Archive for September 15th, 2009

Chinese Culture – Chinese Ancient Assembly Hall

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Assembly hall is a kind of public buildings in Chinese cities, consisting of council house, playhouse and banqueting hall. It has the functions of handling official business as well as living.

There are two sorts of assembly halls — halls of countrymen and halls of trade. The former provides places of meeting, communicating and dwelling for countrymen, while the latter is places for handling business. Assembly halls are often found in the capital, provincial capitals and cities with developed business and handicraft industries. During the last years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), there are more than a hundred assembly halls outside Xuanwu Gate, Beijing. The style of this architecture is mature in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties.

Halls of countrymen

The structure of Chinese assembly hall is similar to large houses. Actually, some of them are rebuilt on the bases of large houses. To maintain the relationship of countrymen, people build ancestral temples enshrining wise men of the neighborhood in the main hall or a separate room. The main hall is used for meetings and parties, while other rooms are countrymen’s temporary dwellings. Some big assembly halls setup schools for countrymen’s children. During the Qing Dynasty some assembly halls at the provincial level in Beijing were so big that they even had theatres. For instance, Jiangxi Assembly Hall, Fengtian Assembly Hall, Sichuan Assembly Hall, existing Huguang Assemly Hall, and so on.

Halls of trade

Though its style is different from that of countrymen, the main structure is similar to residences. The founder or the mythical characters are often enshrined in the hall. The stage for acting and rewarding god is built separately or behind the upper part of the front door. The auditorium is set in the main hall, the wing room or the yard, some of which have the awning. Dainty decoration, with elaborate sculpture and golden ornaments, shows the prosperity of trade.

Assembly Hall is also a manifestation of Chinese architecture. Having absorbed elements of western architecture, nowadays the assembly halls are gradually rebuilt to modern buildings like hotels, restaurants, and so on.

Source: chinaculture.org

Chinese Character – eye:眼睛

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

eye:

Chinese Pinyin: yan3 jing1

(Source: about.com)

Learn Chinese Podcast – Happy China 632

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Click to Watch Video Podcast

快乐学汉语

Learn Chinese the fun way

轻松过周末

and spend a weekend of relaxation!

我是快乐的韩佳

I am Merry Han Jia.

我是快乐的王渊源

And I am Happy Wang Yuanyuan.

王渊源 你发现没有

Wang Yuanyuan, did you

discover that

这一周时间过得特别快

this week has passed so quickly.

是啊

Yes, indeed.

又到了我们的周末加油站时间了

It’s time again for our Weekend

Filling Station.

那这周里

Did you discover

你有没有发现什么有趣的事呢

anything interesting during

the past week?

当然有了

Of course, I did.

我还要跟观众朋友们分享呢

And I want to share them with

our audience.

那你还有没有发现这个

Did you discover this?

韩佳

Han Jia,

我怎么觉得你说了这么多发现呢

why did you use the word,

discover, so many times?

因为我们今天

That’s because today

要去刚刚开业的金石发现王国

we’re going to visit the Kingdom

of Discovery at Jinshitan.

这我知道

I know this.

离这儿不远

It’s not far from here.

在路上的时候

While we are on our way there,

大家可以先看看我们的快乐周记

we may first take a look at the

Happy Weekly Diary.

本周我们从凤凰山出发

This past week, we started off

from Phoenix Mountain

在虎山长城结束了丹东的行程

and ended our Dandong trip

at the Hushan Great Wall.

之后到达庄河的冰峪沟和海洋村

Then we reached Haiyang Village

of Zhuanghe city

最后进入了大连经济技术开发区

before entering the Dalian Eco-Tech

Development Zone.

丹东地理位置特殊

Dandong is located at a special

geographical position.

风景名胜众多

Its numerous scenic spots include

规模宏大的大孤山古建筑群

a group of ancient buildings

on Dagu Mountain,

万里长城真正的东端起点 虎山长城

the Hushan Great Wall, the real

eastern end of the Great Wall,

还有中朝水陆边界最窄的地方”一步跨”

and Yibukua, the narrowest section of

the China-DPRK border river.

这些都是您到丹东不能不去的地方

All these are must-sees for

visitors to Dandong.

来到庄河我们就算正式进入大连了

Our arrival at Zhuanghe means we had

formally entered the city of Dalian.

这里山区风光迷人

Here the mountain scenery

is beautiful

水产资源丰富

and aquatic product resources

are bountiful.

您可以在有”辽南小桂林”之称的

You can have a hearty experience

of nature’s primeval beauty

冰峪沟尽情地感受大自然的原始气息

at Bingyu Valley, which is billed as

the Little Guilin in southern Liaoning.

也可以去海洋村

You can also visit Haiyang Village

看看那里的人们如何因地制宜

to see how villagers there take

advantage of their local conditions

建起了一座科技

in building a high-tech

环保的北方滩涂贝类养殖基地

and environment-friendly shellfish

breeding base along the northern beach.

大连经济技术开发区

The Dalian Eco-Tech Development Zone

不仅经济开放

not only is an economically

open area,

而且自然环境好

but its natural surroundings

are also excellent.

您在这里既可以感受到

Here you can witness

大连对外开放的活力

the vitality of Dalian’s opening efforts

又能够欣赏到美丽的风景

while enjoying the beautiful scenery.

欢迎来到金石发现王国

Welcome to the Kingdom of

Discovery at Jinshitan!

欢迎来到金石发现王国

Welcome to Discovery!

怎么是你呀

How come it’s you?

韩佳 你怎么认出来我呀

Han Jia, how did you recognize me?

搭档的声音

How can’t I tell the voice

我能听不出来嘛

of my co-host?

你这身打扮好奇怪呀

You are dressed so weirdly.

这发现王国

There are all kinds of

什么卡通形象没有啊

cartoon images here at the

Kingdom of Discovery.

我已经见怪不怪了

I am already inured to the weird.

很久以前

Long, long ago,

有个读书人喜欢游山玩水

there is a student who likes

to travel.

有一次 他在游玩的时候迷了路

One day, he gets lost when

he travels.

这是什么地方

What is this place?

读书人向主人说明了来意

The student explains to the owner

of the house why he comes here.

没问题

No problem.

今天你就睡在这里吧

You can sleep here tonight.

明天我带你出去

At daybreak tomorrow, I’ll send

you on your way.

于是 读书人就在这里住了下来

Thus the student stays over

here for the night.

不知睡了多久

He sleeps for a long time

他隐隐听到窗外有人说话

before he hears someone talking

outside the window.

这么晚了 是谁在讲话呢

It’s so late. Who is talking there?

没有人啊

Oh, nobody there.

今天主人家来了一个客人啊

There is a guest staying in this house.

看他的样子像个读书人

He looks like a student.

也不知道是哪里人

I have no idea where he is from.

听口音像是鲁国人吧

Based on his accent, I guess he

comes from the State of Lu.

瞎猜

A blind guess!

你去过鲁国吗

Have you ever been to Lu?

是它们在说话

They are indeed talking to each other.

我不是在做梦吧

I’m not dreaming.

第二天

The following day,

读书人把晚上发生的事告诉了主人

the student tells what happened

the previous night to his host.

主人笑了

The host grins.

这里的猪都是会讲话的

All the pigs here can speak.

我们早就习惯了

But we have long been

accustomed to it.

不觉得有什么奇怪了

We don’t think it’s weird.

见怪不怪

The set phrase “jian guai bu guai”

这则成语的意思是

means that

见到怪异的事物或现象

when seeing a weird thing or phenomenon,

要镇静对待 不必大惊小怪

you should be calm.

You shouldn’t feel surprised.

这个主题公园

The connecting thread of this

theme park

以”发现”为线索

is discovery.

随时都会有意想不到的事情发生

Unexpected things may happen

at any time.

其实 我们的观众也一样

In fact, our audience, too,

总是能给我们带来各种各样的惊喜

always brings us various kinds

of surprises.

我知道了

I know what you mean.

你是在提醒我

You’re trying to remind me that

已经该到时间跟北京连线了

it’s time to hook up to Beijing.

那我们现在就来看看这一周的快乐留言

Now let’s take a look at some of the

happy messages of the week.

韩佳 渊源 你们好

Hello, Han Jia! How is everyone?

大家辛苦了

You’ve all been working very hard.

你们也辛苦了

You are also working very hard.

那这一周过得可真够快的

This past week has elapsed so quickly.

你们给我们带来什么快乐留言了

What kind of happy messages

are you going to bring us?

改版已经两周了

It has been two week since the

facelift of our program.

观众的反响特别强烈

We’ve got a strong positive

response from the audience.

你们看

Look,

快乐留言的内容也越来越丰富了

the content of Happy Messages

is becoming increasingly rich.

对了 王渊源

Yeah, Wang Yuanyuan,

还有好多观众夸你呢

many audience members praised you.

多谢大家

I ought to thank our audience.

我会继续努力跟韩佳一起

I’ll continue to work hard together

with Han Jia

做出更多的精彩节目

and produce more wonderful programs!

上海的张美华朋友就来信说

Zhang Meihua, a friend from

Shanghai says in her letter:

王渊源是韩佳最好的搭档

“Wang Yuanyuan has been the

best co-host for Han Jia.

他一口流利的汉语让我非常满意

I’m very satisfied with his

fluent Chinese.”

王渊源刚加入我们这个团队不久

Wang Yuanyuan has just

joined our team

就能有这样的表现

and he has been doing so well.

真是值得表扬

He certainly deserves praise.

我们还要继续加油哦

We all have to work even harder.

说得对

That’s right.

只有继续努力

Only when we continue to work hard,

我们才能把更加精彩的节目奉献给大家

can we produced even better

programs for our audience.

我们的车队从辽宁出发

Our caravan started off from Liaoning

沿海岸线一直开到广西

and will continue its journey all

the way down to Guangxi.

那这一路上

On the way,

我们会遇到不少的热心观众

we’ll definitely meet a lot of

our enthusiastic viewers.

你看我手上的这张留言卡呢

Look, this message card I’m holding

就是沈阳的梁斌朋友寄来的

was sent by Liang Bin, a friend

in Shenyang.

他说”万里海疆快乐行”的第一站

He says: “The filming of the first leg

能在辽宁拍摄

of Happy Journey across China

was conducted in Liaoning.

让我感觉

It made me feel

与《快乐中国》的距离更近了

a lot closer to Happy China.

我特别想去拍摄现场看看大家

I really want to see you all at one

of your filming locations.”

那就别犹豫了

Then don’t hesitate.

赶快去拍摄现场吧

Go to a filming location now.

大家一定都会非常欢迎你的

All of us will welcome your visit.

我这儿还有一封秋风朋友的来信

Here’s a letter from a friend

called Qiu Feng.

她在信中说

She says in her letter:

这次看了你们的新节目

“After I watched your revamped program,

觉得比以前更活泼了

I find it a lot livelier than before.

我每天都看

I watch it every day

还把它录制下来

and tape it while I watch it.

这样以后有空的时候

This way, I can watch the shows

也可以拿出来看

again when I have fee time.

我是将它作为我的宝贵资料收藏着的

I keep them as valuable material

for reference.”

看来 观众朋友对我们

It seems our audience

《快乐中国-学汉语》的感情

does cherish deep feelings

还是非常深厚的呀

for Happy China-Learning Chinese.

法国的Penpin朋友

A French friend, named Penpin,

就发来电子邮件说

says in his email:

我非常高兴看到你们的节目

“I’m very pleased to see

变得更加精彩

your program becoming even

more wonderful.

希望你们的新版节目越来越好

I hope your revamped program

will become better and better.

祝福《快乐中国》

Good luck to Happy China!”

感谢Penpin朋友对我们的支持

Many thanks to Penpin for his support.

看来我们新的节目形式

This shows our renovated program

还是得到了

has been recognized

大部分观众朋友们的认可的

by the most part of our audience

如果您有好的意见和建议

If you have any good ideas

or suggestions,

欢迎随时联系我们

you are welcome to contact

us at any time.

我们会更加努力的

We’ll work even harder.

好了

Well,

今天的快乐留言就是这些

so much for today’s Happy Messages.

让我们回到大连的拍摄现场

Back to the filming location

in Dalian.

感谢北京的同事

Many thanks to my colleagues

in Beijing

给我们带来这么多观众的留言

for bringing us so many messages

from the audience.

那我们现在马上进入下一个环节

Now let’s move into the next

segment right away.

今天就由我来抽奖

Today, the drawing will be

done by me.

我们看看今天的幸运儿是谁呢

Let’s see who the lucky winners are.

好中奖的名单已经出来了

Okay, the list of winners is out.

好了恭喜这些朋友

Good. Congratulations to these friends!

我们将会在近期

We’ll be sending out

把所有的纪念品都寄出

all the souvenirs soon,

Yes.

同时也希望大家

Meanwhile, we also hope

能够更加积极 踊跃地

our audience will watch our program

收看我们的节目

and participate in our interactive questions

参与我们的互动答题

more actively and more enthusiastically.

说不定下一个中奖的就是您

Perhaps, you’ll be a winner next time.

好了 抽完奖

Well, after the award drawing,

我们该看看今天的成语猜猜看了

it’s time for us to take a look

at today’s Idiom Guess.

在这个主题公园里

In this theme park,

你还能看到不同时期

you can also see natural scenery

in different seasons

和不同地域的各种自然景观

and in different regions.

没错儿

Exactly.

每一个角落都有一个故事

There is a story in each corner

of this park.

这里

Here,

你可以发挥无尽的想像力

you can bring your imagination

into full play

去发现草丛中

and find out the countless secretes

树林之后隐藏着的无数秘密

hidden in the grass and in the trees.

那我们到森林里面去看看

Now let’s go into the forest,

怎么样

okay?

没准还真会有什么重大发现呢

Maybe, we’ll have some important

discovery.

嗯 快乐在前方

Yeah. More fun Ahead!

咱们出发

Let’s go.

Yeah.

8月14号到8月18号

From August 14 through August 18,

快乐车队继续前进

our happy caravan will continue

its journey.

快乐的韩佳 王渊源

Merry Han Jia and Happy

Wang Yuanyuan

仍将带您到辽宁学习汉语

will still be in Liaoning learning

Chinese with you.

这里”有”表示达到一定的数量

In this case, “you” expresses

reaching a certain amount.

A比B怎么样呢

A “bi” B followed by an adjective

就构成了一个比较句

forms a comparative structure.

中国中央电视台中文国际频道

On CCTV International’s Chinese Channel,

周一到周五 每天十分钟

Mondays through Fridays,

the 10-minute daily program

《快乐中国-学汉语》与您准时相约

Happy China-Learning Chinese

will meet you on time.

现在我们

We are now

在发现王国的疯狂小镇里

in the Loony Town of the Kingdom

of Discovery.

今天我们就要在这里

We’re going to have

疯狂地体验一回

a loony experience here.

你看

Look,

我们现在坐在冲浪船上

we’re sitting in a surfing boat.

对啊

Yes,

要去感受一下水上大冲撞

to experience the powerful impact

of water.

今天我们的周末加油站

Our today’s Weekend Filling Station

马上就要结束了

is about to end here.

希望我们的节目能给您带去快乐

We hope our program has brought

fun and joy to you.

如果你对我们有什么意见或建议的话

If you have any comments

or suggestions,

别忘了跟我们联系啊

don’t forget to contact us.

最后啊

To wrap up,

口号不能忘

don’t forget our slogan:

学说中国话

Learn Chinese

朋友遍天下

and make friends everywhere!

出发喽

Let’s start off.

(Source: cctv.com)