Thursday, February 23, 2006
DELICIOUS, NUTRITIOUS BABY; CHINGLISH & SOME POLITICS
I taught class Wednesday. In the book we were talking about clothing and popular fashions. We discussed pop-Chinese fashion which as my class described it is basically an imitation of "hip-hop style." As such, I couldn't resist teaching them some American slang. I taught them "bling-bling." There was some confusion, but hopefully they understood enough to introduce the term into their everyday use.
The next section of the book was "Have You Ever Ridden a Camel" - Unusual Things To Do. We talked about bungee jumping, then I asked them what unusual activities they could do in China. I came up with the first one, at the night market in Beijing you can eat a fried scorpion. I then opened it up to the class. My friend started it off with "In China, you can eat babies." That threw me for a loop and I called a break. After I gathered myself, I asked the class if they knew of people eating babies. A few said they had heard of abortion clinics in Guangzhou selling aborted babies to restaurants because they were good for your skin and kidneys. I couldn't sleep that night.
The next morning in class, I asked my Chinese teacher who speaks English well. I found out that Chinese people do not in fact eat babies. They do however eat placenta in traditional Chinese medicine. This was a bit of a relief. My students didn't know how to say placenta, but they knew it had to do with a baby, so they said "eat baby" instead. Still unsettling, but not as bad. My teacher told me a story that when she was a little girl she was very sick, so her mom made her some placenta. She realized what it was and refused to eat it, but has had friends who have. Apparently, ren rou - people meat (which is in fact what a placenta is) tastes like pork. It is delicious lightly fried with some ginger and orange. To quote Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies, "baby, the other other white meat." Enjoy your lunch. Before I get angry emails: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE CHINESE PEOPLE EAT BABIES, BUT PLACENTA IS EATEN AS MEDICINE HERE
Some Chinese media is simply a translation of American media sources. Every now and then they will make a mistake. Sometime they copy news stories that aren't in fact news, such as The Onion, a satirical newspaper. My friend who was here a few years ago tells me that Chinese news reported, "Continuing a trend that began in the Senate last November, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) announced Monday that 45 members of the House of representatives would be laid off and replaced by cost-efficient heavy legislating machinery." I like the Onion as much as anyone else, but Chinese news is already lacking in authority, This doesn't help.
I really like how the word dian (electric) is used in Chinese. Here are the English words and their translation into Chinese. There are others, but these are the ones I currently remember.
movie - electric shadow (dian ying)
elevator - electric stairs (dian ti)
phone - electric talking (dian hua)
computer - electric brain (dian nao)
television - electric picture (dian shi)
Wierd stuff has been going on lately. I'm not sure why, it's not a full moon. Thursday, during my Chinese class, another teacher came in and said "no class tomorrow." We all left and my teacher called me to tell me there was no class for a week. None of my friends in other classes were informed. Maybe their credentials are being questioned. Normally I'd be happy for a week vacation, but with only 6 more weeks here, I'd like to get in all the Chinese I can. Then, yesterday as I went to type my blog, the internet was crowded. I sat down and started typing when the staff came around and told everyone they needed to sign off. They didn't give anyone a reason then kicked everyone out. Hmm.
And now for some politics. When I was in Thailand, I wrote:
"The King of Thailand is beloved by all Thai people, but has no real power. He's done great things for the country and most citizens would lay down their lives for him. The government is ruled by the Prime Minister, Thaksin. He controls 12% of the economy singlehandedly and has been elected 4 terms. However, people despise him. He is re-electied because he can buy votes in the north. He has continuously tried to consolidate his power (like a certain US president) and last week forced the King to sign a law that said the King could no longer sign laws (anyone see the irony?) In Bangkok there are massive student led weekly anti-Thaksin rallies. The King could tell Thaksin to leave and he would have to, since at the King's request, the entire population would drag Thaksin through the streets."
Earlier this week, Thaksin met with the King, then immediately dissolved the government calling elections 3 years early. There will be a new election in April, but since Thaksin can buy votes, he will win again.
Good news from America, two of the great thinkers of the Neo-Conservative movement have just spoken out. A few days ago, Francis Fukuyama, one of the founders of the Neocon ideology declared the movement a failure and said the Iraq war was a mistake. He then compared Bush policies to 'Leninism.' Today, WIlliam F. Buckley, a staunch supporter of going to war with Iraq said the war was a failure and that George Bush needs to reverse course. Maybe things are working themselves out.
I taught class Wednesday. In the book we were talking about clothing and popular fashions. We discussed pop-Chinese fashion which as my class described it is basically an imitation of "hip-hop style." As such, I couldn't resist teaching them some American slang. I taught them "bling-bling." There was some confusion, but hopefully they understood enough to introduce the term into their everyday use.
The next section of the book was "Have You Ever Ridden a Camel" - Unusual Things To Do. We talked about bungee jumping, then I asked them what unusual activities they could do in China. I came up with the first one, at the night market in Beijing you can eat a fried scorpion. I then opened it up to the class. My friend started it off with "In China, you can eat babies." That threw me for a loop and I called a break. After I gathered myself, I asked the class if they knew of people eating babies. A few said they had heard of abortion clinics in Guangzhou selling aborted babies to restaurants because they were good for your skin and kidneys. I couldn't sleep that night.
The next morning in class, I asked my Chinese teacher who speaks English well. I found out that Chinese people do not in fact eat babies. They do however eat placenta in traditional Chinese medicine. This was a bit of a relief. My students didn't know how to say placenta, but they knew it had to do with a baby, so they said "eat baby" instead. Still unsettling, but not as bad. My teacher told me a story that when she was a little girl she was very sick, so her mom made her some placenta. She realized what it was and refused to eat it, but has had friends who have. Apparently, ren rou - people meat (which is in fact what a placenta is) tastes like pork. It is delicious lightly fried with some ginger and orange. To quote Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies, "baby, the other other white meat." Enjoy your lunch. Before I get angry emails: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE CHINESE PEOPLE EAT BABIES, BUT PLACENTA IS EATEN AS MEDICINE HERE
Some Chinese media is simply a translation of American media sources. Every now and then they will make a mistake. Sometime they copy news stories that aren't in fact news, such as The Onion, a satirical newspaper. My friend who was here a few years ago tells me that Chinese news reported, "Continuing a trend that began in the Senate last November, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) announced Monday that 45 members of the House of representatives would be laid off and replaced by cost-efficient heavy legislating machinery." I like the Onion as much as anyone else, but Chinese news is already lacking in authority, This doesn't help.
I really like how the word dian (electric) is used in Chinese. Here are the English words and their translation into Chinese. There are others, but these are the ones I currently remember.
movie - electric shadow (dian ying)
elevator - electric stairs (dian ti)
phone - electric talking (dian hua)
computer - electric brain (dian nao)
television - electric picture (dian shi)
Wierd stuff has been going on lately. I'm not sure why, it's not a full moon. Thursday, during my Chinese class, another teacher came in and said "no class tomorrow." We all left and my teacher called me to tell me there was no class for a week. None of my friends in other classes were informed. Maybe their credentials are being questioned. Normally I'd be happy for a week vacation, but with only 6 more weeks here, I'd like to get in all the Chinese I can. Then, yesterday as I went to type my blog, the internet was crowded. I sat down and started typing when the staff came around and told everyone they needed to sign off. They didn't give anyone a reason then kicked everyone out. Hmm.
And now for some politics. When I was in Thailand, I wrote:
"The King of Thailand is beloved by all Thai people, but has no real power. He's done great things for the country and most citizens would lay down their lives for him. The government is ruled by the Prime Minister, Thaksin. He controls 12% of the economy singlehandedly and has been elected 4 terms. However, people despise him. He is re-electied because he can buy votes in the north. He has continuously tried to consolidate his power (like a certain US president) and last week forced the King to sign a law that said the King could no longer sign laws (anyone see the irony?) In Bangkok there are massive student led weekly anti-Thaksin rallies. The King could tell Thaksin to leave and he would have to, since at the King's request, the entire population would drag Thaksin through the streets."
Earlier this week, Thaksin met with the King, then immediately dissolved the government calling elections 3 years early. There will be a new election in April, but since Thaksin can buy votes, he will win again.
Good news from America, two of the great thinkers of the Neo-Conservative movement have just spoken out. A few days ago, Francis Fukuyama, one of the founders of the Neocon ideology declared the movement a failure and said the Iraq war was a mistake. He then compared Bush policies to 'Leninism.' Today, WIlliam F. Buckley, a staunch supporter of going to war with Iraq said the war was a failure and that George Bush needs to reverse course. Maybe things are working themselves out.
