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.