Steve's sandbox

Tag: Beijing

  • Samuel Franklin, China – November 2014

    在过去一个月，我觉得我进一步地适应于在中国的生活，而且已经不知不觉地培养了一些习惯和例行。比如说，在饮食的方面我和我的两个室友在一些餐馆变成了常客。那就是说，在一些餐馆我们每周至少一次会去吃饭。在这些餐馆我们熟悉那里的服务员，服务员也知道我们最喜欢点什么菜。在一家离我们房子很近的韩国餐馆，我们进入门口之前，我们常客和服务员都已经知道我们就会一如既往地点他们的石锅拌饭和韩式辣白菜。除了这家餐馆的便利性和食品的质量以外，还有另一个原因为什么我很喜欢去这个餐馆。有一次我突然注意到一位特别美丽的女服务员，所以我决定在单子上写下我的微信身份（在中国人们很少用手机号码）并给她这个单子。那时她笑了好像很尴尬，但我们还在互发短信。

    我也继续经验中国文化其他的方面。我最近看到了北京舞蹈学院天鹅湖的表演。我也参加了一个关于中国象棋的讲座。上个月一个特殊的亮点是在一条胡同里学习打麻将的经验。因为我是一个好胜的人，所以麻将对我有一定的吸引力。我很快就了解到了麻将的规则和一些基础的策略，但一开始和中国人一起打，就意识到我肯能会吃一点苦。他们麻将打得极快，我常常失去了说‘碰，吃，杆’的机会.

    那里正好有个记者，她对外国人学打麻将的经验有兴趣，所以采访了我。打完麻将以后，我快忘了这个面试。后来没想到我的在青岛留学的朋友在看报纸的时候，看到了我的照片。我很吃惊，但这个在中国日报上的首次亮相使我感觉很高兴。

    最后在旅游的方面，我参观了苏州和杭州。苏州和杭州都坐落在中国南方的省份，与北京比起来，南方的天气比较舒服温暖。第一天我们乘了五个小时的高铁赴苏州。在苏州我们游览于那里的一些名胜古迹，例如明嘉靖。浙江省的杭州也有非常漂亮的景象，我特别推荐你参观离杭州挺近的千岛湖。那里有1078个小岛，游客能上船尽量享受它的独一无二的风景。中国东南方显然有许多值得去的地方，这不仅仅是因为中国南方著名的美女，还是因为南方有自己独特的文化和气氛。当然我将来打算再往南走旅行。

    Samuel playing Chinese Chess – Nov 2014

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    In the past month I feel I have further settled into life in China, and have even unconsciously developed some habits and routines here. For example in terms of diet, my two roommates and I have become regulars at a number of local restaurants. That is to say we go to these restaurants at least once a week. At these restaurants we are familiar with the staff and the staff also knows what dishes we most like to order. Close to our apartment is a Korean restaurant, where before we even enter through the doors, both we and the waiters already know that we will inevitably order our usual stone pot bibimbap and Korean kimchi. Apart from its convenience and the quality of the food, there is one other reason I rather like this restaurant. Once, whilst eating, I suddenly noticed a particularly pretty waitress, so I decided to write down my wechat id (Chinese people rarely use mobile phone numbers) on the back of my receipt and give it to her. She laughed and appeared embarrassed, but we’re still texting each other.

    I also continue to enjoy other aspects of Chinese culture. Recently I went to a performance of Swan Lake by the Beijing Dance Academy. I also attended a lecture on Chinese chess. Last month, a particular highlight was the experience of learning mahjong in one of the hutongs. Mahjong clearly appealed to my competitive side and I was quick to understand the rules and some basic tactics. However, as soon as I started playing with some of the local Chinese, I realised that I would have to suffer a bit.  They played tremendously quickly and I often missed the relevant opportunities to call ‘peng, chi or gang (you’ll have to learn the rules yourself).’

    There also happened to be a journalist, who was interested in foreigners’ experience of learning the game, and so I was interviewed. After finishing playing, I quickly forgot about the interview. Later my friend studying in Qingdao unexpectedly came across my picture in the paper. I was very surprised, but was pleased to have made my debut in the China Daily.

    Finally, in terms of travel I visited Suzhou and Hangzhou. Suzhou and Hangzhou are both located in China’s southern provinces, where compared to Beijing, the weather is relatively warm and comfortable. On the first day, we took a five hour high speed train down to Suzhou. There we visited some of the famous historical sites, including the Mingjiajing garden temple complex. Zhejiang province’s Hangzhou also had some impressive sites and I would particularly recommend anyone to visit the Thousand Island Lake, not far from Hangzhou. There are 1078 small islands and tourists can board a ship and enjoy the unique scenery. China’s south clearly has a great many places worth visiting, not just because of the beautiful southern women, but also because of its own singular culture and atmosphere. I certainly intend to travel south again when I have the chance.

    The Thousand Island Lake – Samuel Franklin

  • Imogen Page-Jarrett, Beijing, China – November 2014

    Bike ride with friends, Beijing – Imogen Nov14

    北京2014主办了APEC峰会，这个消息一发表就突然点燃了首都人民的热情。据报道，这届峰会是中国自2008年奥运会以来最大的国际盛事。因此，预备阶段忙忙碌碌，首都都要准备外国宾客的到来。其中最重大的措施是安排一周的公众假期，暂停所有的工业、车辆并其他污染性的物质。假期之间不赔钱的人觉得幸运的是APEC是没想到的旅游机会。那一周目的地是减少北京雾霾，为了峰会创造一片蓝天。因此，新的网络词汇以出现了，就叫“APEC蓝”，引申义为形容事物短暂易逝，不真实的美好，中国年轻人常用。“他对你没有感兴趣，这就是APEC蓝”这个词汇几周前在微信（中国最流行即时通信的APP）上出现了。

    桂林与阳朔都坐落于中国南方广西省的漓江地区。桂林这个市名意思由于桂林一直都有很多桂花树，所以桂林市的市名是因为这里种植了很多的桂花树。这个地区可算是顶级的旅游景点之一，以喀斯特地貌的山地、壮丽的美景、水稻栽培而闻名。俗话说：“桂林山水甲于天下”。我们乘船游览漓江，过去乘客乘竹筏，现在乘电动的小艇。绕过一个拐弯处时，二十元背面的桂林山水在我们的眼前出现，漓江水里映出了背面的森林覆盖的山。

    此天我们骑自行车进入了乡村，陪我们是刚认识的新朋友，昨天晚上我们一起吃过了阳朔著名的啤酒鱼。我们骑了12公里的乡村小路，穿过水牛、稻田、农村里玩耍的孩子，多雾的山顶。相比之下，农村的生活很缓慢，偶尔能听到女人带水牛去河边喝水的声音，或者骑车的游客互相叫喊。

    Imogen Page-Jarrett – river cruise Guangxi Province (Nov 2014)

    我们下一站是国家公园龙脊梯田。一层层从山脚盘绕到山顶，层层叠叠，高低错落。其线条行云流水。春来，水满田畴；夏至，佳禾吐翠；金秋，稻穗沉甸；隆冬，雪兆丰年。梯田自650年就存在。据说是因为山脉恰似神龙之脊背而得名。穿过梯田爬到我们要住的农村很累人。住宅都是用木做的、像别墅似的楼，住民包括瑶族和其他种地的小民族。太阳金光照亮了风景。

    在我们20个小时回到北京火车的小上铺躺着，我们想念我们遇到的当地小吃、著名的景点，本地小民族‘新朋友。在中国旅游一周，肯定会游得远。

     

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    When Beijing was granted the 2014 APEC meeting, there was a sudden fervour in the capital. The event has been named China’s most prestigious international event since the Beijing Olympics. Accordingly, in the run up the whole city was made busy preparing for the arrival of foreign guests. One of the most drastic of these was granting the entire capital a public holiday, calling all industry, business, traffic and other polluting elements to a sudden halt. Happily for those of us not losing money during this period however, APEC granted us an unexpected opportunity to travel. The one week November holiday was in aid of reducing the Beijing smog and creating blue skies for the meeting. Thus a new internet term has appeared called “APEC blue”, used by China’s young teens to describe a beautiful thing, which is really only temporary and not genuine. “He’s not really into you, it’s just an APEC blue” appeared on Wechat (China’s most popular instant messaging app) a few weeks ago.

    Guilin and Yangshuo are situated on the Li River in Guangxi Province, South China. The name Guilin means “Forest of Sweet Osmanthus”, due to the large number of the fragrant trees growing in the city. The area is one of China’s top tourist destinations, famed for its karst topography of breathtaking mountains and rice growing culture. There is a saying which goes: “East or West, Guilin’s scenery is best”. We took the river cruise, which used to be on bamboo rafts, now powered by electric dingies in their form; as we turned a bend, the tableau which features on the twenty Yuan note appeared before our eyes; the breath of the Li river reflecting the sharp forested peaks backing it.

    The next day we set off into the countryside with our new Chinese friends who we had eaten famous Yangshuo beer-fish with the previous night. We traversed 12 kilometres of country roads, passing by water buffalo, rice paddies filled with ducks, rural villages with children playing in the streets and mist enveloped mountains. Village life compared with Beijing was lazy, interspersed with the sound of women taking the buffalo down to the river for water, or groups of bikers calling out to one another.

    Our next stop on from Yangshuo was the National Park of Longji, home of China’s rice terraces. The terraced fields are built up the mountain slopes winding upwards from the foot to the peak of the mountains. In spring the terraces are covered in water, summer green rice shoots, rice in fall and  ice in winter. They have been in existence for about 650 years. Longji means dragon’s backbone, owing to the back the terraces look like a dragon’s scales, and the mountain range looks like a dragon’s backbone. It was a tiring trek through up terraces up to the village we were staying in. The residences were all wooden chalet looking buildings, inhabited by large numbers of Yao and other minorities who farmed the land. The sun on the autumn terraces covered the landscape in a golden glow.

    Lying on the small top bunk of our 20 hour sleeper train home, we reminisced about the local delicacies, the renowned scenery, the local people and new friends we had found. A weeks travel in China can certainly get you far.

    Terraced fields Yangshuo, National Park of Longji – Imogen, November 2014

  • Struan Rutherford, Beijing, China – November 2014

    Struan Rutherford, Beijing – Nov 2014

     

    在北京几个月以后，我现在习惯日常工作。我甚至在有些我最喜欢的饭店已经成为一个经常顾客。服务员现在认识我是我跟这些饭店关系的证明 （我也许应该去更多饭店…）不过，日常生活被假期中断，比如最近亚太经济合作组织假期 （APEC） 。

    几个星期前，很多亚太国家元首来到北京峰会。为了净化空气，中国政府暂时关闭某些北京工厂和道路。还有，很多人不可以在城市开车。由于这些措施，北京污染消失了一个星期。学生不需要上课！住在北京的人民享受好天气，万里晴空 （所谓“APEC 蓝”）。我最初很沮丧因为我不预订旅行但是我真的喜欢花时间在北京。每天是晴天，空气很干净。我希望城市天气未来那么好！

    我总是佩服中国的好客，不管中国跟别国家有什么争端和区别。通过热烈欢迎美国，菲律宾和越南的元首，中国显示他们的好客。而且，峰会的时候北京的气氛很激动。我不仅奥巴马和习近平签署一个历史性的气候变化协议的时候住在北京，我还有从我公寓窗户看到非常漂亮奥运会公园烟花汇演。

     

    ENGLISH TRANSATION

    After a few months in Beijing, I have now settled into my daily routine. I have even become a regular at some of my favourite restaurants in the area. The waiters recognise me now which is evidence of our relationship (perhaps I should go to some new restaurants…) However, this routine has been interrupted by holidays, for example the recent APEC holiday.

    A couple of weeks ago, many heads of state from the Asia Pacific region came to Beijing for a summit. In order to clean the air before the summit, the Chinese government temporarily closed certain factories and roads in Beijing. They also prohibited many cars from driving in the city. As a result, Beijing’s pollution was cleared for a week. Students did not have to go to lectures! People living in Beijing enjoyed the good weather and blue skies (so called ‘APEC blue’). Originally, I was sad that I had not managed to organise travel but it was very nice to spend time in Beijing. Every day, it was sunny and the air was clean. I hope the city’s weather is like this more often in future!

    I am always impressed at Chinese hospitality, no matter the arguments or differences between China and other countries. China demonstrated this in its warm welcome of the USA, Philippines and Vietnam for this summit.  It was also exciting to be in Beijing during the summit. Not only was I in the city when Barack Obama and Xi Jinping signed an historic climate change agreement, I was also able to see a beautiful fireworks display at the Olympic Park from my apartment window.

    Struan – Nov 2014

  • Emily Martin, Beijing, China – November 2014

    Queues outside train stations in Beijing

     

    APEC 在北京
    如今，APEC来到北京成为各报的头条新闻。许多的亚洲和美洲的总统在北京集合了。当然，政府尽量向世界表示北京最好的方面。政府用特的别方法减少北京人每天经验的污染。减少污染的影响明显得北京人叫没有污染天空的颜色‘APEC蓝’。
    为了减少污染，政府宣布了国定假日，也让许多在北京的广场停工，也关闭有的北京大公路。政府也用神秘减少污染的仪器。没有人知道这台仪器的方法 – 风声说仪器是含发挥减少污染化学品的火箭 – 不过重要机会来到北京的时候天空总是当天成为蓝色的。

    虽然我们一定不抱怨污染减少了， 我们还不太喜欢由于公路关闭的人山人海坐地铁。北京已经拥挤的地铁伸到普通额度1。5 倍。即使上下班时间的时候，地铁站用特别人员以便把人拥挤上车。APEC的星期地铁站外边有一望无际的人排队。

    美国使馆的污染报告忽然消失是APEC最阴险的影响。我们现在只有中国政府可疑和乐观的污染报告。散步在北京资本性的热闹购物中心和市场的时候，很容易忘了中国是一个独裁主义的共产国家。不过，政府关闭公路，审查污染报告表示政府的权力。

    习近平跟奥巴马签署减少污染的协议以后， 当天工厂已经重新生产，汽车开始充满公路。当然跟污染消失的一样迅速，污染就回来了。

    A normal smoggy day in Beijing

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    APEC arrives in Beijing

    The arrival of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic conference) has made global headlines recently with all the leaders of Asia and America gathering in Beijing. Naturally, the city pulled out all the stops to present its best face to the world, taking some extraordinary measures to reduce the pollution that normal Beijingers experience every day. The change is so apparent that the colour of the new, smog-free sky has been termed ‘APEC blue’.

    A national holiday was declared, many factories in the Beijing area forced to temporarily shut down, and some of Beijing’s main highways closed, all in the effort to reduce pollution. The authorities also deployed the mysterious pollution-clearing devices. No-one knows what this apparatus is – rumours talk of special rockets containing dispersing chemicals – but whenever an important global event comes to Beijing, the sky magically clears in a few hours at just the right moment.

    While we certainly did not mind the magical disappearance of the ever-present caustic smog, we were somewhat less pleased by the huge overcrowding on the subway due to road closures. Beijing’s already busy subway was stretched to 150% of its usual capacity. Even during normal rush hour, staff are employed specifically to cram people onto the trains so the doors can close. During APEC there were queues stretching as far as I could see just to enter the station.

    The most sinister effect of APEC was the sudden disappearance of the US Consulate’s pollution reports, leaving us with only the suspiciously optimistic reports of the Chinese authorities. When wandering in the bustling capitalist’s haven that is Beijing’s markets and malls, one can often forget China is an authoritarian communist state. However, the ability of the government to ban traffic from Beijing’s central arteries and censor any pollution reports that claim Beijing is anything more than lightly polluted serves as a chilling reminder of just how far the state’s power can extend when necessary.

    Perhaps it is ironic that just hours after Premier Xin Jinping’s pledge with Obama to reduce pollution, Beijing’ factories restarted, cars began to refill the roads and of course, the perpetual grey haze returned as quickly as it had disappeared.

  • Settling into Beijing life – Struan Rutherford, October 2014

    In the past month, I have been settling into my new life in Beijing and regular classes at Peking University. I have been enjoying life in Beijing but the one thing I have not yet adjusted to is the pollution. The pollution was so serious recently that many athletes participating in the Beijing Marathon had to quit for fear of damaging their respiratory system. Luckily I have a face mask with me that can protect me from most of the air pollution. Despite the pollution, the weather in Beijing has been good recently. Winter weather still hasn’t arrived so I should not complain!

  • Struan Rutherford, Beijing, China – October 2014

    Struan Rutherford, Beijing, China Oct 2014

     

    过去的一个月，我在北京大学习惯我新的生活和定期班。我享受我在北京的生活但是一个我还没习惯的地方是污染。污染最近如此厉害，很多参加北京马拉松的运动员需要放弃，以免他们损伤呼吸系统。幸亏，我有口罩所以它能保护我免受大部分空气污染。尽管污染，北京天气最近非常好。冬天天气还没来到所以我不应该抱怨！

    最近有兴趣的新闻是中国对应对印度成功火星卫星的反应。有些我阅读中国报纸头条的报道称赞印度卫星的成功，祝贺印度人。我最初没想到中国国家媒体如此愿意恭维印度科学家因为印度（周边一个与中国有相似数量人口的发展国家）是中国的竞争对手。不过，我最初对中印关系和中国人对印度火星意见的视角是错的。

    这些报纸表达这个态度：不仅是印度的胜利，还有是亚洲的。印度火星卫星的工程是每个发展的胜利，特别是亚洲的。印度现在树立了一个榜样，所以其他有航天项目的发展中国家想仿效印度。因为中国正在发达它自己的载人航天工程，另亚洲国家成功第一发送卫星到别地球的尝试肯定鼓励中国推行更多太空工程。我新中国反应的解释是一个“友好的太空竞赛”。中国和印度都为了实现新成功竞争但是互相祝贺，支持对方的努力，也许来跟有太空项目历史的国家竞争，包括美国和俄罗斯。

    Sunrise Beijing, China

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

    In the past month, I have been settling into my new life in Beijing and regular classes at Peking University. I have been enjoying life in Beijing but the one thing I have not yet adjusted to is the pollution. The pollution was so serious recently that many athletes participating in the Beijing Marathon had to quit for fear of damaging their respiratory system. Luckily I have a face mask with me that can protect me from most of the air pollution. Despite the pollution, the weather in Beijing has been good recently. Winter weather still hasn’t arrived so I should not complain!

    A recently interesting aspect of China is the responses to the success of the Indian Mars satellite. A couple headline articles in newspapers that I read have been praising the success of India and congratulating the Indian people. My initial thought was that Chinese state media would not have been so quick to praise the success of Indian scientists as India, a neighbouring developing country with a similar population, is a competitor to China. However, my initial perspectives on Chinese-Indian relations and the Chinese reaction to the Mars satellite were wrong.

    The papers expressed the attitude that it was not just an Indian victory but an Asian one too. The success of the Indian Mars mission was a victory for developing countries around the world, particularly those in Asia. India has now set an example for other developing countries with space programs. As China pursues its own space program, the successful first attempt of another Asian country to send a satellite to another planet will surely encourage China towards further space missions. My new interpretation of the Chinese response would be a ‘friendly space race’。 Both nations compete to achieve new successes in space but congratulate and support each other’s endeavours, perhaps in order to compete with nations with a history of space travel, including the United States and Russia.

  • Struan Rutherford, Beijing, China – September 2014

    2014年九月：马球

    八月的时候，我告别英国，伦敦。我一在北京降落，我就在深水区因为没有一个说英文的出租车司机。这是到几个星期以后跟有些中国朋友政治辩论的第一步。

    在酒吧和饭馆交有些中国朋友，我被我被邀请去唐人马球马术俱乐部看马球比赛。马球本来是唐代中国运动但是现代马球肯定是英国的。尽管我为数不多的英国人之一，我是个从来没看过马球的人！不过，马球不是最有意思的事。我在马球俱乐部看我以前从来没看中国的地方。很多在俱乐部的中国人是马球粉丝但他们对西方政治有兴趣是最有意思的地方，特别苏格兰独立公投。很多我认识的中国人不想讨论亚洲的政治。对他们来说，欧洲政治是比较激动。显然，不同的人有不同的兴趣。不是每个中国人比较喜欢西方政治新闻。

    我觉得最有意思的情况是对越来越大的中国中产阶级更大的互联网接入和西方媒体在中国的影响。除了对西方文化有兴趣，很多中国人现在对我们的政治真有兴趣。我相信这个表明中国继续发展的时候许多中国人欲望跟国际社会变得一体化。我希望未来有更多类似的讨论（但是我的中文需要提高！）这是我为什么学习汉语一个例子，用汉语让我发现，了解中国新的东西！在我看来，这是非常好我一年在中国学习的开端。

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    September 2014: Polo

    In August, I said goodbye to London, Britain. As soon I landed in Beijing, I was thrown in the deep end as none of the taxi drivers spoke any English. This was the first step towards the political conversations I was having a couple weeks later with some Chinese friends.

    After making many Chinese friends in bars and restaurants, I was invited to a polo game at the Tang polo club. Polo was originally a Tang Dynasty Chinese sport but modern polo is certainly a British sport. Despite being one of the few British people there, I was one of the only people who had never seen polo before! However, polo was not the most interesting thing. At the polo ground, I saw a side of China that I had never seen before. Many of the Chinese were polo fans but the most interesting aspect was that they had a big interest in Western politics, in particular Scottish independence. A lot of the Chinese I met were not wanting to discuss Asian politics. In their opinion, European politics are more interesting than Asian politics. Obviously different people have different interests. Not all Chinese people prefer Western political news.

    What I thought was interesting was the effect of greater internet access and Western media in China on the growing middle class in China. Besides having an interest in Western culture, many Chinese now have a strong interest in our politics. I believe this reflects the wish of many Chinese to become more integrated with the global community as the country continues to develop. I hope to have more similar discussions in future, when my Chinese improves. This is an example of why I study Mandarin: using Mandarin enables me to discover and understand new things about China! In my opinion, this was a good start to my year in China.

    Polo game

     

  • Emily Martin, Beijing, China – September 2014

    Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China

    当我到北京的时候，我只看见空荡荡的飞机场。除了跟我一起飞人的以外，飞机场里看不到其他任何人。我对中国的第一印象与生活在世界上最受欢迎的国家的没有太大的区别。尽管我曾经在中国有过旅行，那些推挤着，吵闹地冲向下一个目的地的，永不停息的人流仍然让我十分吃惊。不仅如此，巨大的摩天大楼和穿越北京市中心的多车道公路十分令人惊讶。是中国和中文的特殊性吸引我学习中文。在我看来，中国文化和生活方式的多样性非常迷人。 接下来的一年会使得我在过去两年本科阶段学习中文时遇到的挑战十分值得。

    但是，我的中国年并没有一个完美的开端。我在大约第一周都在忙于堆积如山的检查——体检、找房子、大学注册和居住证申请等等。最后，当我签订了房屋合同，并且获得了居住证后，我终于能够开始放松，享受北京。可能我前几个星期的亮点就是游览北京各种各样的著名景点。我之间看过所有的这些景点，但是这次却没有看景点的压力，所以我能发现很多之前我所忽视的方面。这些人都和展出的那些人一样有趣——一群老人在颐和园的走廊里打麻将，新郎新娘在天坛拍摄婚纱照，还有无数的旅行团匆匆地奔走于各个旅游景点。这些都让我觉得中国的文化很有魅力！

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    Upon my arrival in Beijing I was greeted with an eerily deserted airport with not a single traveller to be seen other than those on my flight. My first taste of China couldn’t have been more different to the reality of living in the world’s most populous country. Despite travelling in China before, the never ending flow of people, pushing and shoving, noisily rushing to their next destination never ceases to amaze me. Even more so, the giant infrastructure of skyscrapers and multi-lane highways slicing through the centre of Beijing is staggering.

    It is the otherness of China, and the Chinese language that first attracted me to studying it. I find the vibrancy of the Chinese culture and way of life enchanting. It is this coming year that will make the challenges of the past 2 years spent studying for my undergraduate degree in Chinese worthwhile.

    However, my year did not get off to the best start. My first week or so was spent struggling against a mountain of admin – health checks, flat hunting, university registration, residency application and so on. Finally, with my flat contract signed and my residency permit obtained I could finally relax and start to enjoy Beijing.

    My trips to the multitude of famous tourist destinations in Beijing are perhaps the highlight of the past few weeks. I have seen them all before, but without the pressure to tick the sights off the list I discover new aspects I would previously have gone unnoticed. The people are just as interesting as the exhibits – the groups of local pensioners playing Mahjong in the shade of the Summer palace, the newlywed couple posing for their wedding photos under the Temple of Heaven or even the endless tour groups racing round the attractions all give a charming insight into Chinese culture.

    The Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China

     

     

  • Samuel Franklin, Beijing, China – September 2014

     

    大家好！这篇小文章是我第一篇博客文章。描述我第一个月在北京的经验以前，我先会自己介绍一下。

     

    我是一个从伦敦来的大三学生，刚二十岁了。在英国，我上剑桥大学三一学院，专业就是中国的学习。除了语言（普通话）以外，我还学习中国的文学，历史，社会和古代汉语。这个四年课程包括一年的留学，所以我今年在北京大学一年留学；然后我2016年会毕业。

     

    人们常常问我，‘善明，你为什么决定学习中国呢？是应为中国经济情况的关联吗？是因为中国的女孩很漂亮吗？’原来，我对中国的历史和文学很有兴趣。我看了很多关于中国20世纪历史的书，也喜欢讨论中国的未来和西方人对中国的无知。另一方面，我是一般日本人（一半英国人），会说日语，写字，和读日文。所以从小到大，我一直感觉我与东亚有密切的关系。最近我也开始认真地考虑怎么用这个专业来得到工作。

     

    最终，描述我第一个月之前，我也想简单的介绍我除了东亚之外的兴趣。我有很多爱好，比如说踢足球，下国际象棋，读书，哲学，金融和法律。我希望我将来会把这些爱好和我对中国的兴趣结合起来。

     

    不幸的是我第一个月所做的大部分就是无聊管理的事。例如，我要处理签证，找房子，报名课程，去宜家买东西等等。但这些活动也给很多机会联系说话。我记得找房子时，我需要和三个中介和一个房东商量合同的详细。和中国女孩调情，发短信也很困难。。。不过我已经觉得我的中文水平提高了。下月写博客时，希望我会介绍一些多具体的故事。

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    Before describing experiences of my first month in Beijing, I’ll first briefly introduce myself.

    I’m a third year student from London, just turned 20. In England, I read Chinese Studies at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Apart from language (Mandarin), I also study Chinese literature, history, society and classical Chinese. The four year course includes a year spent abroad and so I’m currently doing a 10 month course at Peking University – I graduate in 2016.

    People often ask me, ‘Sam, why did you decide to study Chinese? Is it related to China’s economic state? Is it because Chinese girls are fit?’ Originally, I was very interested in Chinese history and literature. I read many books on China’s 20th century, and enjoyed discussing China’s future and the ignorance of Westerners towards China. On the other hand, I’m also half-Japanese (and half-English); I speak Japanese, write characters and can read Japanese. So from a young age I’ve always felt some close relationship with East Asia. Recently, I’ve also begun to consider more seriously how to use my Chinese degree to get a job.

    Finally, before briefly describing my first month, I’d also like to introduce simply my interests other than East Asia. I have a lot of hobbies, for instance, playing football, chess, reading, philosophy, finance and law. I hope that in future I’ll be able to combine these hobbies with my interest in China.

    Unfortunately, most of what I did in my first month here is boring administrative stuff. For example, sorting out my visa, finding an apartment, registering for courses, the ritual Ikea trip etc… But these mundane activities also gave me a lot of opportunities to practice speaking. I remember when looking for an apartment, I had to negotiate the contract with three agents and a landlord.  I already feel that my Chinese is improving and I hope next month to be able to present some more specific stories.