Tag: 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.

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 20^th 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.