User Comments - xiaophil

Posted on: Chinese Ethnic Minorities

Thanks Baba!

Posted on: Chinese Ethnic Minorities

I have always been interested in the Russian minority group of China.  I've seen pictures of them before.  They looked like they were from 19th century Russia.  I had trouble finding stuff about them on the net.  If anyone knows any good websites, please share.

Posted on: A Tearful Farewell and Warm Welcome

Jason, now who will represent Grand Rapids?  (heh heh) 

Good luck, dude!

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: History

so be it 各人有各人的想法.

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: History

Why is this a waste of time? It talks about the most basic history that anyone who speaks Chinese should know. Otherwise, it would be like coming to America and not knowing who George Washington was. Also there is language that is useful outside of talking about history. I particularly like the expression 太离谱了. Prior to this lesson, I had never heard it before.

Posted on: I don't smoke

Bodawei

I have not seen it enforced. I kind of wonder if the government is letting this settle into the brains of its citizens before the real push happens. The one thing I think is interesting is that it doesn't affect work places, which is where I imagine the majority of people come into contact with smoke. It almost feels like the government wants China to look healthier, even if it is just superficial. But I am optimistic that eventually China will eventually tip towards the non-smoking zone.

暴发户 refers to someone who was poor but suddenly ran into a lot of cash, often through dubious means, but along with this cash doesn't come grace. Others often view this type of person as blatantly arrogant, a spendthrift and just plain sketchy. To tell you the truth, I think in Shanghai it is sometimes applied by snobby locals who are just a bit jealous of outsiders who are luckier than themselves, but it the case I mentioned above, it seems fair to me.

Posted on: I don't smoke

Yes, in Shanghai, and I'm afraid being female would not have helped you with these guys--my student, a female, got some cuts and bruises from the incident and had to go to the hospital.

Speaking of hospitals, I can relate to your friends hospital experience. After my wife gave birth, we shared a room with a lady that had trouble producing milk. Even though this is normal with brand-new mothers, this family was determined to do something about it... at 2am. At this time her ayi used some sort of machine on her that as far as I can tell had the sole purpose of causing pain. I was hearing the young lady scream '不要' while the ayi said '你必须做'. I finally complained and the nurses also seemed powerless, or at least unwilling to do anything.

Posted on: I don't smoke

You are right about the tone when speaking; however, when written, the standard is to always write it as fourth tone. It doesn't make much sense to me, but that's the rule.

Posted on: I don't smoke

Haha, I wonder if we can translate some famous words from Bill Clinton as 我抽过大麻，可是没吸进肺里？

Posted on: I don't smoke

This reminds me of an experience an adult student of mine had. One time she was with her husband in an elevator, and the two other people inside were smoking. Her husband asked them not to smoke in the elevator. One of the men started to beat them! They called the cops afterwards. Apparently the man who beat them was the bodyguard of the other man. The other man appears to be a 暴发户 (look up the word on nciku if you are unfamiliar; it's an interesting word), and he was definitely visiting his mistress who lives in the same building. The cops first visited the mistress who said that it was my student and her husband's fault for messing in 'other people's business'. The cops afterwards said they would arrest the men if they ever came back, but told my student and her husband that they shouldn't have messed with 'other people's business'. Later my student told her father what had happened, and he said it was their fault because, you guessed it, it was 'none of their business'. In the end, the bodyguard was forced to apologize and pay a small fine. The 暴发户 wasn't punished at all because he didn't physically do anything. Now the reason you reminded me of this, is because this just shows what an uphill battle non-smokers in China have to clean up the air around them. Many, many Chinese people believe that others do not have the right to ask someone to not pollute public air. Their attitude is, if you don't like my smoke, go somewhere else, which is often easier said then done.

As for stereotypes that women smoke less than men, I would agree that this statement is true, but possibly not to the degree that people think. Many Chinese have talked a lot about women who like to smoke in private. And I think that the countryside is different than cities. When I went to my wife's hometown, I was surprised to see how many women smoked--I figure almost as many as the men for the 50 and older age group.