Archive for February, 2011
Harbin Part Two Posted by sasha on Feb 27, 2011
For day two in Harbin, we visited the Tiger Park and the International Snow Sculpture Art Fair. 老虎公园 – lǎo hǔ gōng yuán Tiger Park 我们迷路了 – Wǒ men mí lù le We got lost 虎园欢迎您 – Hǔ yuán huān yíng nín Tiger Park Welcomes You 菜单 – cài dān menu 一些老虎喜欢玩儿，一些喜欢休息 – Yī xiē…
Harbin Part One Posted by sasha on Feb 25, 2011
Last month, I took a weekend trip up to one of the coldest places in China. The capital of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang (黑龙江) province, Harbin (哈尔滨) literally translates as “a place for drying fish nets.” The 10th largest city in China looks like a mix of China and Russia (俄罗斯), thanks to its complicated history…
Computer games (电脑游戏) Posted by Stephen on Feb 23, 2011
Walk into an internet cafe or 网吧 (wǎng ba) anywhere in China and what do you find? Throngs of Chinese people (mostly male) fervently and ferociously clicking away on their mice (plural?) as they heavy-handidly mash upon their keyboards–yelling and screaming a cacophony of insults and swears that echo and reverberate throughout a dimly lit, cigarette smoke-filled room. Sure, you…
Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), The First Emperor Posted by Stephen on Feb 22, 2011
As China continues its rise as a world power, we are reminded of the history of China’s rise and unification some two-thousand plus years ago. After all, China didn’t get to be the “middle kingdom” just by luck. Quite the opposite. China emerged as a powerful, unified nation due to a series of intra-state conflicts…
Lantern Festival – Video Posted by sasha on Feb 19, 2011
In my last post, I covered the Lantern Festival, which is the final day of Spring Festival celebrations. As I mentioned in that post, there was an insane fireworks display going on right outside of my window all night long. Just so that everyone can see exactly how ridiculous said display was, I made sure…
Worth a Thousand Words: 798 Art District, Beijing (七九八艺术区,北京) Posted by Stephen on Feb 17, 2011
When living in a major metropolitan city in China it’s often difficult finding the true pulse of the people. In Beijing, identity is difficult to locate because so much society is in flux. Amongst the rapid call for development, people are neglecting or missing altogether the issues that are relevant to Chinese culture. Everything…
Lantern Festival (元宵节) Posted by sasha on Feb 17, 2011
Having just returned to Beijing last night after a month in Thailand and Laos, I made it back just in time for the final day of Spring Festival revelry – the Lantern Festival (元宵节 – yuán xiāo jié). As I type this post, a constant stream of fireworks and firecrackers are being set off right…