Archive for December, 2010

It’s been a great year, and as much as it pains me to do so, it is time to say goodbye to 2010. For the last post of the year, I have compiled a sort of “Greatest Hits” from the past 6 months of video posts that I have been doing for Transparent Chinese. For…

While I realize that we’ve had two Christmas posts already, and that the holiday is passed us, I decided to write my last post of 2010 about Christmas time in China. Having now spent the holiday season in Beijing twice (2008 and 2010), I have noticed a much greater presence of Christmas here through the…

For the past three years, Beijing has taken part in the worldwide Santa Con celebration around Christmas time. A huge group of Santas join together to sing Christmas carols and spread holiday cheer around the city. This year, we started the party in Wu Dao Kou (五道口), then rode the subway to Tiananmen Square (天安门光程)…

Here are some very…lets say…unique Chinese proverbs or 成语 (chéng yǔ). See if you can figure them out before you read the English transliteration/translation: 熊瞎子摘苞米，摘一个丢一个 pinyin: xióng xiā zi zhāi bāo mǐ, zhāi yí gè diū yí gè variant: 狗熊掰苞米 (pinyin: gǒu xióng ba bāo mǐ) Literally: Blind bear picks corn, picks one and drops…

In one hundred years from now, what language will we be speaking? Will Chinese prevail as the global dominant language or will English continue its stranglehold on business, culture and academia? Will Chinese and English bridge the gap between two very different languages or will they continue on their separate ways? Anyone that’s been to…

In October 1934, Mao and the CCP began their retreat from southern China up north, in what would come to be known as the Long March (长征 – cháng zhēng). This was not just one long march, as the English name would suggest, but actually a year long process in which the Red Army marched…

The northwest corner of Beijing is home to the beautiful Fragrant Hills, or 香山. It’s a great place to visit in the fall. That is, of course, if you can deal with the throngs of Chinese tour groups who make it the most crowded place in all of Beijing on the weekends. Forget taking the…