April 2012
8 posts
WatchNOWNESS launches their Chinese language site with this feature on Feng Fanzhi.
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Stopping for pedestrians: winning hearts and minds...
This afternoon’s commute pleasantly turned out to be culture exchange thinly disguised as a taxi-share. As temperatures increase in Beijing, so does the difficulty of finding a taxi. Kou Xiansheng (Mr. Kou) was happy to drop me at work on his way to the train station. Our chat eventually moved on to the topic of his first and only trip to Canada, at which point he couldn’t stress...
车到山前必有路 On letting things run their course
The trainers at my gym are also great Chinese teachers. They never fail to catch me red-faced and sweaty after a 45-minute run on the treadmill, and never fail to ask me how I’m liking Beijing and how the Chinese is coming along. Yesterday, Wang Nan offered me this little tidbit regarding taking on things that appear challenging at the outset:
车到山前必有路
che1 dao4 shan1 qian2 bi1 you3 lu4....
“Red China" through the lens of Henri... →
A Chengyu a day keeps the despair at bay.
Probably one of the highlights of this whole learning Chinese thing (which, as the title of this post indicates, can on occasion spur a bit of despair) is the delight in discovering a new Chengyu completely by accident. For the unfamiliar, a Chengyu is a traditional Chinese idiomatic expression usually consisting of four characters. Chengyus are common in ancient Chinese as well as modern...
“The Chinese people”
“The Chinese people are frank yet tactful, honest yet sophisticated, suspicious yet gullible, stubborn yet flexible, unscrupulous yet loyal, advocate etiquette yet often appear unmannered, stand for the golden mean yet are extreme, value the quality of being thrifty yet like to parade their wealth, maintain traditions when convenient yet love to chase modern fashion, believe contentment...
