User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Checking Baggage
August 23, 2009 at 5:50 AMHi ivor88 and bodawei
"行李" originally meant "emissary, envoy", and the character "李" was used as the title of a judge in ancient China. So 行李 might be literally translated as "a traveling official" (= business trip). Later, the meaning of "行李" changed into "travel", then again changed into "a traveling box/bag".
Posted on: 把 Humbug
August 23, 2009 at 12:44 AMHi ryanchild
FYI, the character 裏 dates back two thousand and several hundred years, while 裡 only has a few hundred years of history. Japanese people mainly use 裏, and I hear that 裡 is more popularly used in Taiwan. Of course, 里 has the longest history among them.
Posted on: 简体字与繁体字
August 22, 2009 at 5:21 AMHi queeniemcbear
我认为甲骨文比较好一些，因为其实许多甲骨文的字形结构比它们对应的繁体字更简洁，而且甲骨文的数量较少，到现在为止发现的只有四千多，当然比繁体字更容易学会。从今天起大家开始学习甲骨文吧！(.....别当真啊)
Posted on: 把 Humbug
August 22, 2009 at 4:24 AMI'm happy that Pete doesn't have to get up early on Saturday mornings anymore.
Posted on: Funny Business 4 -- Farewell, Xiao Zhao
August 22, 2009 at 4:07 AMHi hugorestall
你眼睛真尖，好像应该是"饯行"吧。话虽这么说，就像你说的那样，也有"践行"是个双关语的可能性，也就是说"饯行后践行诺言"。真相如何？
Posted on: It's My Birthday!
August 21, 2009 at 2:24 PMHi culturedragon and dancan
That's right. And more precisely speaking, Chinese 虚岁 (xu1sui4, nominal age) is calculated based on the Chinese lunar calendar, so you add a year when you start the Chinese New Year (春节, chun1jie2). A birth certificate (and ID card) in China shows your birth year based on the Western solar calendar. Anyway, this age reckoning system is a little complicated, which might be one of the causes of Beijing Olympics' age-old problem, hehe.
Posted on: Grab Some Veggies From the Store
August 21, 2009 at 2:18 PMHi bodawei
I remember, I bought a pair of very thick woolen long johns before here in China ..... by weight (斤). This is not a joke.
Posted on: Funny Business 4 -- Farewell, Xiao Zhao
August 21, 2009 at 1:54 PMHi kimiik
Probably that's illegal in China, like most other countries, but don't worry. Nobody burns real money here in China, while there are a lot of people who love to "wash" money.
Posted on: Welfare Lottery
August 21, 2009 at 1:48 PMHi kimiik
Don't forget 八荣八耻！
以热爱祖国为荣 以危害祖国为耻
以服务人民为荣 以背离人民为耻
以崇尚科学为荣 以愚昧无知为耻
以辛勤劳动为荣 以好逸恶劳为耻
以团结互助为荣 以损人利己为耻
以诚实守信为荣 以见利忘义为耻
以遵纪守法为荣 以违法乱纪为耻
以艰苦奋斗为荣 以骄奢淫逸为耻
Posted on: Grab Some Veggies From the Store
August 23, 2009 at 7:03 AMHi everett
我来北京出差，顺便看看你。 (past tense)
我去北京出差，顺便看看你。 (future tense)
You can say "I'll come (来) to you" in English, but not in Chinese. So the "来" in the example shows that you are already in Beijing.