User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: 孙悟空三打白骨精（第一集）

Hi zhenlijiang

Yes and Yes (although I have never seen 三德和尚 before either - I always thought that 'Sandy' in English came from the Chinese 沙). I'm showing my ignorance about 西游记.

I was at a place yesterday (Chinese tour!) where a version of 西游记 was filmed & they referred to 孙悟空 flying straight up into the air. The background is 喀斯特 kāsītè (kaarst) scenery. Familiar to viewers of the various filmed versions? Elsewhere there was 一块舌头 called 唐三藏 (the priest). My guide pointed out 一神帽 (a priest's hat.) The guide was 撒尼族 sāní - a sub-group of the 彝族 Yizu minority, and most of the tour was about their culture and stories. She sang songs at a couple of sites, after apologising that her singing was very poor, of course. :) The 西游记 story was a short aside.

One bit of trivia: the female 撒尼族 guides wore either red or white dresses and at first I thought the white dresses meant they were 白族 - so I asked, and she explained that 撒尼族 women choose the colour of their dress (either red or white) depending on their 皮肤 (indicating complexion.)

Posted on: 为 and 为了

You like karked it? Me too. :) The expression is actually 'karked it'; you can't use 'karked' by itself. You can't say that something 'karked', and I don't think that you can say that it is 'karked' (but I could stand being corrected.)

And I haven't given up - and thanks for the encouragement.

Posted on: 为 and 为了

Baba

I was following the official Apple instructions on dealing with the problem which involves resetting. It prompts to load the latest software but it stops after a few minutes (tried about six times.) I've just checked with my learned friend here; he says that the instructions are wrong. He suggests (like you) that I have to uninstall and load the whole package again. I am resigned to losing everything off my iPod but the files should remain on my laptop - about 50 G to upload. If anybody knows any different I'd appreciate a post.

Thanks for the help. I'll be back if my 'all else fails' approach fails. :)

Posted on: 为 and 为了

Thanks for not mentioning the A word - my brand new iPod is lying useless in a drawer because iTunes has karked it and it refuses to reload. Is iTunes the worst piece of software ever made, seriously? 

为了修iTunes,我需要你的指点。 

Posted on: Ordering Fancy Coffee

'Chinese size coffees'

There is no standard here in my experience. At least one chain follows the tradition of a 4.5 ounce cup, but others mimic the enormous cups sold by American chains. There is no indigenous coffee culture apart from that found in Yunnan.

Posted on: 孙悟空三打白骨精（第一集）

Cripes - now I feel bad. I don't actually know the answer mate - I was just egging you on! I agree it looks like a mainland series but there have been so many made (for cinema, TV, opera, the stage) you would need extraordinary skills to pick it. Like you I would guess this is 'for TV'. I was hoping that ChinesePod would tell us - but I guess if it is a file photo they may not know either.

I think it is difficult to appreciate how ingrained these stories (which of course pre-date Journey to the West) are in Chinese culture; I'm always learning something new. Yesterday someone referred to the character 'Sandy' as a priest (I was surprised). I better listen to the lesson - seems they talk about the 沙和尚 name that Xuanzang used.

Posted on: I don't smoke

I hope this doesn't sound like one-up-person-ship but I once got a chest X-ray from a radiology technician who smoked while he took the X-rays.

Posted on: 孙悟空三打白骨精（第一集）

Oh yeah, I look forward to this one. :)

Which particular show provides the lesson photo? That will test your famous search skills Baba!

Posted on: I don't smoke

米饭 is cooked rice - you don't get it in a supermarket/grocery (although sometimes supermarkets do have cooked food.)

What you buy in the supermarket, uncooked rice, is 大米 dàmǐ although your typical bag of rice may not have this written on it.

I just checked the one in the cupboard and it has the flowery expression 稻花香 - note 稻子 is the rice plant. 稻田 or 稻米 is the place where the rice grows, the 'paddy'. (Wonder where that word 'paddy' came from?)

The smallest bag quantity in the supermarkets is 10 kg; you don't get the neat little 1 kg packets available in the West. But a lot of rice is sold at supermarkets out of bins - you buy whatever quantity you want. There are usually about five or six bins to choose from. If you go to a market there is more choice and you buy out of large bags.

Posted on: Interesting Architecture

Just had a chance to watch the video - I have seen quite a bit of that footage before, some time ago. Anyway .. I like the faux drama (the pan away from the reporter) ..

Personally I will be happy for the bubble to collapse because it will put a lid on or even bring down private rents. Those investors who go under will be those most motivated by greed. Those then 'cheap' investments will be picked up by the next round of investors and so it goes on. It is a normal process in any market economy but there is a special fascination with China because it is such a large economy that so many people are now intricately tied into. A sharp fall in prices would make housing more affordable for the country's growing band of home owners. I look forward to this and a whole parade of future bubbles collapsing. That's the market we know and love.