Articles for Learning Chinese & Culture

I am thinking of doing some more articles, but the question is what.

Here is what I have already done:
Why Learn Chinese? and Learning Chinese Tips for Children are probably the most popular. A fun one to write was Chinese Culture- Teaching my daughter. I also have articles on many Chinese Festivals and Calendar of events

I also have a large section of School Tips & Education Articles

Book Expo in LA

I was at the Book Expo today. Overwhelming!

It was wonderful to meet in person some of my suppliers. People who I have spoken over the phone for years. I also found out about some neat products that I will get soon. I wish I had more time there, but since I am in charge of picking up the daughter, my time was limited...

I did not even know my suppliers would be there till I was walking the floor. My main purpose was to see a friend I had not seen in many years who worked for a supplier, but has moved jobs.

Dim Sum & Sea Food in Rowland Heights

Hong Kong Palace - They have a custard that is nice! Long lines on weekends!

Happy Harbor Restaurant - Next to 99 Ranch Market and you order from a menu.

Rowland Harbor Seafood Inc - More traditional, no frills Dim Sum. Little less costly than Hong Kong Palace. Long lines on weekends!

New Capital (I have not been to since they changed names). Parking in this plaza can be frustrating. On the second floor.
www.yelp.com/biz/new-capital-seafood-restaurant-rowland-heights

Newport Seafood Rowland Heights is very good for sea food and has good lunch specials.
www.yelp.com/biz/tan-cang-newport-seafood-rowland-heights

Cute book about Dim Sum

				Dim Sum For Everyone! by Grace Lin
				Our Price: $6.99
				Just right for young children, Dim Sum for Everyone! celebrates a cultural custom and a universal favorite activity--eating! Great book!

By Age - Learning Chinese

I have added a new section in the left menu/navigation. By Age. Under this are three ages:

• Baby Learning Chinese Books & DVD's
• Children/Kids Learning Chinese Products
• Adult's Learning

There are some new DVD's in Baby Learning Chinese Books & DVD's that look really good...

Little Pim: Playtime, 3-Pack Bundle, Learning Chinese for Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers is a collection of all three DVD's at an amazing price!

Memorial Weekend Customer Purchases

After a 3 day weekend, shipping is a challenge and usually results in a late night.

Some popular items this past Memorial Weekend:

• Harry Potter Complete Book Set - Traditional Chinese
• Harry Potter Set - Simplified Chinese
• Chinese Made Easy Textbooks/Curriculumn (both Simplified and Traditional)
• Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese Textbooks/Curriculum)
• Practical Chinese - Effective way to learn Chinese
• Lots of Flash Cards
• Early Start Mandarin Chinese with Bao Bei the Panda #1, 2, 3, and 4
• I Won't Bite (a wonderful book)
  

China's Mood with Foreigners

The Positive View
Outpouring of Help Shifts Mood in China - washingtonpost.com

I was very worried about the mood in China after coverage of Tibet in the western media and the Olympic Torch demonstrations.

• China's Image Challenge
• China's Youth
• Troubling Olympic Update

Fortunately aid from outside China has helped calmed down the nationalism per the Washington Post article that I was finding worrisome. There is still a bit of it, for example comparing WalMart's contribution to the Sichuan earthquake to Katrina (next state over from Arkansa).

The Negative View:
The Wall Street Journal has the opposite conclusion Donations Pour In, but Resentment Arises.

Conclusion:
There is probably both. I would not be surprised if the Chinese government also cooled down protests against donations (they do read the papers). This is a benefit when you have a huge amount of people manning the great firewall of China, and checking out blogs published internally.

Foreign Language use by Country Leaders

Changing perceptions in using the English language - Taiwan's latest President is a Harvard Graduate and speaks excellent English. It seems there is a bit of a controversy of him speaking directly to foreigners, instead of using English. My guess is there is just a bit of politics in this (Election was bitter). The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd speaks Chinese. Many leaders will use translators even though they know English, as a way to gain additional time during negotiations. Many Russian leaders were known to do this.

And a surprising change in how China's leadership communicates with Western Reporters - seismic shift in China’s relations with West where many foreign reporters accompanied the Chinese Prime Minister to the earthquake damaged area.

Wedding photographer captures earthquake moments

Wedding photographer captures earthquake moments - Unbelievable pictures of a wedding party in front of a church, and the 100 year old church just falling apart. The wedding party is in Western style wedding dress (nice white dress).

Chinese Ao Pair

A leg up on learning Chinese - From the Christian Science Monitor. The trick is having a good Learning Chinese curriculum including textbooks to work with. And of course finding a reliable Ao Pair. There are a few who are totally unqualified and have no idea how to teach Chinese (which again is why a good Learning Chinese curriculum including textbooks is important.

Learning to Speak Olympics

Learning to Speak Olympics

Wow! The goal of having 35% of the population understanding English by the Olympics.

Funny quote:

My best student is the local constable, Officer Li. He approached me about a private lesson in English vulgarities, “so I know when a foreigner is cursing me.”

This is the stuff you usually don't learn in class.

Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Somebody is doing some serious press:

• The Cookie Crumbles - Time Magazine
• The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food - Baltimore
• On Food: Memoir on China travels far beyond the food of origin - Seattle Post
• The real deal: Finding authentic Chinese food - Colorado
• Chinese Fusion, New York Style - World Press

It's a good read that is interesting and fun to read.

				Fortune Cookie Chronicles - Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer Lee
				Our Price: $24.99 Sale Price: $19.99 You Save $5.00!
				Solve the mystery of how dozens of people across America had won a lottery using fortune cookies. Discover the surprising origins of the fortune cookies! The debate over the true inventor of shop suey and more!

Baby Learning Chinese Books, DVD's, and Products

Baby Learning Chinese Books & DVD's is a new category I put together. I have gotten a few requests on parents who want to teach their little Baby's Mandarin Chinese. I will be getting in more products to help out with this interesting area. I understand in NY they are even having baby classes for Mandarin. There are also some specialty products out there for teaching baby's Mandarin Chinese. The goal is to have a true bilingual baby, so when they grow up they can take advantage of the huge opportunity that China presents!

Design of ChildBook (Navigation)

A good friend of mine sent me an E-Mail about her frustration with navigation on ChildBook. I have known her husband since middle school. He also taught me how to do the Rubix Cube, that has now come back into fashion and was President of a Rubix Cube club in High School (he had a solve time of under 30 seconds if I remember right).

Soon there will be some more changes on ChildBook.com on the layout making it easier to find the right items. Life is easier when you have fewer items, but with over 1000 items and a lot of categories, the navigation needs to be tweaked to make it as easy as possible for customers to quickly find the right products. I believe the changes I did in the books for Learning the Chinese Language and Culture are good, as well as the Learning Chinese & Culture DVD's. The Chinese Culture area needs help, since it's duplicated in sub-categories under DVD's and Books, and keeping everything synchronized manually is hit and miss.

Curriculumn for Learning Chinese

For serious parents on teaching their kids Chinese, I would start with the Chinese Curriculum. I currently carry Practical Chinese - Effective way to learn Chinese, C hinese Made Easy, Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese), and Better Chinese Curriculum Materials for Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language.

The comparison chart of Chinese Curriculum on the main page helps a lot.

China's two Countries - Rural and the Coast

China has two different societies, one on the coast that is privileged and the other rural. One that is becoming incredibly rich, and the other that is so poor it generates tremendous amounts of migrant workers that do construction and other service jobs without papers. For internal immigration in China is still controlled, and to enroll your child in school requires papers.

In the US in the 1960's, the poverty of parts of rural America lead to the war on poverty. Katrina showed that the US still has incredible poverty in areas. President Johnson's response to the extreme poverty was programs to create a Great Society.

China has advanced tremendously. In Shanghai there is even a magnetic train, where the US has none. I was thinking about a book I carry, and wondering if it is still relevant. It does not show the magnetic train of Shanghai, or the traffic jams and pollution in all the major cities. The damage to the environment. It does not show how rich China has become in many areas. It shows an older, rural China that still exists as the recent Earthquake has shown. With villages that have no road to them. The book is the Colors of China by Shannon Zemlicka and it's a nice book that uses colors to show the flavor of an older, rural China.

I also have a series of Chinese Culture DVD's that are very good about Ping Wei, and you can see the changes that are occurring in China in a typical village. A documentary system that is well done.

				One Day in Ping Wei - A Documentary of China - DVD
				Our Price: $24.95
				What is life like…in China? China is changing at a remarkable rate but the countryside, where the majority of China’s 1.3 billion citizens live, remains much the same as it has for centuries. This documentary, shot entirely on location in China, offers a window on life in rural village, capturing in compelling detail the daily life of a Chinese family.
				New Year in Ping Wei - A Documentary of China - DVD
				Our Price: $24.95
				How is Chinese New Year celebrated in rural China? Follow Liu Yen Twin and her family and find out!. From preparation of the family reunion dinner and the symbolic burning of paper money to firecrackers and fireworks.
				Land of the Dragon - A Documentary of China - DVD
				Our Price: $24.95
				Travel through China, learning as you go about history, customs, culture and language. Narrated in both English and Mandarin (with subtitles), this documentary takes you from Beijing to the Yangtze River and beyond - offering a rare glimpse at life inside the Land of the Dragon.

				Return to Ping Wei- A Documentary of China - DVD
				Our Price: $24.95
				It's been two years since we visited Liu Yen Twin and her family, and the fields of Ping Wei are alive with the spring harvest. Liu Yen Twin is a teenager now, and school is taking on a whole new importance.

3 pandas missing after China quake

3 pandas missing after China quake from the SF Chronicle.

Key Points:

• The largest Panda reserve, Wolong Nature Reserve, was 18 miles from the Epicenter of the Quake
  
• 60 Pandas live there and 3 are missing.
• 5 Staff died
• All house for the Pandas was damaged.

Some Panda related products:

				Dinner At The Panda Palace. English. Softcover.
				Our Price: $6.99
				Dinner At The Panda Palace. Guess who's coming to dinner! A picture story book for ages 3 to 8. English. Softcover.
				Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle
				Our Price: $7.95
				Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle
				The Year of the Panda by Miriam Schlein
				Our Price: $4.99 Sale Price: $3.99 You Save $1.00!

China's Earthquake Response

Excellent article from an Australian Newspaper China: the wall comes down the LA Times had a similar article China's old ways shaken by quake as did the Washington Post in China's New Openness.

The openness of the Chinese Government is impressive. The Economist in Days of disaster China's Government's impressive response - mentioned how the top leadership of China's government are Engineers and natural disasters are something they know how to deal with.

I admit - my under-graduate was Engineering and I worked over 10 years as one, so I understand the thinking.

Earthquake and 8's Symbolic Meaning

This text message was sent around China:

January 25 — Snowstorm equals natural disaster; 1+2+5=8

March 14 — Bald Tibetans equal man-made disaster; 3+1+4=8

May 12 — Earthquake equals seismic disaster; 5+1+2=8

8.8.08 — the Olympics.

Coincidence?

China will be hosting the 2008 Olympics, and the official start Date is August 8, 2008. The number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese, because it also sounds like wealth in Mandarin.

The start date is on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year of the century, a lucky day in what was supposed to be a lucky year for China. It's also Chinese Father's day, since 8 also sounds like Father.

My local bank to celebrate the Chinese Olympic and has many of the paper 8's hanging from their ceilings. Directions below so you can make your own Chinese Olympic paper cut.

Chinese Olympic Papercut Mobile Craft Project for hanging from your ceiling

• Celebrate China's hosting of the Olympics starting on the 8/8/2008
• Project only takes minutes to do!
• Make more than one for your bedroom or class room!

Per the Wall Street Journal, Chinese Reach Out to Orphans there has been a huge outpouring within China to adopt any orphans of the Earthquake.

Demand exceeds supply.

Key Quote from the article:

The sad reality is that there may not be many orphans, officials say, because many of the estimated 50,000 dead are children. The earthquake came during school hours on a Monday and demolished many schools. Authorities aren't showing any signs that they will make it easier for foreign families to adopt the children, after implementing tough new adoption rules last year.

And per the Official Chinese Media the adoption process will take a year:
Chinese civil affairs departments considering registration of Adoption Offers

Outside help for China' Earth Quake

Doctors without borders is there (I did not realize this).
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2706

The only help China is accepting is some quake experts per this NY
Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/asia/16china.html?scp=1&sq=taiwan+japan&\
st=nyt

My opinion is China does not want to lose face by showing they need
too much outside help. I am surprised they are even getting quake
experts from Taiwan (very interesting politics) and Japan (still strange).

The type experts are ones who have tools to find people buried such as
fiber optic probes, etc. They are also allowing direct flights from
Taiwan to China (usually only happens on Chinese New Year since 1949,
but promised to change with the new government that will be assuming
office in Taiwan soon).

Chinese Kids - Purpose of Education

Chinese and American adolescents' perceptions of the purposes of Education - interesting read, I am not sure that I agree with it 100%.

A disturbing article from the Economist Nearer to overcoming.

And of course, Chinese Students - What can be Learned from them for Getting Good Grades?

Education to me is key for getting ahead in our society, and I worry about schools that have 60% drop out rates. I did my student teaching in one, it was a great experience that has had a profound impact on me, but also sad in the students who drop out.

China's Student Quake Deaths Spark Anger at School Construction

China's Student Quake Deaths Spark Anger at School Construction - Good article. The Long Beach Earthquake in the 1930's in the US resulted in improvements to school building codes. Where now everything for school buildings in California needs to be approved by a central agency.

The article notes how China's one child policy has increased the grief of the parents of the dead students. NPR has a sad segment on parents excavating an apartment and finding their dead grandparents and child in the ruin.

For donations, this is a good group:
Half the Sky’s Children’s Earthquake Fund

Toll now at 12,000 - Chinese Earthquake

Toll is now 12,000 with an estimated 25,000 trapped. The government is being quicker to respond than to the New Year Snow storm. The high toll was because of the time it struck, mid-afternoon.

The article is so so, but the comments are interesting - China bloggers cook up quake conspiracies I appreciated the kind comment from a person from Taiwan towards the victims.

Popular Mechanics has an article on Quake Detection technologies (still working on them is my take) 3 Quake Tech Frontiers to Save China (and Help the US Next Time).
Quote from the article - prediction remains something of a scientific dead end.

And since I live in Southern California, home of the San Andreas fault and having lived through the Whittier, Northridge, and Sylmar Quakes. And the big one is expected at any time, quake detection would be nice! The good news is after every quake the retrofitting of freeways and such gets better and better. In the Sylmar quake, the I5 collapsed. Same in Northridge and in downtown LA the 10 freeway (a huge mess for traffic until it was fixed). San Francisco Loma Prieta Earthquake collapsed a double decker freeway. My Uncle was in a convention center and all the lights went out, not a pleasant experience.

Donations to help with Sichuan Earthquake

www.halfthesky.org, a wonderful organization, has set up a fund to help with Earthquake. Please not in your donation it is for earthquake relief.

The Earthquake in Sichuan Province, China has resulted in almost 10,000 dead. The quake had a magnitude of 7.8, and was the biggest to hit China for a couple of decades. The San Francisco quake was approximately of the same magnitude. The Long Beach quake was only 6.25. The Long Beach quake destroyed many schools, but happened at 6AM resulting in few deaths. There were many improvements in building design after the earthquake. NPR has two reporters in Sichuan that are now covering the quake, there story today on the school that collapsed is heart breaking.

China's leadership is being very active in the quake areas to put the best face forward. Chinese leadership is often judged on how well they handle natural disasters, such as the storm during Chinese New Year. If not handled well, this is seen as an omen that a change in government is needed, since they have lost Heaven's Mandate. On that vein of thought, this is interesting - Tibetan tectonics triggered China quake I wonder how long till somebody connects the Chinese actions in Tibet to this quake.

China and US Linked inextricably

TOM WATKINS:China and United States - inextricably linked

Nice quote and kudo's to the school:
Patterson also understands that learning Chinese will give Oakland County's children a competitive advantage.

Patterson also understands that learning Chinese will give Oakland County's children a competitive advantage. China's educational and economic systems are on steroids.

http://wwjtv.com/buildingbridges/bridges.2.601233.html he also blogged about his trip to China.

My page on the benefits of Learning Mandarin for Kids

Solar IPO - Real Goods Solar

Not a glowing debut for Real Goods Solar

School Fundraising - Not Fun!

An article from the WSJ brought back memories of School Fund raising with an interesting title - Little Lomans

Lomans refers to the main character from a Death of a Sales Person, Wily Loman.

The problem I see with most school fund raisers is they don't raise much money. Our local school district is talking of budget cuts in the millions, and fund raisers if you are lucky bring in a couple of thousand dollars. Bake Sales a couple of hundred. Some school districts ask the parents to donate directly as this Steve Lopez of the LA Times wrote about Ponying up for a public education.

When I was in High School, I was selling waxless candles. They arrived late, and then delivering them to people and explaining they had ordered them was embarrassing. I had sold door to door and my neighborhood had many retired people on fixed incomes. After that, I refuse to sell anything that would embarrass me. That's probably one of the major reasons that I have a 100% return policy. If you don't like the Learning Chinese Products you bought, just return them. I appreciate if you don't take advantage of the policy (some people do unfortunately).

The big fund raiser at my daughter's school is Bingo every Saturday night, so I start my shift in a couple of hours.

Chinese Poems/Poetry Teacher's Guide

I just posted a Teacher's Guide for A Thousand Peaks: Poems from China by the authors. 40+ pages! Everything you need to know A-Z for teaching Chinese Poetry. Wow!

The book is great and is one of the best books I carry.

				A Thousand Peaks: Poems from China
				Our Price: $19.95
				Chinese Poetry that spans 2,000 years--from the Han dynasty to the 20th century-- Rhythmic translations that capture the astonishing beauty of the original Chinese. The accompanying text describes the culture that inspired them, and the history that stirred their deepest emotions. Illustrations that foster an appreciation for the close relationship of poetry to other art forms.

Childbook Chinese System Comparison

Finished today adding in Chinese Made Easy and Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese) Learning Chinese Systems that include software, flashcards, textbooks, cd's, simplified, traditional, and workbooks. This is in addition to Practical Chinese - Effective way to learn Chinese.

The challenge is they all don't have the same features. So as a person wanting to figure out the right system to buy, what should you do? I look at other web sites and I just see a long list of items. That's useless. So what I did was put together a table and added a lot more categories to make this somehow meaningful. Of course this got finished after the weekly newsletter went out this morning ;-) I did finish one for textbooks that did get in.

My work of art - Learning Chinese Systems Comparison. I plan on doing more of these type of comparisons to help people figure out the right products to buy. The goal is to make the shopping process as easy as possible.

Feedback is appreciated on this work of art. For example what you would like to see added to it.

It was nice that somebody ordered flashcards for Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese) that had just been added this morning! Thanks, it made my day!

Making Choices Easier

Which Learning Chinese Series should I choose?

Which Singing Chinese CD should I get?

Which Learning Chinese Video should I buy?

I hope to prevent the first question with the table I have put together comparing the three different series I carry of Learning Chinese programs that include textbooks, workbooks, cd's, flashcards, and software. Here is a link to a draft of a Learning Chinese Textbook Series Comparison Chart/Table (think of it as version 1.0).

I will also work on doing charts for the other three areas. I am not sure where to put it in the navigation, have it to the side or as the main navigation.