Chinese Language Blog

Yesterday I was walking in a 商场 (mall) in Shenzhen, and I found the 走道 (corridor) to be rather 暗 (dark) except for emergency lighting.  It’s difficult to say if this was an early sign of the 房地产泡沫 (real estate bubble) in China, but at least 20 storefronts had 旺铺招租 (hot shop for rent) signs, advertised either for sale by the 业主 (owners) or otherwise categorized as 独家代理 (dealt exclusively).  For all of the anxious real estate developers in China, they should sooner have invested in 建材 (construction materials).  I would have.

商场 shang1chang3 – mall
走道 zou3dao4 – corridor
暗 an4 – dark
房地产 fang2di4chan3 – real estate
泡沫 pao4mo4 – bubble/foam
旺 wang4 – hot (as in “hot deal”)
铺 pu4 – storefront
招 zhao1 – attracting, calling for
租 zu1 – rent
业主 ye4zhu3 – owner (of property)
独家 du2jia1 – exclusive (lit. independent group/broker)
代理 dai4li3 – agent
建材 jian4cai2 – construction materials

In my previous apartment in Beijing, the washer broke.  In this apartment, the dryer does not work.  Because the dryer does not work, we had to purchase a 超静型干衣机 (super-quiet dryer), which occupies a significant amount of floorspace and resembles an inflated 气球 (balloon).  My washer has a 烘干 (drying) 功能 (function), but it appears to have 坏了 (broken), for any article of clothing subject to the “drying” treatment emerges from the machine in a state best categorized as 湿透 (drenched).  I wish my friend didn’t have to find out about this “peculiarity” while drying his 毛巾 (towel) before 洗澡 (showering).

超 chao1 – super
静 jing4 – quiet
型 xing2 – type
干衣机 gan1yi1ji1 – dryer (clothes-drying machine)
气球 qi4qiu2 – balloon
烘干 hong2gan1 – to dry (air-dry)
功能 gong1neng2 – function/feature
坏了huai4le – [to be] broken
湿透 shi1tou4 – drenched
毛巾 mao2jin1 – towel (for showering)
洗澡 xi3(2)zao3 – [to] shower

Yesterday I was crossing back into Shenzhen from Hong Kong when something out of the ordinary happened.  The immigration officer at the desk felt strongly that the photo on my 护照 (passport) did not 像 (look like) the person standing in front of her.  She consulted with the officer sitting adjacent to her, and then she prevailed upon the 值班领队 (on-duty leader) to comment on if the person on the photo was, in fact, the person standing in front of her.  This may have something to do with the fact that I recently 留胡子 (was growing a beard).  I wasn’t afraid so much as annoyed, after all I could not possibly be found to not be Andrew 本人 (myself).  I hope to sort this photo problem out soon by getting a new passport, even though it will be years before my current passport 到期 (expires).   Since my 签证 (visa) will soon also expire, when I 再次办 (next [apply]) I’d say solely doing a new China visa 不如 (is not as good as) obtaining a new passport as well.

护照 hu4zhao4 – passport
像 xiang4 – look like, to look like or appear similar to sth./sb.
值班领队 zhi2ban1ling3dui4 – on-duty [team] leader
留 liu2 – to grow (of hair)
胡子 hu2zi3 – facial hair/beard
本人 ben3ren2 – myself (can also be used to mean “himself”)
到期 dao4qi1 – to expire (lit. “arrive period”)
签证 qian1zheng4 – visa
再次 zai4ci4 – again, the next time
办 ban4 – do (in the case of visas, “apply”)
不如 bu4ru2 – is not as good as