RecordingBeijing.com

Hey, we are going to continue our vocabulary lessons with a few more interesting words and phrases.

If you are learning Chinese, you must understand what “dai” means. Have a look at the character, can you imagine a person standing straight, not saying anything and not doing anything? Yes, that’s what “dai” means, dumb, logi, and slow in reaction.

What if two dumb person come together? Is it dumb+dumb, dumbX2, or dumbXdumb?

It turns out to be “mei” in modern Chinese.

The word originally has the same meaning with “plum”. But now it’s being widely used by the younger generation, mostly on the Internet, with a meaning of “dumb beyond comprehension”, or something like that.

Ok, that’s it for today… Hey, hey, don’t you fall asleep in my class! You wanna be a “mei” person?

Sorry I must warn you that the following pictures may affect your mood or appetite. Not suitable for children and people with heart disease.

I used to see a lot these posters near the entrance of railway stations around the country to warn passengers the danger of taking explosives on board. They become rare these years due to improved security measures and the administration’s awareness of the public’s rights of staying away from explicit horrifying scenes.

But surprsingly I found this standing outside of the entrance of the railway station in Tanggu, a small city 177 miles away from Beijing.

Scenes after serious explosions inside train carriages caused by gosoline, fire crackers, and other explosives took on board by passengers. Mostly happened 10 or 20 years ago when X-Ray secruity check was not available. You can clearly see the blood and smashed body parts in these pictures.

This is sure effective to warn passengers but what will it mark on a child’s mind? The train maxes at 394.3 miles per hour and it only takes around 50 minutes to arrive Beijing. But I don’t think these posters really add up to the supposedly pleasant trip.

It seems that there’s still a lot to improve apart from speed.

Pirated movies vanished all of a sudden from video stores before the Olympic Games. Life became more suffering and dull, until 2 days ago, I found they are now all coming back. Life is full of hope again. You may say this is wrong, I should not buy pirated movies. But please hear me out first.

1. I’m just not as rich.

It costs 70 RMB to watch a film in a theater. Annual per capita disposable income in Beijing is 22,000 RMB in 2007. That is only 183.3 RMB per month. Not enough to watch 3 films if you don’t have any other expenses. I make 3,800 RMB per month (well, when I was being employed) after tax and other deductions. I pay 2,000 RMB for rent. The rest is just enough to cover other expenses like transportation, clothing, dinning, and sometimes money for the homeless. I must have some kind of special reason to go to a theater, such as my birthday.

2. I’m a big fan.

Like most of the young generation, I cannot live without a regular supply of movies. It seems impossible for me to become a filmmaker myself now, then I have more right to watch more I guess. Recreation is dull and expensive for most young people in Beijing, especially when they are stuck with overtimes. Watching movies at the comfort of home before going to bed is the most common recreation.

3. I’m no fan of the government’s censorship system.

One of the most important factors that constraint local filmmakers’ creativity is the out-dated, extremely stupid censorship. Not all major blockbusters can be officially imported, not to mention the ones that are not so mainstream. They only way of seeing the world cine is to buy pirates.

4. I’m also not a fan of the legal copies.

Surprising you may find, the legal film discs have lower definition then the pirated ones. And it is funny that the anti-piracy promo they force you to watch before the movie in the legal copies claim exactly the opposite. Instead of trailers and special features in the pirated copies, they force you to watch commercials in the legal ones. You cannot skip them! And, they are 2, if not 3 times more expensive.

5. It doesn’t hurt.

Most pirated movies are the overseas ones that cannot be imported legally anyway. Since there’s no legal way for them to make a dime in mainland China, why not make some buzz through pirates. Actually a lot of local “underground” filmmakers distribute their films through illegal channels. They themselves sell the films to pirate manufacturers. This way they get even more return than theatrical release (bear in mind the cost of marketing, it’s very often more than the production budget) and their works get more audience. Let alone the possibility for the director himself or herself to become really popular.

Imagine bagging yourself 10 high definition, trailer and special feature jammed movies for only 70 RMB (10 dollars). Would you do that if you were me?

On my way to dinner I stumbled upon a food stall selling various roast food. I was pretty hungry at the time but had absolutely no gut or appetite to try these:

Cicada Pupas (I searched a lot on the web to find its English name).

Scorpions in assorted sizes and colors.

Actually you can find more of these gut-testing roast stuff at Wangfujing. I’ll come back with more pics once I go there.

Now, imagine these in your mouth.

Drop of housing price is the hottest topic on the news these days. I guess this is one of the Olympics after effects, which has happened in a lot of Olympic host cities before.

The Beijing 2008 Autumn Realty Exhibition gave the developers a lot of hope. The government’s new measures aimed at exhilerating market needs brought a lot of visitors. But, not many are going to empty their pockets in the beginning of a decline. Especially when the developers are having headaches more than ever.

People jammed in front of 2nd hand apartment promo section.

Scenes like this used to be very normal in any housing sales center a couple of months ago.

People are applying for bulk orders, the latest popular sales technique that has never generated any sales.

Two elders are being bombarded by the sales rep.

Thanks to the financial crisis, Australian land is being sold here for only 2000 RMB (approx 300 USD) per square meter, 5 times lower than average Beijing housing price.

SunnyHills from the United States, houses are on sale for only 50 to 100 thousand US dollars. Even cheaper than a normal apartment in Beijing. Note when buying houses or apartments in China, you only get 70 years of ownership. It’s like you are just paying a 70 year rent to the government. They give you some compensation and take your house back when they see fit and torn it down, build new houses, and resell it to others. That’s why we have around 10% growth in GDP every year.

It makes the deals from the United States even more attractive since you actually get ownership of the house… and the land… forever!

A promo lady.

Two promo ladies.

Another promo lady.

Hey, I know the topic is a little tricky. I’m from Beijing, the city just hosted the latest Olympics, and I’m here to ask you the question, which one is the best… I know it sounds a little promotional and all… but trust me, I don’t think the 29th Beijing Olympics is necessarily to be the best one.

I know the performances at the opening as well as closing ceremonies were good, really lived up to our expectations. But there are way too many aspects to be considered before making your judgement.

I also know that it is fair to say that every game is the best because it’s the only time when all the world unite, and all politics, prejudice, and other human evils are being put aside, well, at least for some time.

However, there must be a winner of your own, and you must have your own reasons for that. Share your thoughts by commenting on this post.

You’ve got one more reason why you should stop being silent because we are now CommentLuv enabled, your latest blog post will show up alongside your comment, which will bring you more traffic and love.

I’ll start off with my own vote, the 2004 Athens Olympics, because that’s where the whole thing originated and the theme song was really awesome!

Now let me hear yours!

Behemoth, legendary Polish metal heads, linked up with Bhelliom from Singapore, Truth Corroded from Australia, and an unknown Japanese trash metal band on Halloween at Mao Live House in Beijing.

Check out the vid. You will not find Behemoth’s performance because we were told not to take pictures and videos due to copyright issues. I said “what the hell…”, but anyway, it’s a virtue to respect copyright. And the other 3 bands’ performance is more than enough to release the DEMONS WITHIN YOU!

(Make sure to watch the Japanese band’s deadly explosive performance near the end of the vid!)

OK guys, we are going to continue our vocabulary lessons. Today’s word is:

Yes, it does not have a corresponding Chinese word, just the pinyin (phonetic alphabet). It was created by the sponsor of the 2008 Modern Sky Festival, the brains behind Modern Sky Records, one of the leading rock labels in China.

They set up a 4th stage called “cha” which had no artists’ performances during the festival. Everybody could get on the stage to show off, act stupid, or do whatever they want to win prizes. It’s Modern Sky’s this year’s new idea to implement their concept of “Music+”-not just music/more than music.

Well, what exactly does “cha” mean? Look at this poster first:

An elementary school girl wearing 1980s style dress and haircut holding a bottle of Er Guo Tou, one of the strongest Beijing made liquor!

I guess that’s what “cha” means. Do what you want, even if it’s stupid, and go hell with what other people may think about it!

That’s it for today. Let’s “cha”!

A huge stone turtle carrying a huge stone tablet, on which records of important events of the empires are carved. Most of these history-changing events are suppression of riots or winning of wars.

Look closely, the graffitti on the tablet says “the great unity of revolution”. It must has been written on it during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, during which time lots of these ancient relics were destroyed for stupid reasons.

More of these small houses for the stone tablets.

A 700 years old tree, called Chu Jian Cypress. It got the name because it is said that the tree has the ability to identify corrupted officials.

In Ming Dynasty, one of the branches of the tree, driven by wind, lifted one of the ministers’ black guaze hat (worn ay an imperial official to indicate their position) when they were offering sacrifices to Confucius. The minister was later found to be wicked and corrupted.

I hope the tree can still perform the magic today.

This is where you pay your respect to Confucius.

Ancient music instrument used during sacrificing ceremonies.

An old picture of a sacrificing ceremony.

A very interesting cartoon telling the story of young confucius.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our Chinese learning sessions, after which I’ll talk about the influence of Confucius and his philosophy around the world.

Beijing Confucius Temple quietly sits on Guozijian Street, where used to be the finest higher education institution in Ming and Qing Dynasty.

The entrance.

Immediately after stepping into the temple, you’ll find a row of stone tablets standing on the right side of the gate. Names of those who passed the national level exams in ancient times are carved on the tablets. Anyone who passed the exam was guaranteed a job in the government, not like today, a master degree cannot guarantee anything.

The surface of the tablet is now like a long lost map of treasure. Names are hard to identify.

More these stone tablets on all 4 corners, on which are names of the well-known historical figures, good and bad alike.

A stone sculpture of Master Confucius.

Stepping on the, well, I don’t how how many years old steps.

Stone sculptures of dragon, along side the steps to the entrance of the sacrificing hall.

To be continued…