A boy enjoying the ride.

“There are 9 million bikes in Beijing…”

And a lot of taxi cabs, too.

College students dancing at a public square, some were bare foot.

Girls sailing at Beihai park.

While others were talking about love.

The tallest building…

before this.

Roads seemed wider.

Bridges seemed simpler.

The old (or should I say older?) President Bush came to visit in 1988.

The 1990 Asian Games was successfully hosted.

And the Olympics was just a hope.

The following pictures were taken in Beijing during the time between 1978 to early 80s.

One of the first advertisement billboards on the street. The girl image used to be a huge impact on most people’s aesthetic conception. Taken at Shatan Street in 1979.

There was no soda, coke, mineral water, or anything like that at the time. Made popular in 1981, big bowl tea was the only kind of beverage that can be purchased on the street. Taken in front of the Forbidden City in 1981.

Sunglasses like this were really popular. The brand label must be intact, otherwise it wouldn’t be cool. The nation’s brand awareness was awakened. Taken in Beihai Park in 1980.

Young people dancing after the dancing ban was removed. Note the people watching and taking pictures. Taken at the Summer Palace in 1979.

The most fashionable people in 1980s. Army cap and coat, long scarf, and huge sunglasses were key fashion elements. Taken at Beihai Park in 1980.

In 1980s, domestic travellers were more interested in foreigners with brown hair and blue eyes. Taken at the Forbidden City in 1980.

Newly wedded couples were allowed to buy 1 piece of furniture with a coupon. Though most had to wait in the queue for a whole night, they were sure happier than us ’cause we are now always overwhelmed by the number of choices. Taken in 1980.

People were allowed to sit in the Hongqi (meaning “red flag”) car to take pictures. It costed 20 cents. Taken at the Forbidden City in 1980.

First art exhibition on the street (the famous “Star Exhibition“). Artists and organizers of the exhibition are now key figures in China’s art scene. Some of their works are being sold for tens of millions. Taken outside of China Fine Art Hall in 1979.

Have you found a part of yourself in the pictures?

Stay tuned for pictures from 1988 to the 90s.

You must be thinking, why are you teaching us how to say “buy soysouce”? What does that have to do with the fun of the new Chinese vocabulary? Well, you will re-consider this question after reading the post.

“Da” as a verb originally means “beat and hit”. But we normally use it with the meaning “buy or get”, especially when followed by liquid such as soysouce and water. “Jiang you” means soysouce. Remember you could say “da soysouce” if you are buying soysouce. But you cannot say “da water” when buying bottled water. You should say “buy water” as you usually do. “Da water” would mean “getting water from a water tab”. Anyway, it means “buy soysouce” when we say “da jiang you”.

To make a long story short, a very famous Hong Kong singer and movie actor Edison Chen got really unlucky when his photos and videos of his private relationship with several female singers and actresses were leaked to the Internet. A bunch of these singers and actresses went down with him and have not showed up for a long time. It was such a huge event that everyone was talking about, and every male was searching extensively on the web to find the pictures and video clips. The police department once apprehended several individuals for distributing them.

So one day, in Guangzhou city in south China, a TV crew was interviewing citizens about the event. When asking this guy in the picture below, he said, “what the hell does it have to do with me? I’m just here to da jiang you!”

This guy soon became hot across the nation. The online communities are widely using the phrase “da jiang you” to express their willful ignorance towards some meaningless event, theory, or whatever else in that nature. It’s also an indication of people’s helplessness to the overload of useless information.

Some say the guy was actually being interviewed about the 29th Olympics, which would make it more fun to some people. But the original video clip could not be found anywhere soon after the event, and we could not know what really happened. But anyways, who was supposed to say that on TV?

OK, that’s it for today. You can have a giggle whenever buying soysouce from now.

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?

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?

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!

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”!

OK, guys, today we are going to learn another extremely popular new word, “ning ba”.

In traditional Chinese, these two words are never used together. No one knows when and where the new combination originated, but all of a sudden, everybody is using it.

“Ning” is a verb meaning tweak, twist, and wrench. “Ba” is a tonic word without specific meaning. “Ning ba” means your feeling, your relationship, your situation, and your life in general is like being twisted, which makes you feel awkward, weird, and uncomfortable.

The combination is an ajective. You could say “I feel so ning ba, working for that guy is ning ba, going out with her is ning ba, my life is so damn ning ba!” A lot of re-nowned writers such as Wang Shuo, are using the word in their books to describe the awkwardness of life.

Just imagine your body is a piece of cloth being twisted by both hands on both sides on opposite directions, like in the picture below.

You get the feeling.

OK, tomorrow we are going to have a little break checking out the Confucius Temple in Beijing. Stay tuned!

Hi, today we are going to learn another fun and powerful word-”lei”.

“Lei” means thunder. It used to be a simple noun, but now it’s being mostly used as an ajective meaning stupid, insane, and ugly in a surprising and powerful way like a thunder strike.

A person can be described as “lei” for his or her dress, make up, facial expresson, gesture, etc…

Here’s an example of a “lei” person:

It can also be used as a passive verb meaning being struck by someone’s “lei” dress, gesture, expression, etc.

Lots of us are being “leied” recently by the design of the characters in Damon Albarn’s musical, Journey to the West.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned for more!

Morning my students, today we are going to learn a new word, “Da Pa”.

“Da” means big. “Pa” means proning on the ground. “Pa” has nothing to do with party apart from that the pronunciation is similar to the first syllable of “party”.

If you are going to a party in Beijing, don’t say “I’m going to a party”, which is dull and outdated. Instead, you should say “I’m going to a da pa, and I’m going to meet a lot of ‘sorry’ ladies.” (Remember yesterday’s lesson?)