Archive for 'Culture'
Chinese Instruments: gǔqín (古琴) Posted by Stephen on Sep 8, 2011
“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” –Confucius Stillness of mind in seven strings. Harmony and heartbreak dance like fingers over a fretboard. That is the gǔqín or 古琴, in a nutshell. This string-plucked, Chinese musical instrument of the zither family is similar to a western harp, and is famous for its hallmark vibrato…
Chinese Instruments: èr hú or Chinese Violin (二胡) Posted by Stephen on Sep 6, 2011
The èr hú (二胡) is a two-stringed, bowed musical instrument affectionately called the “Chinese violin” or “Chinese two-stringed fiddle” by westerners. If you have ever taken a walk down a crowded Chinese street, waited for a train in the subway, or enjoyed a weekend stroll through the park, you’ve undoubtedly heard the ear-piercing cry of the er hu. Love it…
Hutong Life in NLGX (胡同） Posted by Stephen on Aug 31, 2011
Following Sasha’s recent post on Beijing’s NLGX district or 南锣鼓巷 (nán luó gǔ xiàng), I thought I would write a little about my experience living in NLGX in a traditional or 传统 (chuántǒng) open courtyard house, called a 胡同 (hútòng). Hutongs are essentially open courtyard building complexes, centered around The translation for “hutong” literally means…
Chinese Universities (大学) Posted by sasha on Aug 30, 2011
Going along with Steve’s post about heading back to school, I decided a post about China’s higher education is in order. China has well over 2,000 universities (大学 – dà xué) and colleges, with a total student body population in excess of 20 million. Between 2002 and 2008 alone, the number of higher education students…
Chinese Websites Posted by sasha on Aug 22, 2011
It’s no secret that one of the most popular activities in China is to surf the internet (上网冲浪 – shàng wǎng chōng làng). In fact, on nearly every street corner in Beijing, you will find an internet bar (网吧 – wǎng bā), often filled to capacity with chain smoking teenagers aggresively clicking away while engaged…
Shanghai State of Mind (上海） Posted by Stephen on Aug 15, 2011
Imagine a city with enough fluorescent lighting and big screen LED displays to put Vegas and Tokyo both to shame. Add some classical chinese hutongs (胡同) and buildings, mix in some 19th century, stately British architecture (along the bund) and surround all that by hulking skyscrapers, many of which have shot up within the last…
Proverbs: Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other (諺語) Posted by Stephen on Aug 7, 2011
Proverbs or 諺語 (yànyŭ) provide invaluable insight into understanding both a language and a culture. They are a window into the very history and nature of language. Our euphemisms, insults, lessons and catch-phrases are all part of the immense dialogues that have progressed and lasted for decades, centuries, (and in Chinese’s case) millennium. Count the number…