Trips - Xi'an 07

Tang Dynasty Show

Someone looked up my entry re Xi'an yesterday. So, I thought I might write a bit more about it:

 

It was 非常非常好! (really great!). Xi'an (previously called Chang'an) is an old capital city and so there are a lot of historical sites, the most famous being the terracotta warriors (quite amazing!). We were lucky enough to meet Mr Young, the 80 year old farmer who discovered this ancient tomb. He's quite a celebrity, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. It's his job to sign the books about the Terracotta Warriors. He's now a tourist attraction and I think sitting there all day signing books would be quite straining for him.

 

We also got to go to the factory making the terracotta warriors using the original method – it was really interesting & we got to take close up photos with the warriors. I couldn't take many good pictures of the "real" terracotta warriors themselves because the hall was way too dark.

 

Xi'an is also the only city with its ancient city walls still intact. During the trip, we can actually go up and walk on top of the wall. Great views of the old city. There's also a very nice (and expensive) souvenir shop on top of the wall near the gate. If you go up to the top floor, you can buy original calligraphies from a famous calligrapher. If he is there you can ask him to "write" something for you – it will make a great gift! We are also able to walk or rent bicycles (probably the best way) on top of the city wall.

 

Being a Buddhist, I would say my favourite place was the "Forest of Stone Steles Museum". This is where translations (engraved in stones) of Buddhist texts and various historical records, important writings, and poetry, are kept. It's quite awesome being amongst these stone steles, especially seeing that there were some that were engraved (if I remember correctly, in the year AD480 (something like that!). It was also fun to see how many characters (not many!) I could recognise on those stone steles! To enhance the experience, ask the guide to translate one of the poems.

 

I thought the food in Xi'an was quite good too (compared to Inner Mongolia!). The dumpling banquet was fantastic, and the Tang Dynasty Show (optional – have to pay extra) was fantastic.

 

All in all, I had a great time and made some new friends. The trip was well organised and the tour guide in Xi'an was great. He was quite knowledgeable and during the trip he spoke both English and Chinese. 

Tips - Getting the most out of your time in China (learning mandarin-wise)

Being in China is the best opportunity we have to learn or improve our Mandarin skills. We are surrounded by Chinese language and culture, however, I've found, especially at BLCU where there are so many foreigners and English speaking people (which are some of the attractions I have for this uni), it's easy to fall back and just speak mostly English. Of course, it's a lot of fun, but our mandarin won't improve a whole lot.

 

Here are some tips – not in any particular order, just what comes to mind first.

 

1. Practice, practice, practice – Try to speak as much as possible. Some people even have language pledges and will only speak mandarin during their time in China. This will be very hard for beginners, but try to speak as much as possible. Make some Chinese friends, get language partners, or get a tutor (they are not expensive – usually around RMB 30 per hour). Chat to vendors, fuwuyuans in restaurants and pubs, or even those annoying post card sellers at tourist sites – they love to chat to foreigners. Don't just hang around people who can speak your own language – the temptation is too high! You can also make Korean, Japanese, or people from any other country who doesn't speak your language. Last year I had an Italian friend who doesn't speak English, so I am forced to speak only Mandarin with her – my Chinese improved a lot. Just keep in mind though they are also learning and may not necessarily be saying things correctly themselves, and their tones, etc may also be wrong.

2. Ask Chinese people for help – I've found the Chinese really friendly (even if they sometimes initially look grumpy) and happy to help if you ask them how to call this thing or how to say something. They are sometimes not willing to correct you, so tell them to tell you if you say something incorrectly.

3. Master the basics – pinyin and tones! – Yes, I know it's very boring and difficult – our class spent a week or so on it when we first started - but it's really important to get the tones right. Even Chinese children learn pinyin at school. Once you master pinyin and tones, you'll be able to pronounce words (even the ones you don't know) correctly and people will know what you're talking about! Furthermore, you can SMS your Chinese friends in pinyin and they are likely to understand.

4. Listen a lot – My listening teacher told me that it's important to listen to Chinese as much as possible, and not to worry if you don't understand. She gave an example of young infants – they listen first then they learn to speak. I think by listening a lot you can also pick up sentence structures (if you hear it often enough, it will sink in!) and the tones, making it easier for you to pronounce words correctly. Good excuse to watch lots of movies…and, don't skip the listening classes!  : )

5. What was that word again? – Always carry a notebook with you and write down new words or phrases. I always think I can remember them when I repeat the words a couple of times, but I never do. If it's written down, at least we can refer to them later.

6. Bring your student cards when you visit tourist sites – you'll be able to get a discount – usually half price.

7. Get a phrasebook- It'll help when you need to get around or do something and you don't know how to say it in Chinese.

8. You get out what you put in – yes, unfortunately, the only way to get the most out of your time is to make the effort.

9. Keep at it and don't give up – It gets frustrating when you spend a long time studying certain characters only to forget them the next day. Keep going – it gets easier as you go along.

All this sounds quite serious, but the good thing is, you can do all this while having fun! In fact, I think "Having fun" is the most important point of all! 

 

 

 

 

Placement test, again.

The first thing, after enrollment, etc to put us in the right class
for our Chinese lessons is to have a placement test. This year's test
format is slightly different from last time. This might be because
I'm now doing the "normal" classes rather than the intensive class.

The placement test this time involves the teacher giving out a page
of Chinese words and we have to write pinyin for them - which made me
glad that I actually revised a bit yesterday before the test, and
also made me realise how much I have forgotten! We then have a chat
with the teacher who asks (in Chinese) how long we have been studying
mandarin, etc.

It's not the end of the world though, we can still change classes if
we find it too hard or easy.

Tomorrow is the Gong Fu Performance - no, I'm not performing! It's a
school excursion. I actually have been last year, but it's a good
chance to meet new people so will go again.

Cold weather in China

With all the reports of wild, unseasonal snowstorms  causing chaos in the south of China got me worried. What about Beijing? According to the BBC weather forecast, temperatures in Beijing this week ranges from around -8 degrees to 5 degrees - Brrr!  still very cold, a bit cooler than when I left in December last year. 

The buildings in Beijing are pretty much well heated, and as long as we don't have to spend too much time outdoors, it should be OK! 

我想开一个银行账户。 I want to open a bank account in Beijing

Last time I decided against opening a bank account in China as I was there for only 3 months and got by by withdrawing money using my Aussie atm card. However, I found that I had to pay AUD $5 per transaction plus various exchange fees. This wouldn't be too bad for a few transactions, but if we have do withdraw several times, the costs would certainly add up. Since this time I will be there for five months, I thought it would be convenient and cheaper to open a bank account there.

By the way, there is a bank inside BLCU, and a few ATM machines on campus. RMB 2000-2500 can be withdrawn each time depending on the machine. RMB 10000 can be withdrawn per day.

I had a few friends who had a Chinese bank account while in China. Apparently it's quite straight forward to open, requiring only the passport. There are several advantages to opening a bank account:

1. Reducing bank fees back home. Obviously this depends on the bank. I've heard that some banks don't charge transaction fees if the atm card is used overseas, so it might be a good idea to shop around before coming if this is you prefer to use your home country's atm card.

2. You can carry the Chinese's bank atm card around with you instead of your home country's atm card. This may not seem like a big deal, but if your wallet was stolen, it would be a big hassle to cancel all your cards back home, not to mention about worrying about having no money for the next couple of days.

3. I didn't need to do this myself since I lived on campus, but I was told you can pay for your utilities, phone and mobile phone and various bills using the atm. This way you don't have to run around going to each payment centre and queuing up, which apparently can take a while.

The only problem is how to open an account if your mandarin is still not so good. Luckily I found the lesson on Chinese Pod.

Some useful vocab:

账户               zhang4hu4               account
申请表         shen1qing3biao3 application form
活期存款 huo2qi1cun2kuan3 current deposit 
自动取款机 zi4dong4qu3kuan3ji1 atm

I shall try it out when I get to Beijing, and will report back, so watch this space!

By the way, if you readers out there have had some experience opening an account or dealing with the bank, please tell us your experience / tips in the Comments section below. Thank you! : )

Chinese Pod

Image by Free-Stockphotos.com

So I've decided to do some self-studying before I go back to Beijing in February. It's not easy! It's not that I don't have time, but I'm just....lazy! I'm forcing myself to look through my text books that I brought with me (not much luck here), but then I revisited this fantastic website, Chinese Pod. It's giving me a daily dose of pretty useful mandarin. The dialogue topics are fantastic and very useful eg. going to the hairdresser, ordering food, lost mobile phone, etc. The hosts are pretty cool to and give really good explanations. Topics are divided up into newbies, elementary, intermediate and advanced.  The podcasts are free but you have to pay for transcripts and notes. 

What are you waiting for, check it out! Even if you're going to China anyway, it's worth knowing a bit before you come. 

From zero degrees to 30 to 18

Hmmm...I can't believe it's already been three weeks since I left Beijing...and I have been in three different countries since then. I've found myself in Genting, Malaysia...via Chiangmai and Singapore....and in the meantime, have been eating, eating, and eating (amongst catching up with family and some friends)...munching my way through Nasi Lamaks and Laksas and Chicken rice.  

Beijing was so cold when I left (it's even colder now), Singapore was warm and humid, around 30 degrees, and Malaysia, I guess would be around the same, except for the monsoon rain in the afternoon which kept us cool. Genting is on top of a mountain about an hour or so from KL, so I do appreciate the cooler temperature. Genting, I guess, could be described as playground for Malaysians and people of neighbouring countries - may be even a mini Las Vegas - not that I've ever been there. It's a huge complex of hotels and casinos, as well as amusement parks, shops, etc, etc, and boasts to have the world's biggest hotel with over 6000 something rooms. It's kind of strange though to have this "thing" on top of such a beautiful mountain. Imagine mountaintops crowned by clouds and mist and this huge rainbow coloured building on top! Yes, the "First World Hotel" - the world's biggest hotel looks like a rainbow!...I guess the people do like it though - no vacancies around this period unless you book quite sometime ahead....and I must say the amusement park was a lot of fun! 

It's an interesting experience though. Genting is one big money making machine - from its casinos and amusement parks, through its rental spaces and food outlets, conference centres, etc etc, and brings busloads of tourists from Singapore daily. It was all started by one man, Mr Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, and when he first proposed the idea, people thought he was crazy and so he couldn't find any business partners. It took him 2 years to build the road up the mountain and another 4 to build the first hotel...and what a great success it is now. It's a fantastic story of one man who was virtually penniless and faced many obstacles, but nevertheless, followed his dreams and never gave up. On the way back down to KL we drove past the site with was meant to be the founder's mausoleum - a new tourist attraction- so the man is still making money - even in his death! 

I've attached the photo of the "First World Hotel" - the hotel with the most number of rooms in the world.

This will be my last entry in this "Beijing blog" - I will now go back to my other "Alice-out-of-town" blog at http://alice-out-of-town.blogspot.com  and will return to the "Beijing blog" when I go back to Beijing in February.