Evening with Yang and Friends

I got in late last night because I had dinner with Mr. Yang and other friends.  Before dinner I helped some students with their English studies, played the “Fight the Landlord” card game, and then at dinner drank some white wine (104 proof liquor) made by the Moutai Corporation. It was a fine time.

Fight the Landlord is a card game played by three people. If you think you can get rid of your cards first, you can try to be the landlord, in which case  the other two players team up together to try to stop you.  The rules of this game are kind of complex, and are beyond the scope of this post.  After you learn the rules, the game gets very complex.  There are many possibilities in the way the cards fall, and strategies are not straightforward.  The Chinese adults that I was playing with have played this game for many years, so I was lucky that I didn’t lose every hand.

My best Chinese friend, Steven, had a Xinhua News clipping about the attack on the LA Airport and there was a troublesome grammar error. I had just run into this problem in my English class when the textbook referenced “The family are living in …” I had told the class that it was common usage to say that “The family is …” I was challenged during and after class when students said that their Chinese English teacher had confirmed that it should be “are” because it  was a collection, like “police are”.

I didn’t back down, even though the textbook said the student was right.  I thought maybe it was a text written by a Chinese scholar, but his name was “Jones”, who happens to be a world famous linguist. So I told the students they should try to find out what the test required in way of answers to this kind of question, but for my class they should say “The family is. . .”

I think that there is some kind of conspiracy to change the English Language to conform with Chinese Characteristics.  This is what the Xinhua news clipping said:

terminalWere

 

The students were more excited than usual at this controversy . . .

IMAG2584

 

It’s understandable that I would drink a lot of the “white wine” after this grueling session with the students.  The dinner was heavily peppered, as is the Guizhou style.  I especially liked the little insects that were roasted in pepper . . .

IMAG2588

 

You can probably understand why I slept late this morning.

The Fantastic Map

There is a significant number of Chinese that don’t like the idea that the USA has simply been printing money and borrowing to pay for the massive imports from China.  They are offended by the fact that we owe them so much money and their government loans us more.

See: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fantastic-map-shows-staggering-amount-200024702.html

Certainly we could stop importing and many Chinese would be out of work. They don’t want that.  It’s kind of like Greece and Germany.  As long as Greece was buying from Germany, and Germans had plenty of work, German banks were willing to loan them money.  Then they got all indignant when Greece said they couldn’t pay the debt.

When Chinese complain to me that we owe them too much money, I always have the same answer . . . “We can pay you tomorrow. Do you want cash or check?”

 

student performance at Guiyang American-Canadian International School 贵阳美加国际学校, English corner at Hualin Middle School 贵阳华麟中学

Guiyang American-Canadian International School 贵阳美加国际学校 (“Meijia”) performance, Oct 24, 2013. See more photos of Meijia at: www.flickr.com/photos/101438178@N05/?saved=1

Foreign English teachers in photos include Anna Pashkevych (from Ukraine, teaching at Meijia), Daniel Montes (from Mexico, a teacher at the Siweite/Sweet and Fulian kindergartens in Jinyang), and Katherine Cecil (from London, formerly teaching at Hualin Middle School 华麟中学).

Guiyang American-Canadian International School 贵阳美加国际学校, with foreign teacher Anna Pashkevych, Sep 2013

visit in June 2013 to Guiyang American-Canadian International School by students from a New England association of secondary schools , uploaded at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10608296134/in/photostream/

Startedu 起步教育 teachers, from left: Daniel Montes, damori88@hotmail.com, todosestanocupados@hotmail.com; Anna Pashkevych, anna_2017@ukr.net; Katherine Cecil, katherine.cecil@kcl.ac.uk; Ray Mahoney,马汉年, rmahoney58@yahoo.com; Benny Fan Xingqi 范兴旗,  Startedu 起步教育– Guiyang” , fanxq@startedu.cn; at Guiyang,Hualin Middle School,贵阳华麟中学. Photo taken after a Friday English corner at Hualin Middle School, Oct 2013.

For those interested in working in Guiyang for one of the Startedu (Qibu Jiaoyu 起步教育) schools—currently two middle schools and two kindergartens—please contact Benny Fan Xingqi 范兴旗 at: fanxq@startedu.cn; tel: 133 3961 3120. Inquiries in English can also be directed to Joe Zhao in the Shanghai headquarters: Joe Zhao Pengzhou 赵鹏洲 , pengzhou@startedu.cn ; tel: 138 1727 0315

The Guizhou Library has a very nice collection of English books on the 4th floor Foreign Language 外文 section. Open every day.  This Saturday English corner there has been organized by 85 year old “Camel” for many years (his first English corner was at the Qianling Park).   Library cards that allow borrowing of books for one month are available with a 200 yuan deposit.

children’s collection at Guizhou Library, 1st fl, Beijing Rd, with Jack Porter (Guizhou Normal U. English teacher) , Oct 2013, posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10137882495/in/photostream/

Occasional story reading at the children’s section of the Guizhou Library (Beijing Road, next to the Guizhou Museum) by volunteer teachers on Saturday afternoons.

 

going native

Anna in Miao minority dress, Huangguoshu Waterfalls, Anshun, Guizhou, Oct 2013,

Anna teaches at the Guiyang American-Canadian International School, see: www.flickr.com/photos/101438178@N05/with/10051855993/

at a store in Guiyang with things to burn to the dead – money, paper clothes, paper gold ingots, paper cigarettes, dominoes, mahjong table, etc 冥币等等,  uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10063978115/

American $1 dollar bills with the Chinese god of the underworld in the place of Washington’s face, and the denomination changed to US$1,000,000, was the surprise.

The store was close to a hospital.  There was no Buddhist or Daoist temple in the area.

old photos of downtown Guiyang, on Zhonghua Rd near Dashizi and Penshuichi 老贵阳的照片,中华路在大十字、喷水池附近

old Guiyang photos – Dashizi (Zhonghua Rd & Zhongshan Rd) in the 1940s, from 贵阳老照片, 2003, ISBN 7-221-06271-4/K-725, posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998463924/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – celebration of founding of PRC, 1949, seems to be on Zhonghua Rd near Dashizi, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998463964/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – Dashizi (Zhonghua Rd & Zhongshan Rd) in the mid-late 1950s, celebration of collectivization, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998463954/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – Dashizi (Zhonghua Rd & Zhongshan Rd) with Zhonghua Middle Rd in upper right,undated, from 贵阳老照片. 2003, ISBN 7-221-06276-5/K-727, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998463934/in/photostream/

Dashizi 大十字 today

1930s Guiyang street scene 30年代贵阳, 30年代贵阳繁华地段。from http://shanshuiqiancheng.soufun.com/bbs/3314011348~-1/53710480_53710480.htm, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9480807336/in/set-72157634952466595/

old Guiyang photos – from Dashizi looking S on Zhonghua Middle Rd 1996 & 2008, photos from 图说贵阳, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998178615/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – from Dashizi looking N on Zhonghua Middle Rd toward Penshuchi 2002 & 200_, photos from 图说贵阳, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998178225/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – looking N on Zhonghua South Rd toward Dashizi 1996, photos from 图说贵阳, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998178795/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – looking N on Zhonghua South Rd toward Dashizi 2008, photos from 图说贵阳, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998178805/in/photostream/

Penshuichi in the 1960s – 60年代的喷水池

former Water Fountain (now paved over) 喷水池, Guiyang, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9482921909/in/set-72157634952466595/ 【黔城往事】“喷水池”最后一瞥 作者:黔山毛豆  日期:2010-02-25, 现在就是历史。贵阳市最繁华的“喷水池”原名“铜像台”,因铸造有周西成一尊铜像而得名。1933年开始筹建,历时两年半,于1935年夏建成。1952年拆除铜像,改建为街心花园,中有喷泉,称为喷水池。此后,喷水池经过数度改造,终成为照片中的模样。2010年2月18日凌晨,喷水池拆除工程动工,将拆除现有环岛和雕塑,改为十字交叉口;在交叉口设置四个交通导流岛,导流岛内设喷泉小品和绿化,兼顾城市景观和延续“喷水池”历史传统。拆除以后,那个被贵阳人称为“巨大背篼”的城市雕塑将如何处置?择地放置?当废金属卖掉?或是融掉?(from http://www.qtwm.com/default.asp?tag=%e9%bb%94%e5%9f%8e%e5%be%80%e4%ba%8b&page=3 )

old Guiyang photos – Penshuichi looking NE 1996 & 2008, photos from 图说贵阳, 2010, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998463524/in/photostream/

old Guiyang photos – from Penshuichi looking N on Zhonghua North Rd 1997 & 2008, photos from 图说贵阳, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9998178035/in/photostream/

Penshuichi 喷水池 today

old map of Guiyang (Guizhou).18th century,French 贵阳历史地图, posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9473752520/in/set-72157634952466595/

old Guiyang map 贵阳老地图, from 图说贵阳, ISBN 978-7-5614-4916-5, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10000341595/

downtown Guiyang map today

Guiyang has grown exponentially since the 1990s. The city’s heart is around the 大十字 (literally “Big Cross”) which is a cross, resembling the Chinese character for ten, and 喷水池 (literally “Fountain Pool”) which is a traffic intersection which had a large fountain at its center, until the fountain was paved over in early 2010 to help improve the flow of traffic.

The city is situated on the Nanming River, a headstream of the Wu River, which eventually joins the Yangtze River at Fuling, Chongqing. Guiyang is a natural transportation center, with comparatively easy access northward to Sichuan, eastward to Guangxi and Guangdong, westward to Yunnan, and northeast to Hunan province.

History of Guiyang

The city was first constructed as early as 1283 AD during the Yuan Dynasty. It was originally called Shunyuan (順元), meaning obeying the Yuan (the Mongol rulers).

Originally the area was populated by non-Chinese. The Sui Dynasty (AD 581–618) had a commandery there, and the Tang dynasty (618–907) a prefecture. They were, however, no more than military outposts, and it was not until the Yuan (Mongol) invasion of southwest China in 1279 that the area was made the seat of an army and a “pacification office.” Chinese settlement in the area also began at that time, and, under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, the town became the seat of a superior prefecture named Guiyang.

Locally Guiyang was an important administrative and commercial center with two distinct merchant communities, consisting of the Sichuanese, who lived in the “new” northern part of the city, and those from Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi province, who lived in the “old” southern part. Nevertheless, until the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Guiyang was no more than the capital of one of China’s least-developed provinces. As elsewhere in the southwest, considerable economic progress was made under the special circumstances of wartime. Road transport infrastructure with Kunming in Yunnan province and with Chongqing in Sichuan (China’s wartime provisional capital) and into Hunan were established. Work was begun on a railway from Liuzhou in Guangxi, and after 1949 this development was accelerated. Guiyang has subsequently become a major provincial city and industrial base. In 1959 the rail network in Guangxi was completed, allowing seamless connection from Guizhou to Chongqing to the north, to Kunming to the west, and Changsha to the east.

(from Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiyang )

books with photos of old Guiyang – Guizhou Provincial Library, Beijing Rd near Guizhou Museum, 5th fl. Local Collections Reading Room. Open every day.

Guiyang dialect tapes 贵阳话磁带

Guiyang dialect tapes 贵阳话音档, includes above transcription and recording of “The North Wind and the Sun” 北风跟与太阳 in Guiyang dialect. To order:  ISBN 7-5320-5449-7/G-5691

see uploaded scans of this book at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/sets/72157644983638411/with/14151126748/

 

from  ISBN 978-7-5106-1247-3  新编普通话教程, 2012  :

 

 

The Chronicles of a Laowai, A Stranger’s Tales of China – All the People, So Many People [ blog of a foreign student of Chinese in Guiyang, Mar 2013 ]

The Chronicles of a Laowai, A Stranger’s Tales of China – All the People, So Many People [ blog of a foreign student of Chinese in Guiyang ]

Sunday, 31 March 2013
All the people so many people…Parklife!
Guiyang, Gateway to the dramatic countryside of Guizhou and the ecological delights of Yunnan and thriving city and provincial capital , romantically described in Lonely Planet as ‘A city that would never win any prices in a beauty contest.’…This is my new home

Sat. 8.55 am! I have a big weekend planned, its my first real chance to experience the state capital. Problem is the only free bus leaves in 5 minutes and I am still in my pants.

After a frantic dash I made it to the college bus, only to get stuck in traffic for 3 hours! the urban spread of
Guiyang begins 5 miles or so outside the city, the suburbs are a little like a box of biscuit misshapes, you munch through a load of shattered rich tea, and splintered custard cream and its sweet and ….just ok…then you pull out a pink wafer..whole! Demolition and construction is everywhere, this a rapidly growing business and travel hub. New international hotels, conference centres and warehouses the pink wafers and Oreos of the biscuit tin nestle underneath the flyover of the yet to be completed superhighway will soon connect Guiyang to Yunnan and Guangdong next door to the Radisson the tired street side restaurant or the dilapidated corner store spills into road like a crumbling bourbon creams..
(I think it may be time to put a lid on this cookie barrel analogy.)

I am here to meet a Local and get a feel for the town, I have been here before, twice, for my Government medical. I had to take a resit because of white blood cells in my urine, for a couple of days I thought I was going to get deported because I needed a new kidney. Luckily the only innards required were the ones on sale at the offal pick ‘n’ mix shop where gizzards, livers, feet and chickens necks are flash fried and smothered in hot sauce. I have also discovered boiled tripe wraps which are pretty killer too.

Guizhou university [ Guizhou Normal University ??] is situated in the northern part of the city and surrounded by bars and studenty stuff. The student teachers line the streets out side the campus entrance like intellectual rent boys advertising there skills all of which are for sale right price, there are loads of university’s in Guiyang I was lucky to get to the right one. Yang Ying is a teacher who resides on campus at Guizhou ‘Normal’ University and my host for the day.

I arrived flustered. Fortunately my new friend has keen eyesight and she spotted a freckly 6 ft ghost striding down the pavement with ease. After a brief handshake I was ushered to a fancy restaurant in a hotel complex called the ‘He House’. for a exquisite and refined lunch. She was polite, and very easy to talk too we both shared a love of travel especially India, she seemed to envy the freedom I have in my life and she felt stifled by Chinese bureaucracy and wanted to see the world. So the conversation flowed like the tea she suggested we mingle with the rest of the population of Guiyang and visit Qianling park and HongFu temple.

Saturday in Guiyang is park day. there is a scramble at the ticket office booth and the paths are jammed with buggies and minors in charge of mini electric cars. teen flushed with first love walk by fumbling nervously for each others hands, and older couples help each other down steep stairs. It seems its a park for everyone.

Just round the corner, left of the impoverished monk street performer who plays the harmonica with his nose. past the couples dancing in the bandstand and behind the middle aged man with portable amplifier and mic wailing a tuneless ballad. (I Imagine his wife had kicked him out the house for being under her feet all day! ‘..Shut up…you old git either fix that shelf or go and torment the people in the park with your talentless warbling!’ she must have said) are the stairs to the top of the 1300m mountain and the HongFu temple. Yang Ying bounded up the stairs. she was enjoying her day and tended to work a lot over the weekends so to have something different to do was fun.

Entrance to Hong Fu Temple
The smell of incense and blossom welcomed us to the 400 year old temple complex and the atmosphere was serene despite the crowds. In a small temple to the right of the main structure is probably the best temple i have ever been too, its a maze like room crammed filled with quirky Buddha all about the same size on three shelves which stretch all the way round the temple walls. Now these jocular, portly men are fortune telling Buddhas, and I was invited to play ‘You gotta pick as Buddha or two!’ The rules are easy. Pick a Buddha you like then count a round the room moving to your Buddha right until you have counted as many Buddhas as you have been on the planet, then remember the number of final Buddha and collect you fortune from the kiosk. my final Buddha was stubled, poorly attired with a small forehead and an uncomfortable expressions reminiscent of acute constipation. I doubted very much he had anything nice to say about my future. Ying’s Statue on the other hand was much more welcoming and happy so see decided to get her fortune told……..It could not have been worse!……Stay close to home and your Husband will arrive after he has travelled from afar….ooops!!….not the fortune you want to her when all you dream about is far off adventure in foreign lands.

Where there are people, food and trees in asia there are Macaques, loveable,cuddly, funny,dirty, rabies carrying monkeys, the most adaptable species on the planet after humans. I have a love/hate relationship with Macaques after one stole my samosa and pee-ed on me from height in Varanasi train station. In Qianling they pry on the timid and the weak, playfully fighting each other to get biscuits nuts, and sweet sugary drinks, they drink so much Sprite and OJ, they must be on a mental sugar rush all there lives until they die from diabetes! I had a terrific day in the park I saw so many wonderful things I really enjoyed watching the men loving write on the pavement with water and big sponge quills to demonstrate the art involved in beautiful calligraphy. The company was magical, Ying and I became good friends on that walk in park. and the day had only just begun……next came a Siwawa masterclass!

from www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9981092315/ , uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/9981293814/