Archive for March 28th, 2008
Chinese Character – 木 Tree;wood
Friday, March 28th, 2008
China Travel – Shanhaiguan Pass
Friday, March 28th, 2008 |
Known as the First Pass under Heaven, the Shanhaiguan Pass is one of the world’s grandest ancient structures as well as the starting point of the Great Wall. Situated between two sheer cliffs of the Yanshan Mountains, it has been a strategic place contested by militarists since ancient times. Standing between mountain and sea, the Pass controls both land and sea passages. With Beijing, the national capital, and Shenyang, the provincial capital of Liaoning, only 400 kilometers away, the Shanhaiguan Pass has been traditionally known as “the first important pass of the Great Wall and the only pass that can lock up the two capitals“.
Built in tenth year of the Emperor Hong Wu’s reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the city gate towers are the main sceneries in the Shanhaiguan Pass, composed of Arrow Tower, Muying Tower, Linlu Tower and Jingbian Tower. Among those towers, the most famous one is the East Gate, the tower of First Pass under Heaven. It forms a situation of Five Tigers Guarding the East Way, together with Weiyuan, Jingbian, Muying, Linlu towers. Standing on the second floor of the tower, one can have a full view of both inside and outside of the Shanhaiguan Pass. Today, the lower part of the tower has turned into a Great Wall Museum, showcasing archaeological materials, literatures, pictures and models.
The city gate towers of the Shanhaiguan Pass recorded great changes seen in the past 600 years. After the founding of New China, the Pass under careful maintenance has become a favorable tourist spot and won the honors of the Nation’s Model Tourist Spot, the Nation’s AAAA-Class Tourist Spot and the Nation’s Excellent Tourist City, owning to its typically traditional architectural style and scenery blending mountain, sea and fortress.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
Cri – Lesson 89
Friday, March 28th, 2008
M: Dàjiā hǎo. Huānyíng nǐmen dào Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML.S: Wǒ shì Stuart. ML, jīntiān wǒmen xué shénme?
M. How about continuing trying to get somewhere?
S. Hǎo zhúyi. All very useful. 都很有用 dōu hěn yǒu yòng. But only if you repeat everything out loud with us, like hěn yǒu yòng, ‘very useful? hěn yǒu yòng.
M. Where shall we go today? 今天我们去哪儿 jīn tiān wǒmen qù nǎr?
S. 外文书店 the Foreign Languages Bookstore. Wàiwén Shūdiàn.
M. 外文书店 Foreign Languages Bookstore 外文书店在哪儿Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài nǎr？
S. 外文书店在王府井Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài Wángfǔjǐng.
M. 现在我们在西单 xiànzài wǒmen zài Xīdān.
S. 我们怎么走 wǒmen zěnme zǒu?
M. I’ll look at the map 我看看地图 wǒ kàn kan dìtú.
S. Hǎo zhúyi.
S. Break over! I said 我要去外文书店.
M. Wǒ yào qù Wàiwén Shūdiàn. 外文wài WAI wai, basically means ‘outside? and here it means ‘foreign? 文 WEN wén, means ‘writing?or ‘language? like in 中文. Chinese language, especially the written language. So what does wàiwén mean? Duì le! Foreign language, wàiwén, say it, wàiwén.
S. 外is a very useful word. To help fix it in your brain, we know that国 guó means ‘country? like in Zhōngguó, China. 人 rén2 means person, Zhōngguórén, a Chinese person. So a 外国人 wàiguórén means a ‘foreign person? a ‘foreigner? wàiguórén.
M. Another word for ‘foreigner?is 老外 lǎowài, literally ‘old wai? lǎowài.
S. Back to Wǒ yào qù Wàiwén Shūdiàn.
M. 书店 SHU shū, is ‘book? shū. 店DIAN diàn, is ‘shop? So no prizes for guessing what shu1dian4 means. ‘Bookstore, bookshop? Shūdiàn.
S. Now say ‘Foreign Languages Bookstore?
M. Méi cuò. Wài wén Sū Diàn. Say it, wàiwén shūdiàn, again, wàiwén shūdiàn.
S. Now say, ‘they go to the Foreign Languages Bookstore?
M. Duì le! 他们去外文书店 tāmen qù Wàiwén Shūdiàn.
S. Wǒmen zhīdào 外文书店在王府井Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài Wángfǔjǐng.
M. Wángfǔjǐng is a very famous street about one kilometer east of the Forbidden City, Wángfǔjǐng.
S. 现在我们在西单 xiànzài wǒmen zài Xīdān.
M. Xīdān is another famous street to the west of the Forbidden City.
S. How do we get there? 我们怎么走 wǒmen zěnme zǒu?
M. I’ll look at the map 我看看地图 wǒ kàn kan dìtú.
S. And we’ll see what the map tells us next lesson. Now finish with the dialogue.
M. 今天我们去哪儿 jīn tiān wǒmen qù nǎr?
S. 外文书店. Wàiwén Shūdiàn.
M. 外文书店在哪儿Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài nǎr？
S. 外文书店在王府井Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài Wángfǔjǐng.
M. 现在我们在西单 xiànzài wǒmen zài Xīdān.
S. 我们怎么走 wǒmen zěnme zǒu?
M. 我看看地图 wǒ kàn kan dìtú
(Source:english.cri.cn)
