Archive for November, 2011
Ballin’ – China Style Posted by sasha on Nov 18, 2011
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…
Using the “的” Modifier for Possessive Construction Posted by Stephen on Nov 17, 2011
As your Chinese improves, adding complexity to your sentences can be tricky without the proper grammar tools. Especially when it comes to descriptions of particular nouns. Fortunately for you, showing ownership or possession in Chinese is quite easy to do grammatically using the modifier “的”. The Chinese particle “de” (的) is most commonly used as a…
One Day in Guilin (一天在桂林) Posted by sasha on Nov 16, 2011
After a fun trip in Yangshuo, we spent one day in Guilin, where we chilled by the Li River, strolled through the Seven Star Park, and ate some delicious Guilin rice noodles. 当地的特色菜 – dāng dì de tè sè cài local specialty 桂林米粉 – guì lín mǐ fěn Guilin rice noodles 有些人喜欢钓鱼 – yǒu xiē…
Modern Kung Fu and Commercialization (现代功夫） Posted by Stephen on Nov 13, 2011
On the surface (在表面上), modern Shaolin Kung fu seems little altered from its ancient and austere roots. Monks still dress the same way, perform the same dazzling feats and train at the same place. The Shaolin temple has been rebuilt in keeping with traditional architecture and the “Shaolin Way” has been exported throughout the globe…
Chinese + English = Chinglish (中式英语) Posted by Stephen on Nov 7, 2011
If you’ve ever visited China, you’ve undoubtably come across a “Chinglish” sign that makes you either stop and scratch your head or burst out laughing. These signs, which usually are the by-product of direct plug and play dictionary findings by a non-English speaker, are a stark reminder of the subtle, yet important differences between English…
Chinese Love – Part Five Posted by sasha on Nov 7, 2011
In the last post, we looked at some of the ancient wedding customs of China. For Part Five, we’ll take a look at a few more pre-wedding customs, as well as the big day in Chinese culture – the wedding day. A lot of these customs are very traditional, but many are still practiced today…
Decimals, Fractions and Percentages Posted by Stephen on Nov 3, 2011
As you begin to use your Chinese in stores, restaurants and shopping centers, you’ll need to know where to spot a sale, how much to tip (or not tip) your waiters, and most importantly, how much interest your credit card is charging you each month (but I NEED an IPad2!). Figuring out how to divide…