Chinese Blog

Bookstore in SZ

Andrew — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:56:10 +0000

Yesterday I made my way to a bookstore in Shenzhen stocking foreign titles. Near the overpass of the road with the store, I saw a banner saying 推崇阅读 (respect/praise reading), meanwhile there were performers playing the 二胡 (erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument) and taking donations from passers-by. As I exited the building, I saw plenty of 星星 (stars) dotting the sky while enjoying the 凉快 (cool) weather. With my 宝贵 (precious) books in hand, I was rather pleased. Some of the books at the library were definitely OUT (out) though, I saw a book describing how to use COBOL and DOS. With the extra time I had last night, I took a trip to another one of the 口岸 (ports) and was impressed with the linkage of the Shenzhen MTR and Hong Kong MTR. After that, I grabbed dinner at an HK-style cafe where one couple had their 八哥狗/哈巴狗 (pug dog) lying on the floor underneath them.

推崇 tui1chong2 - praise, respect
阅读 yue4du2 - reading
二胡 er2hu2 - a two-stringed traditional chinese instrument played with a bow
星星 xing1xing1 - stars
凉快 liang2kuai4 - cool, fresh
宝贵 bao3gui4 - precious
OUT out - internet slang meaning “out of style”
口岸 kou3an4 - port
八哥狗 ba1ge1gou3 - pug
哈巴狗 ha1bagou3 - pug (alternative name)

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Online Purchases

Andrew — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:29:49 +0000

Hello readers!

The other day I was trying to set up a purchase on 支付宝 (Alipay), an online payment site. When I tried to 充值 (add funds), I found that there was a security certificate problem with my 银盾 (internet banking USB key). Even through I had prepared my 交易密码 (trading password) for the bank and my 支付密码 (payment password) for Alipay, I still couldn’t successfully 汇款 (wire money). After removing my browser security settings and making Internet Explorer (not my choice- only IE is supported for Alipay and internet banking in China) about as safe as an oven made of kindling, I was finally able to 扣钱 (deduct money) from my bank account. After that, my focus shifted to securing a 优惠 (discount). It wouldn’t be a purchase in China if I couldn’t 降价 (lower the price). Well, 加油吧. (come on!)

支付宝 zhi1fu4bao3 - Alipay, a popular Chinese payment platform
充值 chong1zhi2 - add funds
银盾 yin2dun4 - USB key for online banking
交易密码 jiao1yi4mi4ma3 - Trading password
支付密码 zhi1fu4mi4ma3 - payment password
汇款 hui4kuan3 - wire money
扣钱 kou4qian2 - deduct money
优惠 you1hui4 - discount
降价 jiang4jia4 - lower the price
加油吧 jia1you2ba - well, come on, let’s see (said to encourage oneself)

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Halloween

Andrew — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:52:53 +0000

Hello everyone- 万圣节快乐 (happy Halloween)!　Halloween also goes by the name of 鬼节, but one thing’s for certain- people dress up as all kinds of 怪物 (monsters), or even superheroes like 蜘蛛侠 (Spiderman) 蝙蝠侠 (Batman) or 超人 (Superman). My plan for the day includes a Halloween concert at the 海边 (beach) which promises to be one huge 派对 (party). The only missing thing this year is that I can’t go anywhere to 要糖(go trick-or-treating. lit. ask for candy).

万圣节 wan4sheng4jie2 - Halloween (lit. 10,000 saints day)
_快乐 - kuai4le4 - happy ____ !
鬼节 gui3jie2 - ghost holiday
怪物 guai4wu4 - monster(s)
蜘蛛� zhi1zhuxia2 - Spiderman
蝙蝠� bian1fu2xia2 - Batman
超人 chao1ren2 - Superman
海边 hai3bian1 - beach
派对 pai4dui4 - party
要糖 yao4tang2 - to ask for candy; go trick-or-treating

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Net Slang pt.1

Andrew — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:36:49 +0000

Hello to all my reader 盆友 (friends)! 哇吓咪 (why) am I talking like this? 94俺 (it’s just that I) want to teach you some net slang. Don’t 晕 (feel faint) and don’t break a 汗 (sweat). By the end of this, you’ll saying, “at first he 745 了(really had me mad), but he’s no 愤青 (angry youth)! He was just trying to 顶(bump) his post because he wasn’t the 楼主 (thread starter).”

盆友 pen2you3 - friends (another form of 朋友 peng2you3)
哇吓咪 wa1xia4mi2 - why? (form of 为什么 wei4shen2me?)
94 jiu3si4 - I know, right? (form of 就是! jiu4shi4- emphatically pointing something out)
俺 an1 - I (used instead of 我 wo3)
745 qi1si4wu3 - makes me so angry! (气死我 qi4si3(2)wo3)
晕 yun1 - to feel faint (can be used like “are you serious? oh my goodness!” in reaction to surprising news. 晕倒 yun1dao3 (faint) is used for higher degree expression.
汗 han4 sweat (used to indicate that someone is nervous about something)
愤青 fen4qing1 - angry youth (a common term online referring to angry teenagers, used more often in reference to young netizens)
顶 ding3 - bump (this is similar to the “like” button on some webpages which can affect the page’s ranking)
楼主 lou2zhu3 -thread starter

Post from: Chinese Blog

Another Pizza Hunt

Andrew — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:40:06 +0000

I thought that I had left long pizza searches back in Beijing, but I guess that the fates had another plan for me. I saw an online listing showing where to find the previously-mentioned Shenzhen pizza place in person, so I 记好了 (wrote down) the place’s phone number. It wasn’t until I was in a taxi on the way to the address I had written down that I tried calling it. Somewhat surprisingly, no matter how many times I dialed the phone number, I 打不通 (was unable to get through). Walking around aimlessly, I decided to ask people on the street. Since this is Shenzhen and nobody (except for maybe the original population of 10,000 native Shenzhen people 30 years ago) is from here, everyone’s answer was some variant of 不太熟 (not really familiar [with this area])when asked about the address. I then got the idea to ask people who worked 房地产 (real estate), as they 绝对 (absolutely) must know the location of buildings for their job. Additionally, the boom in renters and real estate in China means that there are real estate agents working well into the evening on Saturdays- right when I was looking for this pizza place. After asking an agent, I was pointed in the direction of a 闪亮 (flashing) building. When I got to the general vicinity, I mostly saw places for 洗车 (car-washing) as well as some 车库 (garages). Funny place for a pizza place, right? I walked all around the area and couldn’t find the place, despite having the correct address. When I tried to enter the courtyard of another complex, the 保安 (security guard) ran over and asked what I was looking for. Well, he hadn’t heard about this pizza place either. Crestfallen and still hungry, I returned to my apartment to see what had happened. The next time you’re reading a post and are hungry, make sure you’re not reading any 旧帖 (old posts). It just might save you a lot of time!

记好了 ji4hao3le - wrote down/recorded
打不通 da3bu4(usually a neutral tone in speech though)tong1- to not be able to get through on the phone
不太熟 bu4(2)tai4shu2 - not too familiar [with something, an area in this case]
房地产 fang2di4chan3 - real estate
洗车 xi3che1 - car wash
车库 che1ku4 - garage
保安 bao3an1 - security guard (also the name of a district in Shenzhen)
绝对 jue2dui4 - absolutely
闪亮 shan3liang4 - flashing (of a light)
旧帖 jiu4tie3 - old post (on a forum)

Post from: Chinese Blog

Health Inspection

Andrew — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:51:28 +0000

The other day I went to a hospital for a 体检 (health inspection) which is part of the application process for a 居留证 (residence permit). The first step included going to the hospital and 填表 (filling in a form) regarding basic health information, and the bottom of the form has a part where you have to 打钩 (make a check mark) next to diseases you have or had in the past. Because I used to have 哮喘 (asthma), I decided to indicate it for the reference of the doctors. After filling out the form, the receptionist typed my data into the computer, printed out a copy, and asked me to 核对 (check if the information was correct). Normally I don’t think that people would 输错 (input [data] incorrectly), but you have to check for even the smallest 错误 (mistake/accident) in these types of situations. Well, imagine my surprise when my checkbox for “asthma” was marked by the receptionist as 肝炎 (hepatitis)! Aside from being incorrect and having multiple medical consequences, hepatitis is one of the diseases that puts a person on the 黑名单 (black list), effectively crushing that person’s chances at a residence permit, much less another visa into the country! Always check your forms, readers!

体检 ti2(3)jian3 - health inspection
居留证 ju1liu2zheng4 - residence permit
填表　tian2biao3 - fill in a form
打钩 da3gou1 - make a check mark
哮喘 xiao1chuan2 - asthma
肝炎 gan1yan2 - hepatitis
黑名单 hei1ming2dan1 - black list
核对 he2dui4 - check if [something] is correct
输错 shu1cuo4 - input incorrectly
错误 cuo4wu4 - error

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Stocks!

Andrew — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:40:48 +0000

Hello readers!

Have you ever invested in China before? Maybe you’ve heard about the recent 轮胎关税 (tire tariffs) issue. To be sure, a lot of people are investing here. Some people buy shares in an 指数基金 (index fund), while others dream of one day running their own 私募 (private equity) venture. Take a good long look at your 走势图 (trend charts) and do your best to predict the next 升跌 (rise and/or fall) to make your fortune. Betting on downward trends of Chinese 股票 (stocks) is prohibited by Chinese 国家规定 (nationwide regulations), so don’t hedge your financial future on risky 赌博 (gambling) when someone offers you an opportunity to short a stock here.

轮胎 lun2tai1 - tires
关税 guan1shui4 - tariff
指数 zhi3shu4 - index
基金 ji1jin1 - fund
私募 si1mu4 - private equity
走势图 zou3shi4tu2 - trend chart
上升 shang4sheng1 - rise, go up
跌 die3 - fall
股票 gu3piao4 - stock
国家规定 guo2jia1gui1ding4 - national rule/regulation
赌博 du3bo2 - gambling

Post from: Chinese Blog

HK Again

Andrew — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:31:48 +0000

Today I went to HK in search of 壶铃 (kettlebells) at one store and imported 辣椒酱 (hot sauce) of a particular brand at another. While I ended up searching for the kettlebells on 淘宝 (Taobao, an online Chinese retailer), I’m still happy to have made the effort to look. I was able to find some 风干肉 (air-cured meat) for sale at the imported foods market, although it was being sold at a 昂贵 (very expensive) price. As I took the boat across the harbor with a high school classmate, I realized that the ferry operators must be 亏本 (losing money) as they do not put advertisements on the interior of the boats. Not long afterward, I realized that they must have rights to the 码头 (piers), potentially guaranteeing their revenues. After returning to Shenzhen, I played arcade games with my classmate and found that the 金币 (gold coins [used to play the games]) cost only 0.5RMB (that’s roughly 7 cents in US Dollar terms). What an inexpensive way to have fun! We probably could have gotten to the arcade earlier if my friend’s passport hadn’t 烂掉 (fallen/rotten apart) in the washing machine several weeks ago, requiring that he get a replacement and produce 2 passports at border control (the rotten one with the current visa and the new, undefaced one). We grabbed some 牛腩 (beef tenderloin) curry and were on our way to the next adventure.

壶铃 hu2ling2 - kettlebell (a type of weight shaped like a cannonball with a U-shaped handle)
辣椒酱 la4jiao1jiang4 - hot sauce
淘宝 tao2(3)bao3 - Taobao, a Chinese e-commerce site
风干肉 feng1gan1rou4 - air-cured meat
昂贵 ang2gui4 - (highly) expensive
亏本 kui1ben3 - losing money (losing operating expenses)
码头 ma3tou2 - pier/dock
金币 jin1bi4 - gold coin
烂掉 lan4diao4 - to rot/fall/come apart (specifically referring to objects)
牛腩 niu2nan2 - beef tenderloin

Post from: Chinese Blog

Pizza Is Never On Time

Andrew — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:47:12 +0000

For those who remember the entry where I spent an hour looking for a pizza place in Beijing, the hunt is on again in Shenzhen. There is a great pizza place here run by a 华裔 (overseas Chinese - in this case ABC) from New York- rather than a 海归 (Chinese returned from abroad) or a franchise owner. The specialty of the place is that it has 进口烤箱 (imported ovens) and the pizza dough is 全麦 (whole wheat). I found myself most amazed at the quality of the 芝士 (cheese). When you have all but 吃腻了 (gotten sick of [from eating too much]) takeout restaurant food and you 吃不下 (cannot physically eat) anything but familiar foods, this pizza place sounded like a good idea. As soon as my pizza arrived, I took one look and knew I’d happily 吃得完 (finish the whole thing), just another 宵夜 (late night snack) in hustle-bustle Shenzhen.

华裔 hua2yi4 - overseas person of Chinese descent
海归 hai3gui1 - Chinese returning from overseas
进口 jin4kou3 - imported
烤箱 kao3xiang1 - oven
芝士 zhi1shi4 - cheese
吃腻了 chi1ni4le - to have had one’s fill of a particular food, to no longer be able to eat a certain food
吃不下 chi1bu2xia4 can’t physically eat
吃得完 chi1de1wan2 - able to finish a food
宵夜 xiao1ye4 - midnight snacks - note: it’s called 夜宵 up north, but 宵夜 comes from Cantonese (as far as I can tell)
全麦 quan2mai4 - whole wheat

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Back to Shenzhen

Andrew — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:55:45 +0000

I got back to Shenzhen from Beijing, and found myself coming down with some 水土不服 (stomach problems)- I surmise that I was somewhat 不习惯 (unaccustomed) to the dietary changes from the wedding and being up north, but I drank plenty of 热水 (hot water) and 粥 (rice porridge) to aid my recovery. I’m still waiting for my things to come down by railroad from Beijing. The bags are normally sent back if they contain any 液体 (liquid) or 气体 (gas) items. When the bags arrive in Shenzhen, they won’t be able to 送货 (deliver), so I will have to go to the train station in order to 领取 (pick them up). When I called the other day to 查询 (inquire) about the progress of the move, I couldn’t get through to anybody. All I know is that when the bags do arrive, I’d better use a vehicle suited to 搬运 (moving), or maybe 2 cabs.

水土不服 shui3(2)tu3bu4fu2 - unaccustomed to a place (lit. water dirt uncomfortable). used to refer to when a person has stomach problems or other ills as a result of travel
不习惯 bu4xi2guan4 - unaccustomed to
热水 re4shui3 - hot water
粥 zhou1 - rice porridge
液体 ye4ti3- liquid
气体 qi4ti3 - gas
送货 song4huo4 - deliver items
领取 ling3(2)qu3 - to pick up (from a place)
查询 cha2xun2 - inquire
搬运 ban1yun4 - moving (as in a moving company)

Post from: Chinese Blog