Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Mr. Hu Goes to Washington, pt. 2: Deng Xiao Ping’s Legacy Posted by Stephen on Jan 7, 2011
Now that we’ve gone over Nixon’s visit to Beijing, lets fast forward through history to the late 1970s and focus upon Deng Xiao Ping’s or 邓小平 (dèng xiǎo píng) visit to the United States. In what has been dubbed “ping-pong diplomacy” (due to the back and forth nature of travel), the lessons learned are…
Great Wall at Mutianyu (慕田峪长城) Posted by sasha on Jan 7, 2011
About 100 km outside of Beijing lies the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Representing just one of the many sections of the 6,000+ km long wall, this area is easily accessible from China’s capital city, is not quite as full of tourists as other sites and is restored enough to make the climb up…
History of the PRC – Part Twelve Posted by sasha on Jan 3, 2011
At the end of Part Eleven, we found Mao Zedong and the Communist forces battered, bruised, yet still intact after the Long March. While enduring the hardships and struggles of their historical march across the country, Mao’s troops obeyed his Three Rules of Discipline: Obey orders in all your actions. Do not take a single…
Santa Con Posted by sasha on Dec 25, 2010
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)…
Axioms and Proverbs (成语） Posted by Stephen on Dec 22, 2010
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…
Chinglish Posted by Stephen on Dec 22, 2010
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…
History of the PRC – Part Eleven Posted by sasha on Dec 20, 2010
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…