Timely Snow

Traveling to China involves learning new words in English, either in the context of things that aren’t common in the U.S., such as haw, or translations that use unfamiliar words. An example of the latter is the Beijing Stomatological Hospital. The Chinese word corresponds to “mouth cavity” (score one point for Chinese), but I always [...]

I had to stop overnight in Amsterdam on the way home, because this is the long way back from China and flights aren’t quite coordinated. Flying into Amsterdam it looked a bit like Beijing, although the haze here was actual rain rather than whatever floats in the air in Beijing. I sat next to a [...]

I’m with the guy in this picture…

… I can’t wait until the new train lines are finished in Beijing. Hopefully some of them will be open before my next trip.

I picked up a few Dr. Seuss books printed in English with Chinese translations below, including “Green eggs and ham” (绿鸡蛋和火腿).It makes me wonder, though, how the bit about green eggs is interpreted in a culture where it seems a good idea to cover eggs in mud and let them cook themselves into a gooey [...]

Every so often I’m reminded of how deep the antipathy toward Japan is here. We have videotapes of first grade reading lessons, which include a lesson with the sentences “Father is a soldier. Mother is a nurse.” The teacher asked the students why there are soldiers and the first response was “to fight against the [...]

I just listened to an interesting discussion on CRI about the phenomenon of 闪婚 - shan3 hun1 - or “lightning marriage” — marriage after very brief courtship. Apparently it’s common enough among young Chinese adults to marry a name and a discussion, which you can follow here.

On the MSN.com home page, is this, under “Popular searches”
Bob Barker
It’s your final week to watch the retiring grand master host “The Price Is Right.” But there’s still time to get your pet spayed or neutered.
I sincerely hope there’s no connection between these events, and certainly wish Mr. Barker a great retirement.

James Fallows has a couple of interesting discussions about the use of foreign words in Chinese, here and here.
He points to the fact that “Carrefour” isn’t translated phonetically, unlike, for example, the practice in Japan. (Although, I’ve not been very impressed with that as an aid to communication. I remember spending a frustrating time [...]

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I biked around Beijing, including around the Olympic park, where things seem to be moving quickly (although they only have a bit more than a year left). This is the main stadium, which is designed to look like a swallows’ nest, perhaps evoking Beijing’s traditional name 燕 (yan1, or [...]

I went to mass today in the South Cathedral in Xuanwumen, on the site where Matteo Ricci built a church around 1600. Today is Corpus Christi, and the theme of the sermon was the assertion that transubstantiation is a real phenomenon, and not symbolic. The readings had to do with the miracle of the loaves [...]