Shanghai Expo 2010

China today opened their world Expo in Shanghai; the opening featured a fantastic fireworks display overHuangpu river, a fireworks display which rivalled the display at the Beijing Olympics 2008. In fact, China spent over $48 billion dollars on the event which is more than they devoted to remaking Beijing for the Olympics. The event is a showcase of how the China economy is continuing to grow and a strong rate. The Expo is expected to bring over.

The event will last for six months and it is expected that over 70 million will visit the event, that will break the existing record of 64 million currently held by the Tokyo.

The Chinese Writing System

Chinese characters or hanzi (汉字) to many are a form of art and are an incredibly important part of the Chinese language and culture. The Chinese are very proud of their culture and with over 3,000 years of history the Chinese language is the oldest language that is still in use today. In fact, artefacts from around 1,500 BC have been found to have Chinese characters scripted onto them.


The original characters were very simple with characters such as person (人) and mouth (口) but even though these characters were very simple, they form the foundation of the Chinese written language and when broken down form many more complicated characters that are used today.

Nowadays there are over 50,000 Chinese characters, each of them unique. However most of them you will never have to use in a lifetime. The most you need to get by is approximately 4,000 to 5,000, but some characters are used more frequently than others. For example, you will see the 500 most commonly used characters over and over again. So start with the most common and bit by bit you will reach your goal.

Here’s a picture I took while I was in TianJin this Chinese New Year.

Chinese Story – Monkey’s Wear Straw Hats -猴子戴草帽

Short stories are a great way to learn Chinese. It can put your existing knowledge into a different context, helps you remember and of course you may learn a few new characters along the way. I’ve just posted this story on YouTube and wanted to share it with you.



猴子戴草帽

爷爷在树林里休息，旁边放着十几草帽。一群猴子从树上救下来抢草帽，一个`一顶，戴上就跑。爷爷急得满头大汗。他摘下帽子，一边擦汗，一边想办法。猴子看见了，也摘下帽子擦汗。爷爷笑了。他把草帽仍在地上，猴子看见了，就把草帽也仍了下来。

English Translation

Monkey’s Wear Straw Hats

An old man was relaxing in the forest, he put beside him ten straw hats. A gang of monkeys came down from the trees, each grabbed a hat, just put it on and ran. The old man was so worried his head was full of sweat. He took off his hat, he wiped away the sweat while thinking of a solution. The monkeys saw and also took off their hats and wiped away their sweat. The old man laughed. He grabbed his hat and threw it on the floor, the monkey’s saw, they just grabbed their hats and threw them down.

I love this story, it’s filled with Chinese wisdom. Hope you like the video.

李华

Bonjour and Ni Hao!

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are both in China on a visit to build better a better international relationship.


Sarkozy has been in Xian, and has also visited the Terracotta Army, a part of China’s historical heritage. This afternoon he will be making his way over to Beijing and on Friday he will be in Shanghai to see the opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo.

Learn Chinese through Poem - 悯农

Poems are a great way to learn a new language are also a good incite into culture. I’ve just learned a new poem called Min Nong (悯农) which means to have pity on agriculture. Chinese history goes back around 3,000 years, this poem itself is around 2,000 years old and as I state on my YouTube video its “ancient ancient pop music!”

悯农
锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中飧，
粒粒皆辛苦。

English Translation

Have pity on agriculture

At noon they weed with hoes,
Their sweat drips onto the soil.
Each bowl of rice, who knows?,
Every single grain is exhausting.


And there we have it, remember to check out the YouTube video and let me know how my pronunciation is like.

Thanks,
李华

Top five reasons to learn Chinese

Chinese is such as beautiful language. It may sound like to most of us a bunch of “chings,” “wangs” and “wolla’s” but once you get into it, you begin to hear the words and understand the musical language that is Chinese.

1. China right now has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and there are so many opportunities. Many of which are untapped and speaking the language can reveal these. There are also many jobs for Mandarin speakers outside of China. This could be in international relations, tourism, and there is a shortage of qualified Chinese language teachers.

2. When you learn Chinese you also learn about their culture and how the Chinese think (possibly a good reason for business men!).

3. As mentioned in one of my previous posts, Chiense grammer is easy. There are no verbs to remember!

4. Chinese are very proud of their written language, which a lot of people consider an art. Traditional Chinese characters have been simplified over the years. Chinese is the only language where its history has been written in the same language for more than 3,000 years.

Although there are thousands of Chinese characters don’t be put off. There are in fact only around 400 syllables or sounds which you only need to learn in Chinese. These sounds tend to have their own characters and to make new words these characters are combined. So when looking to a new character for the first time you can actually begin to understand it’s meaning.

5. Chinese is an ancient language and has survived through the ages. Over one billion people speak Chinese which is a 5th of the world’s population. According to Wikipedia 850 million of the speaking Mandarin. That’s a lot of people you can speak to if you speak Chinese.

Any other reasons to learn Chinese? Post them in the comments

The Tasty Jiaozi – 好吃饺子

Little puffs of pork with chopped vegetables wrapped in thin pastry, sealed boiled, dipped in soy sauce and enjoyed by the masses at Chinese New Year, it can only be the one, the only, it’s the JiaoZi (饺子).

I’ve been feeling peckish all Sunday evening, I guess my appetite is getting bigger these days and all I’ve been able to think about is jiaozi. So here’s my view on the dumpling. For our friends over in the states, jiaozi are probably known to you as pot stickers.

Jiaozi can be eaten all year round, but are also a holiday dish eaten on Chinese New Year’s Eve (CNY). The jiaozi actually look like golden ingots yuan bao, and so eating them at CNY is supposed to give you good luck and good fortune for the year to come. In some households they put a clean coin in one of the jiaozi for extra luck to the finder. It’s funny when you find similarities between Chinese and Western culture. It doesn’t seem too far off from the coin hidden in the Christmas pudding.

Jiaozi can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as a side or a main. When I first went to China for CNY I couldn’t belive the amount of jiaozi that was cooked… and that we ate! Although these little dumplings are a tasty treat, after CNY I was pretty jiaozi’erd out! But nevertheless, a tradition is a tradition and I can’t wait for CNY 2011 where I’m sure jiaozi will be back on the menu.

Why not pick up a cookery book and try it yourself. Learn the secrets to Chinese cooking: Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories: 15 Secrets from a 3,000-Year-Old Food Culture

Chinese Homework - 小熊掰玉米

I’m so far behind with my Mandarin homework. I just finished the homework from two weeks before. But I haven’t even started this week’s home work because I had a university lecture, so I was unable to go. My homework’s due this Sunday and I think I have quite a few Chinese characters to learn!

Anyway I thought I might share with you the homework I just completed. It’s a story about a silly Bear:

小熊掰玉米

一天熊妈妈叫小熊到玉米田里去掰玉米。小熊没有拿篮子就跑去了。

它来到玉米地一看，啊，玉米真多啊！小熊想：我可以掰好多玉米。妈妈一定会夸奖我能干。

于是，它伸出右手掰下一个玉米，把玉米挟在左胳臂下。又伸出左手掰下一个玉米，挟在右胳臂下。然后，又伸出右手去掰第三个玉米，伸出左手去掰第四个玉米。。。 小熊掰呀掰，掰了一天。

你知道小熊掰了多少玉米回家吗？

English Translation

One day, Mama Bear called Little Bear to go to the corn field to break off some corn. Little Bear didn’t take a basket, he just ran.

When he saw the corn, ah, there’s so much corn! Little Bear thought: I can break off lots of corn. Mama will defiantly praise my efforts.

Thereupon, he stretched out his right arm and broke off a corn; he took the corn and held it in between his left upper arm. Again he stretched out his left arm and broke off a corn, and held it in between his right upper arm. Then, again he stretched out his left arm to grab the third bit of corn, stretched out his left arm to grab a forth piece of corn… Little Bear broke off for a whole day.

Do you know how many corns he took home?

Well, I thought I would read this one out and bring it to life – check out my YouTube video

Chinese language changing

Language is changing constantly, and while it used to be cool in China for internet users to say “Oh my God!” in English, the newest fad is to say “Oh my Lady Gaga!”

Oh My Lady Gaga has swept across the digital nation in China in internet chat rooms, instant and text messages. Lady Gaga, don’t we just love you!

However Chinese academics are worried about such slang will poison Chinese culture and that the English language will slowly alter Chinese.

Chinese authorities are discreetly banning slang phrases from various broadcasts and are replacing it with proper Chinese. A number of banned English include acronyms NBA (National Basketball Association) and GDP (Gross Domestic Product), which by the way China’s GDP grew by almost 12% in the first three month’s of 2010… China certainly is an economy on steroids!

Unusual Chinese Food - Baby Birds

I’ve eaten a lot of strange things on my visits to China, and each time I seem to find another unusual dish. It’s not that I order it, it’s what my friends order and it’s rude to refuse or not even try it. Some things I like or learned to like and others I don’t. Surprisingly baby birds are one of the things I really like, and one of the things I was most squeamish to try at first.

These baby birds taste like BBQ, are soft and slightly crunchy. They are eaten whole, and while most people might find that strange I was in an Italian restaurant the other day and we ordered white bate – which is also eaten whole and so I thought it’s not that so much different after all.

I think our culture can often make us blind and quick to judge others without truly understanding each other, the meaning or what BBQ baby birds taste like. So next time something’s on the table that you’ve never tried before give it a go, you may discover something wonderful.

光良 - 童话

Hey, I thought I might embarrass myself and sing a song on YouTube. I am a bit of a fan of Guang Liang 光良 and thought I would sing one of his songs. Obviously he’s a better singer than me but at least I look cool in my million dollar sunglasses.

Check it out, this songs called 童话 which means fairy tale. Enjoy!

Also, can you guess the movie going on in the background?

Jackie Chan donates 3 million yuan to victims of China earthquake

Kung Fu master and actor Jackie Chan has generously donated 3 million yuan to victims of the earthquake in Qinghai. That’s around £285k GB or for my American readers $439k USD.

He also donated 1,500 boxes of biscuits, 700 cotton coats and 100 boxes of bottled water. I say good on him, and hope others follow his example.

Slow Boat to China

Just watched the 10 o’clock news and planes in the UK are still grounded. It doesn’t look like flights won't will be leaving airports anytime soon so I guess the slow boat to China is the only way. Enjoy!

China Earthquake Photos - Now on Google Earth

Hey guys, following on from the earthquake in Qinghai Google have now released photos from their satellites of the destruction the 6.9 earthquake caused last Tuesday. You can even view the images from Google Earth:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_offers_satellite_images_of_chinese_earthqua.php

Over 17,000 people have been rescued so far from the wreckage but it is estimated 1,700 lives have been claimed by the earthquake.

People in the quake zone have set up basic shelter food and water supply, but it is difficult to get supplies up to them as the area is 4,000 metres above sea level. Many charities such as Oxfam, World Vision and MercyCorps are providing aid to those out there who have lost everything so please dig deep and give what you can.

What to do after Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese 3?

I’ve just answered this very same question on a forum and thought it was defiantly worth mentioning on my blog.

Pimsleur’s Mandarin is a self help audio book and has three levels. Each level has 30 half and hour lessons. Pimsleur was actually one of the first tools I used to start lean Mandarin and although it was slow, quite robotic and very American I feel as though it gave me a good foundation in Mandarin. When I completed level 3 I was quite disappointed that there was nothing else available, so I started searching for alternatives to help me learn Chinese.

My answer? Chinesepod.com. Chinesepod.com produce a Mandarin lesson every day. In fact they currently have around 1,300 lessons so even if they stopped you’ll have a massive archive to go through. Not only that, but you don’t have to worry about the same problem I and many others experienced with Pimsleur and that was them running out of lessons because Chinesepod continue to bring out fresh lessons.

I myself went onto the newbie lessons because I found that there was a huge amount of basic vocabulary missing from my Mandarin pallet. I actually did over 250 lessons as I enjoyed them so much. I’ve just completed around 200 Elementary lessons and am currently making that step between Elemenary and Lower Intermediate.

Also, more and more similar sights are always popping up. I've recently been getting into Chinese101 amognst others. So have a look around and try looking for a subscription service of some sort were you know you aren't going to run out of lessons!

Labour promise Mandarin to be taught in schools

That’s what Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families had to say. The government are finally catching up and realising the importance and need for Mandarin speakers. If Labour is to win the general election then Mandarin will become compulsory in schools. And there I was being forced to study French when I was in school!

However, there is a shortage of teachers in the UK. Around 500 teachers a year will need to be trained to be able to teach Mandarin. This is great news for those already with some fluency in Mandarin; it could be a perfect opportunity to become a teacher.

The need to speak Chinese is becoming more and more important, I can’t stress it enough. A survey last year showed that 38 percent of employers looking for someone with a foreign language wanted someone who could speak Mandarin or Cantonese.

Check out the Telegraph for more info

Iceland Volcano Errupts - Holiday makers and businessmen may be stranded in China

Holiday makers and businessmen may be stranded in China if planning of flying back to Europe. Most Chinese air carriers have cancelled flights to Europe due to the high amount of volcanic ash is the atmosphere from a volcano eruption in Iceland. Four days on and there is still no sign of services returning to normal.

If you are stranded try logging onto http://www.airchina.com.cn/ or call 4008100999 for the latest information.

Have a go at practicing your mandarin and ask when you can get a plane to Europe:

我可以什么时候做飞机去欧洲？
wo keyi shenme shihou zuo feiji qu ouzhou?

Chinese Grand Prix: Jenson Button number 1 in Shanghai

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton lead McLaren Mercedes to a first and second place victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. The Shanghai Formula 1 track is 5.45 km and the race consists of 56 laps, that’s over 305 km of speed and adrenaline!

Shanghai’s a city unlike no over. It doesn’t boast historical sites as London and Rome do but it is home to some of the most contemporary architecture in the world. For if you’re visiting Shanghai this weekend it is amazing, so grab a pair of chopsticks and get stuck in!

Chinese - some thing's don't quite translate

Hey, I wanted to talk to you about a word I learned today, and it’s quite an interesting one. 掰 or bāi has no true equivalent in English, it actually means ‘to break something off with your fingers’ or ‘to break with both hands’ which is I suppose the action as to how you would break off a piece of Kitkat!

That’s the beauty of learning Chinese, it’s so different and you come across these words which don’t quite translate but we get the meaning. Maybe we should have an equivalent of 掰 in English?

What is up with that Chinese blue cat?

A blue cat he is indeed but what most people don’t know is that he’s a robot from the future! Doraemon, which the cat is called or in Chinese 小叮当 has been and still is a huge phenomenon in China, but he’s actually Japanese.

Doraemon has been going since 1969 and has enjoyed the success of a number of hit movies and video games.

The story of Doraemon goes is that he was sent back in time by by Nobita Nobi's great-great grandson to help Nobita. Nobita’s a bit of a nobody. After being a failure at school and in his career he’s future family wasn’t too well off. Luckly they were able to scrap the pennies together to send a robot cat back in time to help him so they can have a more prosperous future.

Each episode Doraemon pulls out gadgets, medicines and tools from the future to help Nobita for what ever trouble he’s in. Most episodes are comedies focused around family life, values, morals and respect.

How do I know this? Well I happened to buy a Doraemon DVD while I was in Beijing last February. It’s really great for listening to the sound of the Chinese language and I also try to keep up with the subtitles. Two episodes into and I was like…. what is up with that Chinese blue cat?

Mandarin - It ain't so hard after all

大家好

I’ve been learning Mandarin since summer of 2006 and it’s been such an interesting journey so far. English and Chinese are so different, but surprisingly not so difficult to learn. In school I had to learn French and Spanish and didn’t get along with any of them. In many European languages the verb changes depending on the context. Consider the verb to eat:

• We want to eat
• We’re eating
• We’ve eaten
• We ate

In Chinese, verbs don’t change; it stays the same no matter what. That’s one less thing you have to learn when studying Mandarin.