Archive for March 30th, 2008
Chinese Character – 男 Man;Male
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
China Travel – Tuan Cheng Fortress
Sunday, March 30th, 2008 |
About two kilometers southeast to the Xiangshan Park at the foot of the West Hill in Beijing, the Tuan Chen Fortress was first built in the 14th year (1749) of Emperor Qianlong’s reign. Being the only one of its kind, the Tuan Chen Fortress is a castle-like military training compound for emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to train and inspect their troops.
The layout of the Tuan Cheng Fortress has a style of its own, with a great spectacle. From north to south are, in turn, Tuan Cheng, the drill hall, the drill ground, the Shisheng Temple Stele Pavilion, and the Pine Hall. The drill hall is a circular castle-like building, enclosed by a city moat. Two white marble bridges are over the moat, facing the city gate. The south and north side of the castle has respectively a gate with a tablet hung on it — the north tablet reads Zhi Yu Jin Tang (will strong as the impregnable fortress), and the south one reads Wei Xuan Bi Lei (power running over rampart). Inside the castle, a circular yard measuring 1,800 square meters is in the center, with two paths for horse running up the east and west city walls to the top of the fortress. On the south and north gates are two towers of the same specifications. The south city gate tower has turned into a temporary exhibition hall, displaying historical materials of the Tuan Cheng Fortress, copies of imperial couches, battle-axes, gongs, umbrellas, fans and weapons of the Qianlong reign according to their original shape, which gives visitors a brief introduction of relevant historical facts and the development of the Tuan Chen Fortress.
A drill ground named the Peach Garden is situated to the south of the drill hall. It is said that in the twelfth year (1747) of Qianlong’s reign, Sichuan ran into chaos caused by war, with local people setting up watchtowers in every strategic pass to resist the garrison of the Qing troops. To calm down the turmoil and preparing soldiers for battle against heavily armed defenders fortified in watchtowers, Emperor Qianlong duplicated several watchtowers in the Tuan Cheng Fortress and trained a special troop named Smart Scaling Ladder Troop. Later, the Tuan Cheng Fortress became the drill place of Scaling Ladder Troop and was inspected by Emperor Qianlong from time to time. The Stele Pavilion of Shisheng Temple was built to the southwest of the drill hall, with a tablet erected in the center. Inscribed by Emperor Qianlong himself and written in languages of the Han, Manchu, Mongolian and Zang, the inscriptions on the tablet recorded the cracking down of Sichuan turmoil and the development of Shisheng Temple.
Featuring a special architectural style, the Tuan Cheng Fortress is Beijing’s only military training center combining city, temple, tower and drill ground into a whole set. In ancient times, emperors of past dynasties rewarded soldiers here. Nowadays, Tuan Chen has held three large martial art events, and received many martial art fans from all over the country.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
Cri – Lesson 91
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
M: Dàjiā hǎo. Huānyíng nǐmen dào Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML.S: Wǒ shì Stuart. Ok, everybody say with ML, ‘today we learn Lesson 91?
M: Hěn hǎo.今天我们学第九十一课 jīn tiān wǒmen xué dì jiǔ shí yī kè.
S: ML, 今天我们学什么 jīntiān wǒmen xué shénme?
M. Well, we still have to get to the Wàiwén Shūdiàn. So we’ll keep learning how.
S: We have a map 我们有张地图 wǒmen yǒu zhāng dì ú.
M. Head north. 往北走 wǎng běi zǒu.
S. At Chang’an Street, turn right. 在长安街往右拐 zài Cháng’ān jiē wǎngyòu guǎi.
M: Head east. 往东走 wǎng dōng zǒu.
S. Walk two kilometers, about. 走两公里左右 zǒu liǎng gōnglǐ zuǒyòu.
M. At Wangfujing head north. 在王府井往北走 zài Wángfǔjǐng wǎng běi zǒu.
S. Go one kilometer, about, 走一公里左右zǒu yì gōnglǐ zuǒyòu.
M. And the Foreign Languages Bookstore is on the left, which is the west side. 外文书店就在左边,那就是在西边
Wàiwén Shūdiàn jiù zài zuǒbiān, naà jiù shì zài xībiān.
S. Altogether, about three kilometers. 一共三公里yígòng sān gōnglǐ.
M. Not too far. 不太远 bú tài yuǎn.
S. Now, let’s look at the new stuff.
M: Head east. 往东走 wǎng dōng zǒu. That’s easy. Just like ‘head north?往北走 wǎng běi zǒu.
S. 走两公里左右
M. zǒu liǎng gōnglǐ zuǒyòu. 公里GONG LI gōnglǐ. A lǐ is a Chinese unit of distance, which is half a kilometer. Gōng here means ‘metric, so what is a gōnglǐ? Duìle, a kilometer 公里. One kilometer yì gōng1lǐ, three kilometers sān gōnglǐ, sān gōnglǐ. Note that we don’t use a measure word.
S. Go one kilometer, about, 走一公里左右
M. zǒu yì gōnglǐ zuǒyòu, go one kilometer 左右, zuǒyòu, literally, left right, and it means ‘about? or ‘roughly?zuǒyòu.
S. So try to say ‘about seven kilometers? Dui4le, 七公里左右 qī gōnglǐ zuǒyòu.
M. Now say ‘about 8 o’clock? Méi cuò, 八点左右 bā diǎn zuǒyòu.
S. Hěnhǎo. Now, 外文书店就在左边
M. Wàiwén Shūdiàn jiù zāi zuǒbiān, jiù zài zuǒbiān. 就 jiù here means, ‘right, just? Go one kilometer and then the bookstore is right on the left. 书店就在左边 shūdiàn jiù zài zuǒbiān.
S. Finally, 不太远.
M. bú tài yuǎn. 远 YUAN yuǎn means ‘far?or ‘distant?yuǎn. bú tài yuǎn ?not too far, bú tài yuǎn.
M. So, today we learnt kilometer gōnglǐ
S. About, roughly zuǒyòu
M. And ‘jiù zài zuǒbiān? and then it’s on the left, jiù zài zuǒ biān.
S. And far or distant, yuan3, like in ‘not too far?bú tài yuǎn.
M. 不太远 bú tài yuǎn.
S. Not too far, so maybe we can get there next lesson. Zài jiàn.
(Source:english.cri.cn)
