese Food: Breakfast, Wanfgujing Snack Street, Fast Food, Restaurant Lingo, Table Manners, Chuan’er (kebabs), Making Dumplings Video, Beijing Roast Duck

Jian Bing – Beijing breakfast.

History: From the Last Emperor to Chairman Mao

Sports: Shaolin Kung Fu, Shaolin Photos, Wushu, Enter Kung Fu, Basketball, CBA

Chinglish and Funny Stuff: Chinglish, More Chinglish Fun, Cultural Quirks

Chinese Medicine: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven

Travel: Riding that Train (Steve’s, Sasha’s), Hangzhou, Suzhou, Thousand Island Lake, Shidu, Shang Fang Mountain, Qingdao Beer Festival, Xi’an

As far as travel goes, here are a few of my personal favorite travel videos from 2011:

Impression Liu San Jie in Yangshuo.

The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival.

Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi Province.

The best, and most fun video of them all – the Qingdao Beer Festival.

Well, there you go, that should keep you busy for a while! If that isn’t enough for you, cruise by our website for even more resources to help you in your quest to study Chinese. See you in 2012… until then, Happy New Year (新年快乐 – xīn nián kuài lè)!

The CBA - Hey, at least there's no lockout!

While the billionaire suits and the millionaire players can’t seem to reach an agreement on the other side of the world in the NBA, there will still be basketball this season in China. With an eminent NBA lockout this season, hordes of players have jumped ship to join the CBA (中国男子篮球职业联赛 – zhōng guó nán zǐ lán qiú zhí yè lián sài) – I know, saying CBA is much easier – this season. With tip-off just a few days away, let’s make sure you’re up to date on your CBA lingo.

There are 17 basketball teams (篮球队 – lán qiú duì) in the CBA, which began play in 1995. The teams are split into the Northern Division (北区 – Běi qū) and Southern Division (南区 – Nán qū). There used to be an even eight teams in each division, but the Yunnan Honghe Bulls (云南红河奔牛 – Yún nán hóng hé bēn niú) were kicked out of the league only a few years after joining it (for failing to pay wages and debts), leaving the Southern Division with only seven teams. Since 2005, the season has culminated in a playoff for the “Mou Zuoyun Cup” (牟作云杯 – Móu zuǒ yún bēi). Mou Zuoyun was a member of the Chinese national team at the 1936 Olympic games, and he later worked as a coach and helped to build a professional basketball league in the Middle Kingdom.

Victory!

The way the regular season schedule is setup, each team plays every other team twice – once at home and once away. As there are 17 teams in the league, this means one team gets a bye every week of the regular season (常规赛 – cháng guī sài). As for the playoffs (季后赛 – jì hòu sài), the best eight teams qualify, and they are seeded accordingly. The first two rounds are best-of-five, and the final round is a best-of-seven fight for the championship.

Most team names for CBA squads are composed of three parts: a geographic location (with the exception of one team – the Bayi Rockets), a corporate sponsor, and a nickname. To ensure that you’re ready for all of the action this season, here are the names and locations of all 17 of the CBA teams:

• Bayi Fubang Rockets (八一富邦火箭 – bā yī fù bāng huǒ jiàn) – Ningbo, Zhejiang
• Beijing Shougang Ducks (北京首钢鸭 – běi jīng shǒu gāng yā) – Beijing, Beijing
  
• DongGuan New Century Leopards (东莞新世纪烈豹 – dōng guǎn xīn shì jì liè bào) – DongGuan, Guangdong
  
• Fujian SBS Sturgeons (福建SBS浔兴 – fú jiàn SBS xún xìng) – Jinjiang, Fujian
  
• Guangdong Foshan Dralions (佛山龙狮 – fó shān lóng shī) – Foshan, Guangdong
  
• Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers (广东宏远华南虎 – guǎng dōng hóng yuǎn huá nán hǔ) – DongGuan, Guangdong
  
• Jiangsu Nangang Dragons (江苏南钢龙 – jiāng sū nán gāng lóng) – Nanjing, Jiangsu
  
• Jilin GBT Northeast Tigers (吉林大成生化东北虎 – jí lín dà chéng shēng huà dōng běi hǔ) – Changchun, Jilin
  
• Liaoning Dinosaurs (辽宁巨龙 – liáo níng jù lóng) – Shenyang, Liaoning
  
• Qingdao Double Star Eagles (青岛双星雄鹰 – qīng dǎo shuāng xīng xióng yīng) – Qingdao, Shandong
  
• Shandong Kingston Lions (山东金斯顿金狮 – shān dōng jīn sī dùn jīn shī) – Jinan, Shandong
  
• Shanghai Dongfang Sharks (上海东方鲨鱼 – shàng hǎi dōng fāng shā yú) – Shanghai, Shanghai
  
• Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons (山西中宇猛龙- shān xī zhōng yǔ měng lóng) – Taiyuan, Shanxi
  
• Tianjin Ronggang Gold Lions (天津荣钢金狮 – tiān jīn róng gāng jīn shī) – Tianjin, Tianjin
  
• Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers (新疆广汇飞虎 – xīn jiāng guǎng huì fēi hǔ) – Urumqi, Xinjiang
  
• Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls (浙江稠州银行金牛 – zhè jiāng chóu zhōu yín háng jīn niú) – Yiwu, Zhejiang
  
• Zhejiang Guangsha Lions (浙江广厦猛狮 – zhè jiāng guǎng shà měng shī) – Hangzhou, Zhejiang

Northern Division

Southern Division (minus Yunnan)

Since the introduction of the Muo Zuoyun Cup, only three teams have emerged victorious: Bayi has captured the title an astounding eight times, the Guangdong Southern Tigers have walked away champion seven times, and the Shanghai Sharks have taken the title once. Guangdong is in the midst of a four-peat, having defeated Xinjiang in the finals the past three years in a row.

Perhaps the biggest story in the CBA this year is that of former NBA superstar Stephon Marbury making the jump from Shanxi to Beijing. Having already received a very warm welcome in China’s capital city, “Starbury” has already made himself right at home. He’s even taking the incredibly crowded subway line one to practices – now that’s dedication!

Whichever team you cheer for, this should prove to be an exciting, landmark year for the CBA. As for me, after three years of living in Beijing, I’m proud to say, “Go Beijing Ducks!” (北京鸭加油 – běi jīng yā jiā yóu).

NBA fever is sweeping the mainland (again). It’s Panda-monium! Due in large part to the potential 2011-2012 NBA lockout in the United States, many superstar basketball players are considering playing ball overseas. While stars like Kobe and Derron Williams want to play in Euro Leagues across the Atlantic, others have their eyes set across the Pacific, and are looking to play ball in China.

Over the last few weeks, these NBA stars have made the trip out to China, playing scrimmages, holding basketball camps and discussing the future of b-ball in the mainland. During their time in China, they’ve endeared themselves to the populace through fame, athletic ability, and of course, pandas. If there are two things China loves, they are Pandas and NBA superstars. Now, they’ve got both:

Lebron James:

Carmelo Anthony:

Kevin Durant (aka the Durantula):

China loves these guys (along with the pandas) and from what these superstars have been tweeting, they love China back. Bron tweeted this: “Wow what an amazing crowd in Xian!! Love the passion these people have,” after he visited youngster basketball camps. They see a population desperate for high-level of play, but with zero superstars (no more Yao). They see oceans of smiling faces, welcoming any opportunity to play in the mainland (even if it’s for less than a year). That’s dedication. That’s devotion (take note Bobcats fans).

Other NBA stars have crossed the Pacific, only to find a culture and people that love basketball, and more importantly, love them. On merch alone, these NBA stars could recoup their loses, grow their branding and expanding into a relatively untapped market (for whatever reason). With Yao’s retirement (click for past post) the NBA needs to re-energize the Chinese ballin’ community.

With each day passing, it appears that the NBA will become outsourced, likely to Europe and  China, meaning that if you want to see the best ballers in the world, it wont be on ABC/ESPN. Finally those multi-billion-dollar sports arenas (built for the Olympics) will serve some purpose. Gonna have to add CCTV to our cable package. Do you think the Big-3 (Wade, James, Bosh) will all play for the Shanghai Sharks? Ok maybe just Wade and Bron. 好球！

Follow Steve on twitter: @seeitebelieveit