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Another China Food Scandal
When will it stop - China's contaminated food scandal widens International Herald Tribune There was even stories of parents being worried about Halloween Candy since some of it may have been made in China. And with the long list of food scandals, it is surprising another done dealing with Melamine comes up. Last one was with milk, so now any type of food animal or product of an animal may be at risk due to contaminated animal feed. The start of the latest scandal was eggs, and since eggs are used in so many types of processed foods the problem grows. And China exports a huge amount of food! This type of scandal is a tremendous threat to the made in China Brand. Labels: china food safety, china's future
ChildBook - Removing the Fear of Learning Chinese
Something fun I wrote for the front page today
Afraid of Learn Chinese? Must be Halloween!
We removes the fear from learning Chinese!
Don't be scared of Learning Chinese, ChildBook makes Learning Chinese safe with our 100% money back guarantee gives you peace of mind on your purchase, Free shipping*, product comparison charts and over 500 customer reviews to help you pick the right product for your child.
Labels: childbook
California Proposition 8 and Chinese Voters
Proposition 8 I know Chinese who are on both sides of the issue, both good friends of mine. One is very pro, and the other very against and sent me a long E-Mail on why to vote against it. There is even a TV adv. in Chinese for Proposition 8. I could not find one against it in Chinese, only a No on Prop 8 Flyer (Chinese). What this shows is the diversity of the Chinese Community in the US And for those into politics and the English language - interesting article - Jerry Brown's wording may trip up Prop. 8. Jerry Brown is one of the most interesting California politicians, I heard him speak when I was living in the Bay Area. The secretary of Commerce speaking, William Daley, and Jerry Brown came in and stole the show. It was lunch speaker series at my work. I still have a cup from his time as Governor, Brown is Green - from my Aunt to my Father, and it's mine by eminent domain ;-) Labels: Chinese Americans
Supplier Inventory Headaches
Some of my suppliers are cutting back on their stock, which is frustrating when I want to order an item and I need to wait. Labels: childbook
How to Write ChildBook Reviews
Last week-end, we had a post requesting your kind hearts to write reviews for ChildBook. Reviews are great to have so that others can see what materials are okay and will work for them. These only take a few minutes to make so I hope more people will write reviews about the materials they got and service received. To write a review, first, log in. Then - Go to the main page of the product
- Look beneath the picture, the "Description"
- Beneath the Description, you will see the number of stars
- Beside the stars is a blue link "Write a review"
- Click on the link and happily write away
 Please help our children learn Chinese with the best materials. Do write a review.
Monkey King Sale
With Halloween upon us, I decided to do a sale of my huge selection of Monkey King items. My favorite it the 4 book set of English books for Journey to the West. After you have read the short ones and just need to have more of your Monkey King fix, this will take care of it. Great read! More on the Monkey King if you have no idea what I am talking about. Labels: monkey king
Tang Poem Chinese Products
My favorite book that even includes a study guide:  |  | | | | | A Thousand Peaks: Poems from China | Our Price: $19.95
Sale Price: $18.95
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Chinese Poetry Anthology
Spans 2,000 years--from the Han Dynasty to the 20th century--- Rhythmic translations capture astonishing beauty of original Chinese
- Description of culture and history that inspired the poet
- With illustrations
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And other products:  | | | | | | Chinese Tang Dynasty Poems Book 4. Traditional Chinese with Bo Po Mo. Softcover. | Our Price: $8.95
Sale Price: $7.95
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Chinese Tang Dynasty Poems Book 4, a collection of simple Tang Dynasty poems. A colorful picture book with interpretation on the meaning of each poem. Easy for children to understand & learn poetry. Traditional characters with Pinyin. Soft Cover.  | | | |  | | | | | | Best of Children Tang Dynasty Poems, Volume 2. Traditional Chinese with Bo Po Mo. Hardcover. | Our Price: $18.95
Sale Price: $12.95
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Best of Children Tang Dynasty Poems, Volume 2. Traditional Chinese with Bo Po Mo. Hardcover. Each poem has an interpretation and its origin. | | | |  | | | | | | Children Tang Dynasty Poems Book 4, HF#6. Traditional Chinese with Bo Po Mo. Softcover. | | Our Price: $4.99 |
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Children Tang Dynasty Poems Book 4, HF#6, a collection of simple Tang Dynasty poems. A colorful picture book with interpretation on the meaning of each poem. Easy for children to understand & learn poetry. Traditional characters with Bo Po Mo. Soft Cover. | | | |  | | | | | | Children Tang Dynasty Poems Book 3, HF#5. Traditional Chinese with Bo Po Mo. Softcover. | | Our Price: $4.99 |
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Children Tang Dynasty Poems Book 3, HF#5, a collection of simple Tang Dynasty poems. A colorful picture book with interpretation on the meaning of each poem. Easy for children to understand & learn poetry. Traditional characters with Bo Po Mo. Soft Cover. | | | |  | | | | | | 40 Poems Of Tang Dynasty - Poem of A Drifter. Traditional Chinese in Mandarin, Book with CD. Hardcover | Our Price: $19.95
Sale Price: $14.95
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40 Poems Of Tang Dynasty in Mandarin. Colorful illustrations. Traditional Characters with Bo Po Mo. Hard Cover. Book with CD.
A collection of simple poems with five- or seven-character verse. Each poem has an interpretation of its meaning with an ancient Chinese illustrations. |
Labels: chinese poetry
Enlightenment and China
A recent article in the Economist mentioned the US and Europe need to have better relations so the can propagate the ideas of the enlightenment, since in the next 20 years other world powers will be shaping the world (the comment is at the end of the article). So which powers - my guess is China and India. Both have major challenges and have made amazing progress economically. Other nations have expanding populations that are definitely going to have an impact on the world, but I don't see the educated population and working governments needed to compete in the world economically in them. The question I have, is what does the enlightenment really mean? For me, it refers to when people were given the knowledge due to the printing press and had the ability to start questioning the world they lived in., which is also known as the age of reason. With the increased ability of filtering the Internet and other communication vehicles, it limits the information people give. This could be seen as a threat to the foundation of Western Thought, in those countries that put such filters in place (and they are becoming increasingly popular). These filters allow an elite to control their populations through controlling information. The enlightenment is also seen as the foundation that created democracy, replaced superstition with science, and reduced intolerance. Some countries have the belief their citizens need to be guided, so there is an avoidance of what happened in the USSR when it fell apart and became just Russia. For the European Diplomat, my guess is it refers to democracy, human rights, and individual freedom. My daughter recently studied the enlightenment in her European AP class and guess who helps her study - yes, the Father with the History Teaching Credential, so it was fun to write this. Labels: china's future
Product Reviews
Product reviews are so important and I really appreciate all the customers who have done them. They help in choosing the right product so much, and they only take a few minutes to do. I wish more customers would do the, it's surprising as a percentage how few customers do them. May be the fact they need to login to create a post causes a problem, I know the fact it's not 100% obvious where the link is for doing a post is an issue (which because I rent my software, it limits how much I can customize it). Labels: childbook
Reasons for Returns
The recent economy is resulting in more returns, and the reasons are getting less reasonable. I am not changing my return policy yet, but I am concerned. My goal with my very good return policy is to make a happy customer and be fare. But unfortunately, some recent reasons I have been given for returns are starting to bother me. Being honest, when I get an item such as a DVD or Software returned, I can't resell it so I take loss. So returni Labels: childbook
chinese picture dictionary
Practical Chinese Curriculum - The Effective Way to Learn Chinese
Practical Chinese is one of my favorite Learning Chinese Textbooks Series. It's also known as The Effective Way to Learn Chinese, and a lot of people for whom other systems have not worked out for, use Practical Chinese. I like how the author, Wendy Lin developed Practical Chinese to teach her own daughters in the US, because the traditional Learning Chinese method that focused on characters was not working. Practical Chinese uses Pinyin and English, and builds up competency by focusing on conversation through it's ten levels. Feedback has been very positive from customers, especially for the activity book. Short summary of Practical Chinese | Name | Motivation to Write | Author Location | Characters | Teacher's Edition | Age |
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| | Practical Chinese - Effective way to learn Chinese | Teach her kids to learn Chinese in the US (Wendy Lin) | US (from Taiwan) | Simplified and Traditional Chinese Character Versions with Pinyin | No | Ages 3 - Teenager (some adults even use it) |
| Yes | 10 |
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Labels: Learning Chinese Textbook
Business Chinese - Learning Chinese for Business
Business Chinese is a bit different than learning Chinese for the regular learner, you usually have tight deadlines and need to get some survival words ASAP. My suggestions: Labels: business chinese
Positive Chinese News - Press and Land Reform
Is China Dismantling Its 'Socialist' Countryside? - Land reform is coming to China, it's very controversial and a ticking time bomb with 60 to 70% of the population still in the countryside and pretty poor, compared to the now rich coastal areas. And toss into this mess corruption issues and farmland being made into factories by local party chiefs or people who paid enough bribes. Not to mention more traditional leaders who see this as a key issue, and the danger of becoming like other countries with large land owners, such as China before the 1949 revolution, and a lot of poor people. I see the land reform as positive news, the trick is doing it right. Other positive news is Olympic Media Rules Preserved in China: Liberalization Applies Only to Foreigners which is a step in the right direction. I am sure in time it will also apply to domestic media, the sooner the better. Labels: china's future
Learning Chinese Software & Tranliteration
Another Day, Another Learning Chinese Competitor Site
It seems everyday I find another web site selling Learning Chinese. In my opinion ChildBook.com does a better job of selling Learning Chinese Material, but it's amazing how many sites pop up. It's easy to create a web site, there are a lot of tools out there to do it. It's so much easier than it was 11 years ago when I started. The challenges then become dealing with shipping, returns, back orders, and all those little tiny things that need make a great site. To me an important differentiator for ChildBook is our customer service and it's a challenge that keeps my job from being boring. Labels: chinese children books
Learning Chinese Conferences for Teachers, Librarians, and Home Schoolers
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo - $1400 for exhibitors for a booth. Week before Thanksgiving 2008 Princeton University Conference on Chinese Language Instruction - April 2008 Book Expo America - Was in LA this year. Next one is in NY May 28 to 29. American Library Association Annual Conference - This year was in Anaheim, next one is Chicago, IL July 9- July 15, 2009.Los Angeles Times Festival of Books - End of August
Texas Foreign Language Association - October 17, 2008
Massachusetts Foreign Language Association Conference - October 31 Nan Hai Co., Inc., U.S.A. - The 5th Conference on Chinese Language - November 15th in SF Area. Northern California Foreign Language Teacher Fall Conference at UC Berkeley, November 7-8th National Chinese Language Conference was April 17-19, 2008. Next one is April 30 - May 2, 2009 Magnificent Mile Downtown Chicago Chinese Education Conference 2009 - March 13-15 in San Francisco. Southwest Conference on Language Teaching - April 2-4, 2009 References: Labels: Learning Chinese
Chinese is fastest growing language taught in US schools
Methanol fuel in China
Methanol fuel in China is growing! Pleasant surprise, but once I think about it not unexpected. Instead of Corn, China is focused on using Coal, and now China is the world's largest Methanol Producer. In 2007 4.7 billion gallons of Methanol were produced. By 2012 10% of China's oil will be supplied by Methanol per a 2006 article, I would not be surprised if it is much more than that. If you have a bit of extra cash, a report that should answer many questions on this - Methanol Market Research (China) :: 6 Octuber 2008. There is also the issue that there is a shortage of coal, which has increased the price of coal due to the shutdown of unsafe mines that produced a lot of coal in China. Labels: china's future
Automated Phone Navigation in Chinese and English - Arghh!!!
So I was calling this place in Hong Kong, select 3 for English after hearing some Cantonese and Madnarin. OK, should be easy. Then gives me a list of departments, then I select sales. Rings, rings, rings and get an recorded answer in Cantonese. So dial zero, more Cantonese. So finally get back to the main menu. I called in four times, and finally dialed customer service. Then I got transferred 3 times. After experience this, I don't think I am going to be so frustrated by the automated phone systems in the US. I am so used to just dialing zero to get around the system, except some systems have disabled that option (US Post Office). Labels: childbook
China Rising - Food for thought
Interesting article to read - China, India world order vs end of American empire, global finance Crisis - Cleveland Indy Media Center and some type of conference. There are three stories/interviews. Several points I disagree with, but they are interesting to read. I don't want to get into a flame war so I try to keep this blog non-political. I agree China and the US have a number of challenges ahead. The web page did mention two, Taiwan being the most obvious, but Korea is another one. What happens if and when North Korea collapses? Will China allow S. Korea to take over N. Korea? S. Korea is very worried about the cost of fixing N. Korea, especially after witnessing the cost of the unification of West and East Germany. Labels: china's future
Learning Chinese in Australia Report
Customer Service Story of the Week
A customer ordered a lot of a series of textbooks, more than I had in stock. And my supplier did not have enough either, and other companies I am friendly with were also out. What to do? So I shipped everything I had, and had my supplier drop ship, and then I found a company that had them and bought them at retail (it hurt) and shipped them to the customer, since they needed them ASAP. My unexpected emergency of yesterday and today. Labels: childbook
Chinese Calligraphy Candidate for World Heritage Designation
The Next Bailout: Your Family - Student Loans
The Next Bailout: Your Family from the Wall Street Journal. As my daughter is getting closer to colleges this article was timely. An example is the average college graduate has 22,000 in student loans and many also have credit card debts. An extreme example was a person with $160,000 cost for college and now has $20,000 in student loans, and the best job they could get was making $40,000 a year. So now they plan to go to law school. Hopefully they read this blog post before applying. http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_studi/2008/07/how-the-cravath.htmlDisclaimer - my wife's cousin, the family star worked at Cravath before he started his own firm. Labels: college admissions
Brazil Bans Chinese Food Product Imports
Chinese Children Problems in the US
My wife was reading the Chinese Daily News that had an article about some new problems in the Chinese community. Some parents will send their newborns back to China to be taken care of by the grand parents, and of course they are spoiled rotten. Often around age 5 or 6 they come back here to live with the parents. One parent, the Father may be working out of state in a restaurant, and the Mother is working long hours. So the kid becomes a latch key kid and may not do that great educationally and may even get involved with gangs. I would appreciate a link to the original story if anyone can sent it to me from the Daily News, the pictures alone are worth it. Another challenge is parents who send their kids to school in the US, while they stay in Taiwan or China. Often the parents have no adult supervision, not even relatives, for those in High School. Dangerous combination, high school, cars, no adult supervision often means problems. Yes, the majority turn out fine. There is also a lot of anger when it's hard for the parents to get a Visa to visit their kids in the US. Labels: chinatown
Learning Chinese Textbooks & Curriculum
I am in the process of updating my comparison chart of Learning Chinese Textbooks & Curriculum. Better Chinese has now been added. The chart compares what textbook series by: - Levels
- Teacher's Guide Available
- Why the author wrote it
- Where the author is from
- CD's
- Software Available
There is a bit more work to do on this chart. It would be nice to add age group. My most popular textbooks currently are Chinese Made Easy which includes Chinese Made Easy for Kids and is available in both Simplified Characters and Traditional Characters. The Textbook comes with a CD, and a workbook is available. May be because I like the motivation of the author (she wrote the books because she could not find good material in the US to teach her daughter's Chinese), my favorite is Practical Chinese - >Effective way to learn Chinese. Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese) is great for Middle School Students. Better Chinese uses multimedia, for example books with CD's as a way to teach Chinese and is based on what works in the classroom. It's designed for non-native speakers and very popular with school and can be used for home study. Labels: Learning Chinese Textbook
Christianity in China
The Economist has an excellent article, Christianity in China. Chinese Christians may outnumber members of the communist party. There are official Christian Churches in China (like the official Catholic Church where the Chinese government appoints priests), but there is a lot of house churches with most of them Protestant. Per official Chinese government figures there are 21 million Christians in China, but other figures have the number up to 130 Million. There are only 64 Million communist party members. Christianity has an interesting history in China with ties to many American families that supplied missionaries to China there, the most famous being Henry Luce who founded Time Magazine. The leaders of the Taiping Rebellion were Christian. I do need to start stocking some Christian CD's, I used to carry some Christian tapes and CD's in Mandarin, but the discount shrunk below what was economical for me. Labels: chinese christians
Advanced Learning Chinese Textbooks - Daily Chinese
Wendy Lin, the author of the popular Learning Chinese Textbook Practical Chinese for younger Learning Chinese readers, has come out with a new series aimed at older learners: The books are very intensive and combine both Simplified and Traditional Characters. Daily Chinese is for both beginning and intermediate Chinese Learners, but is meant for older students (6-12th grades). Both Practical Chinese and Daily Chinese Textbook focus on building good foundations so they both give completed reading, writing, and speaking exercises. However, again, because the Daily Chinese content is more intense and the topics (such as shopping and dining) are related to young adults, it does not fit the use of younger kids. Daily Chinese Textbook includes: - Word banks provide additional words, making learning more flexible.
- Gradually expanded sentence structures make the learning easier.
- Later chapters review on the previously learned concept.
- Culture introduction is incorporated into the learning.
- Additional learning activities are provided in the book.
- This book overall helps learners build a good foundation for further learning.
- Daily Chinese Workbook is available for additional writing and reading exercises.
Labels: daily chinese, Learning Chinese Textbook
40 Parents Who Lost Children
500 Posts Now - Wow!
And I did not even notice last night on my 500th post. That shows how tired I was last night! Or may be it was the flu shot I got yesterday finally catching up with me as I was blogging late last night. Tonight I am helping out with Bingo at my daughter's school, so I am getting the blogging out of the way early. I came in to do some shipping while my daughter goes to Voice and Piano lessons - my wife is the chauffeur today :-) My daughter keeps on talking about how nice it will be when she drives. I have not asked my wife's opinion on this. Labels: childbook
Good Learning Chinese Software
Reviews are positive on it and a great price of only $19.95. More reviews are always nice! Kuaile Hanyu CDROM #1 (Software that teaches beginning Chinese) The review I have for it so far, and no, I did not write this...  Incredible CD | September 4, 2008 | | Reviewer: Anonymous person from woodland hills, CA United States | |
Words can not begin to tell you how wonderful this CD is. It is very important for me that there is a variety of mediums that I can expose my boys to while they are learning Mandarin. This CD gives them the computer time they crave. There are 8 main lessons that cover: Job, Time, Travel, Family, Food, School, Hobby, Weather. Within each lessons are several exercises that work with you on pronunciation, writing, and games to enhance recognition. My 5 year is very proficient in using a mouse and has the best time with each section. We have only done Lesson 1, but I love this so much, that I am buying the 2nd CD too. Labels: learning chinese software
Quality - What does it mean
I started to write about this in my newsletter and it just grew, so now the blog post about what Quality means to me. Running ChildBook.com has a lot to do with quality. My awareness of quality started with reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in college. And then I became very interested in Japanese manufacturing reading Deming and Schonberger. And recently more about Toyota's manufacturing system. These are related to manufacturing, but to me they are applicable to whatever you do. Mistakes and errors are waste, and it helps your business to reduce them. It also helps me from losing more hair :-) The key to me is not to focus on who's at fault, but figure out how to prevent this in the future. It can be simple little things that help. And when a customer is involved focus on making it right ASAP. Customers are expensive and with ChildBook.com it's my reputation/face which is very important to me. Someday I am going to be expert at lean manufacturing and get certified (no, not the asylum type), unfortunately I am a bit busy right now running my Learning Chinese for Kids E-Commerce Site as well as being a parent to a challenging daughter (why is it every age has challenges). Labels: childbook
Surveillance of Skype Messages Found in China
Made in China
The current crisis in Milk seems strange for a country such as China that has made such huge economic strides and where Made in China has in many areas become a symbol of quality. So many items are manufactured in China including my iPhone. I suggest the reason for this has been a focus on growth at any cost at a local level and at a national level keeping everything calm (ie if there are no problems reported, the people won't get upset). China's top leadership are Engineers, so they are great at making huge projects happen. The Beijing Olympics, The three gorges dam, and the recent space walk. All amazing accomplishments, but all Engineering focused. Disclaimer, my under-graduate is in Engineering. A challenge for the central authority, is outside of huge projects where they can apply enough pressure, is dealing with the small stuff. This is delegated or taken care of by the local authorities, and only when it becomes a huge problem does Beijing step in (local governments try to avoid this at all cost). I would compare the local governments to warlords, without the ability to fight each other. They control everything from how laws are applied and often have ownership of local companies. Because of the power of their position, and lack of oversight by the public or central government, this gives them a lot of opportunity to do whatever they want. The press is controlled, which removes the public oversight. The response has been civil disturbances (87,600 of them last year), and when they are big enough the central government intervenes. The use of IM has increased the ability of groups to quickly form. My modest suggestions on what China can do. Labels: china's future, made in china
Shanghai - The Next Wall Street?
Financial Hubs See an Opening Up at the Top from the Washington Post. China's advantage is it has a pile of cash, the disadvantage is lack of regulation/transparency. It's amazing that a city in China is even mentioned as a possible rival to Wall Street. There is a lot of funding inside of China and investments, but areas that need improvement rule of law (no insider trading) and stocks are less like gambling and become focused on fundamentals. Labels: china's future
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