Steve's sandbox

Tag: Qingdao

  • Travelling in China: Alexander Johnstone, November 2017

    在中国旅行
    为了庆祝中华人民共和国的成立，每年的10月1日是中国的国庆节。政府制定每个人能放七天的假，所以这个假日也叫 “金周”. 那个星期安排的活动很多，很多人也趁着假期在国内和国内的地方去旅行。我跟我的同学一起考虑我们要去什么地方的时候，很多中国人警告我们中国所有的名胜古迹一定会太拥挤，所有的旅馆和火车票很久已经订满了，对一个西方人而言真受不了！因此，为了避免中国游客的群众，我们决定去一个避暑的目的地，那就是青岛。青岛与北京在很多方面截然不同. 比如说，青岛的气氛比较轻松，哪里的空气质量也比较好! 青岛也是一个沿海的城市，它在中国以山和海为著名。我们一到青岛就特别享受在海边呼吸新鲜的空气，看着当地人在户外做运动。这是一个在北京千万不会发生的一件事儿！
    我们第一天在青岛的老城去逛逛，欣赏青岛的德式建筑。由于青岛从1891年到1949年，青岛被德国殖民，因此青岛大大受到了德国的影响。晚上的时候，我们去了一个饭馆吃青岛远近著名的海鲜、我们第二天决定去爬山，我们爬到山顶可以鸟瞰全城，那里的风景很棒！
    去青岛以后，我们也去了爬泰山。你一提到泰山就会让人们想起来中国古老的历史。这是因为很多皇帝爬过泰山祭祀。所以，现在很多中国人感觉爬泰山真有意义，我们去爬的那天真是人山人海！我回到北京之后跟我的中国朋友分享我在泰山的经历他们一点都不吃惊。
    总而言之，

    在中国去旅行是个很难得的机会跟当地人说话好好练习我的中文，也能接近中国的文化。

    ENGLISH:

    Travelling in China
    In order to celebrate the founding of the People’s Republic of China, every year on October 1st marks China’s National Day. The government lets every person have 7 days of holiday, so this holiday is also called ‘Golden Week’. There are lots of activities organised for this week and lots of people make the most of the holiday to go travelling to places in China and abroad. When I was thinking about where to go travelling with my classmates, lots of Chinese people warned us that all the main tourist attractions in China would be too busy. Also, all the hotels and train tickets would be booked out ages in advance – it would be truly unbearable for a Westerner! So, in order to avoid the crowds of Chinese tourists, we decided to visit somewhere that is usually a summer destination – Qingdao. In many aspects, Beijing and Qingdao are completely different. For example, the atmosphere in Qingdao is a lot more relaxed and the air quality is better! Qingdao is also a coastal city and is famous throughout China for its sea and mountains. When we first arrived in Qingdao, we particularly enjoyed breathing the fresh air by the sea and watching locals exercising outside. This is something that people would never do in Beijing!
    On our first day in Qingdao, we wandered around the old city and enjoyed the German style architecture of the city. Because Qingdao was a German colony between 1891 and 1949, the city has been greatly influenced by Germany. In the evening, we went to a restaurant to try out Qingdao’s famous seafood. On our second day we decided to go climb a mountain. When we climbed to the top we had a bird’s eye view of the city – the view was amazing!
    After visiting Qingdao, we also went to climb Mount Tai. When you mention Mount Tai, it immediately makes people think of China’s ancient history.

    This is because a lot of emperors climbed Mount Tai to make sacrifices to the gods. Therefore, nowadays lots of Chinese people feel that climbing Mount Tai is of great significance. The day we went to climb there were seas of people! When I returned to Beijing and shared my experience with my Chinese friends they weren’t surprised at all.

    Overall, going travelling in China was an invaluable opportunity to speak with locals and practise my Chinese and get closer to Chinese culture.

  • My first few months in China – Gavin Vine, September 2016

    我现在在北京已经住了三个月了，这几个月一直在英国驻华大使馆实习。 这三个月过得很快，而我现在准备去北大学习。目前在中国的这段时间里经常想起一些难忘的经历 。有一次是我和我的同事 一起去了青岛，参加了那里很有名的啤酒节。 我一到青岛就注意到了青岛与北京相比有很大的区别，青岛的马路很窄，没有北京的那么宽，这显然是受到了德国建筑的影响，与北京灰白的高楼比，看到青岛的欧洲式建筑格调是一个十分可喜的不同。另外一个明显的区别是在青岛可得到的菜。我在北京的时候习惯每天都去买煎饼的摊子吃肉,可是走在青岛的街巷马上注意到蚝，蟹和虾的气味，毕竟青岛的海鲜远近闻名。

    话说回来，我并不能一概而论，只是简单地提及了北京的高楼，宽马路。 我发现北京的每一个地方都很独特，有自己的特色。走在胡同里你不禁感受老北京的味道。相反的，在繁华的三里屯逛街的时候好像穿越到了另一个时代。 如此多彩多姿的中国，我很期待开始探索这个充满乐趣的国家。

    The sleek modern buildings of Beijing CBD. Photo taken from balcony of the CBD area of Beijing

    ENGLISH:

    I have now been living in Beijing for three months, doing an internship at the British Embassy in China. The past three months have passed by so quickly and I am now preparing to commence study at Peking University. When I consider my time in China, a few unforgettable experiences come to mind. The first is when my colleagues and I went to Qingdao for the famous beer festival. As soon as I arrived in Qingdao I noticed a stark contrast with Beijing. The city’s narrow roads were far smaller than the wide roads of Beijing whilst the German- influenced European style architecture compared to the tall, grey buildings of Beijing represented a welcome change. Another notable difference was the variety of food available. While in Beijing I had got used to stalls selling pancakes (jianbing) and had mainly eaten meat. However, walking through the streets of Qingdao I was immediately struck by the smell of oysters, crabs and shrimp. Qingdao, after all, is known far and wide for its seafood.

    Having said this, I certainly can’t generalise and simply say Beijing is just tall buildings and wide roads. I have found that everywhere in Beijing is so different, each area having its own character. Walking through the Hutongs you can’t help but feel the old Beijing atmosphere. By contrast, strolling through bustling Sanlitun it like passing through to a different era. China is so eclectic and vibrant, I can’t wait to start exploring this incredible country.

  • Samuel Franklin, China – April 2015

    在我最近参加的国际象棋比赛中，我最大的错误甚至在第一轮比赛开始之前发生了。怎么了？我也不太清楚，但因为一般说更好笑对自己而不要隐藏尴尬的事件，我会向读者透露我的愚蠢。简单地说，我去了错误的省份。我以为这次比赛在河北省举行，所以提前在网上订票，然后当天我很早就到达北京西火车站。我一出去河北高铁站，我就找到了一位司机开车带我去比赛的地点。不过，没想到司机没有认识到我很清楚地告诉他的酒店。因此，我给比赛的委员会打电话，让他给司机导航。我等着一分钟，司机挂上了电话转向我，不改色地说，“你在错误的省份。”

    A very international team, with Koreans, Afghans, Spaniards, Americans…

    那天晚些时候，我最终到了位于北京燕郊（六环之外）的酒店。幸运的是，那一天只是报名比赛的一天，而且从河北到北京坐高铁不到一个半小时。除了交通的方面以外，我这次的表现不错。虽然没有得到冠军，因为我没有中国的国际象棋等级分的关系，我还有很多机会与最强的棋手比赛。

    我最近从山东省的青岛回来了。我在青岛的老城区呆了四夜，过了比较悠闲轻松的时间。对一位想念在欧洲的海滩假期的人来说，去青岛旅游很有吸引力。我花了很多时间懒懒地躺在沙滩上一边读书一边打盹。其实我还做了些更积极的活动。例如，我在海洋大学留学的同学让我第一次经历定向。不言而喻，我还参观了那里的一所名胜古迹。那就是青岛啤酒博物馆。在啤酒节，吃着海鲜，喝一杯原浆青岛肯定是这一年的一个亮点。

    参加足球训练或者比赛时，我从来没遇到任何交通问题，只有自己的足球水平和健康的问题。自从二月来，我与对外汉语学院的足球队参加北大杯。所有专业的学院有个队，你可以想象今年数学系（1-2输了）和国管学院都是夺冠热门。现在是小组赛的阶段。与别的学院比起来，因为大部分的学生是交换生，我们队只有很短时间在一起练习，熟悉队友的优势和弱势。无论如何，这周日与化学系的比赛是肯定要赢得。希望会有有力的天气。

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

    The start of a gruelling 80 minutes against the mighty maths faculty.

    In my most recent chess tournament my first blunder occurred even before the start of the first round. How so? I’m still not so clear myself, but because it’s often said that it’s better to laugh at one’s errors than to conceal them, I have decided to divulge my stupidity to the reader. Basically, I went to the wrong province. I was sure that the tournament was to take place in Hebei , so I booked my train tickets in advance online, and on the day I arrived in good time at Beijing West station. As soon as I left Hebei high speed rail station, I found myself a taxi to drive me to the venue. However, the driver rather unexpectedly did not recognise the address I so clearly told him. And so I called one of the organisers to navigate this clueless driver. I waited less than a minute before the driver hung up the phone, turned to me and said very matter of factly, ‘You’re in the wrong province.’

    Later that day, I finally arrived at the hotel in Beijing’s Yanjiao district (outside the sixth ring road). Fortunately, it was only the event registration day, whilst the high speed from Hebei back to Beijing took less than an hour and a half. Aside from transport, my performance in this tournament wasn’t bad. Although I did not win the event, partly due to my lack of a Chinese chess rating, I had the chance to be paired against a number of the tournament’s strongest players.

    Having tried both now, I can honestly say I prefer my beer in a mug than in a plastic bag – but to each his own.

    Recently, I arrived back from Qingdao in Shandong province. I stayed in Qingdao’s old town for four nights, having an appropriately leisurely and relaxed time there. From the perspective of someone who misses family holidays by the sea, Qingdao held a clear attraction. I spent a great deal of time lazing on the beach, reading and dozing off (not because of the book). I did in fact also partake in some more active activities. For example, my classmate studying at Qingdao Ocean University took me orienteering for the first time. Of course, I also visited the Qingdao beer museum. Enjoying the local seafood with a glass of draft Qingdao on Beer Street has certainly been one of the highlights of this year.

    When going to football training or matches, I have never encountered any problems with transport, only problems with my footballing ability and fitness. Since February, I have been playing in the Peking University Cup with the faculty of Chinese as a second language. Each faculty puts forward a team, and as you can imagine the maths and international relations faculty are once again favourites this year to take the cup. We are presently in the group stages. Compared to the other teams, because most of the students in my faculty are short term exchange students, we have had only a short period of time to practice together and get to know each other’s weaknesses (and some strengths).

    In any case, this Sunday’s match against the chemistry faculty is a must win, a real six-pointer. Hopefully the weather will be favourable.