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Chinese Social Media, pt. 1 Posted by Stephen on Oct 19, 2011
It’s hard to imagine life before the internet. In those dark ages, fundamentally important questions went unanswered (like what is Lebron James thinking?). If you wanted to see a movie or listen to a new album, you’d actually have to physically go to the store or theater and buy it. Mail was used for more…
Xi’an (西安) Posted by Stephen on Oct 18, 2011
西安 (xī ān) is a one of China’s oldest cities and has been a cultural and historical landmark throughout China’s history. At various times, this walled city of Shanxi Province or 陕西 (Shǎnxī) functioned as the capital city of China, and the home of the first imperial families. For millennium all roads have led to…
Unbalanced Sex Ratio in China Posted by Stephen on Oct 17, 2011
In social experiments, intended outcomes often fall victim to unintended consequences. Such is the case with the the population control measures of China’s One Child Policy, which have been successful in curbing population growth, but at the expense of the a growing unbalanced sex ratio. As a consequence of the One Child Policy, sex-selection has…
Stroke Order (笔顺) Posted by Stephen on Oct 16, 2011
Now that we’ve covered Radicals (部首) in our last post, it’s time to move on to the basics of stroke order, so we can complete our characters and improve our writing. Stroke order is an integral component to reading, writing and recognizing characters and is a valuable way to deepen your understand of Chinese character…
Radicals (部首) Posted by Stephen on Oct 14, 2011
As an English native speaker learning written Chinese, you are three steps removed from the language. You may know how to say a word, and even know the proper tones and meaning, but what about writing it? In English a 26 letter alphabet is really all you need to deduce most pronunciations and spelling, but…
The One Child Policy (一胎化政策) Posted by Stephen on Oct 13, 2011
The one-child policy or 计划生育政策 (jìhuà shēngyù zhèngcè) is a population control policy of the People’s Republic of China that has been implemented in the mainland for over thirty-five years now. Born out of the Open Door Policy and a wave of sweeping economic reforms, the one-child policy addressed growing population and resource concerns, and…
Air Pollution and Weather Control (污染) Posted by Stephen on Oct 5, 2011
To say that pollution or 污染 (wū rǎn) is bad in China would be an understatement. In China’s fervent rush toward industrialization and modernization, it has neglected many of the negative externalities associated with the release of huge amounts of greenhouse gases along with the increasing destruction to water and land natural resources. If you…