Of course this guy’s from 安徽.
Our friends over at Kotaku brought to light a great set of photos of ‘Wangjing Streaker’ Li Binyuan, who has been streaking/driving his scooter around the streets of Beijing carrying alternately a giant wooden crucifix or a blow-up sex doll. The identity of the streaker had been a mystery until he announced his identity on Weibo last week.
China.
Quote of the day
Chinese friend: (refers to something in Chinese)
Me: 这是什么？(What is this?)
Chinese friend: An umbrella you put on your mushroom.
Using Audacity to Practice Chinese
When it comes to learning a new language, practicing one’s listening skills and pronunciation is crucial. In addition to studying with the help of a native speaker, one can practice speaking and listening on their own time as well.
Ollie Linge from Hacking Chinese recommends Audacity, a free recording software for both Windows and Mac users. Audacity lets the user record live audio and import digital files into separate channels, which the user can use to cut, copy, splice or mix the recordings. With these features, the program can easily be used to do the following:
- Record from any source
- Enhance the recording
- Repeat or slow down the audio
- Mimick and record
- Save, edit, and export
Ollie also made a tutorial, which can be viewed below.
Do You Speak Video Game in Chinese?
As the first country in the world to classify internet addiction as an official disorder, China has an astonishingly large population of gamers. Whether it’s popular online games or casual games, gamers flock to digital worlds to either escape or just have fun. It is important to note that these games are in Chinese and even a dedicated expat gamer probably would not be familiar with game-related words.
As the author from Ninchanese noted:
“One of the first things that struck me when I got to China is how popular online gaming is, as well as playing in arcades and internet cafés. World of Warcraft is particularly big over there. There’s even an (unofficial) World of Warcraft-themed amusement park in China!
Turns out, that’s all I knew about gaming in China. After researching a bit, I learned that the Chinese government hasn’t allowed foreign video game consoles to be sold in China since 2000 (but you can still buy them on the black market)! Maybe that’s one of the reasons why online gaming is so big in China. To give you an idea, this market was worth a record breaking $9.7 billion in 2012 ( a 35.1 increase from 2011!).”
The writer then introduced some video games vocabulary, starting with hardware:
游戏机 : Yóuxì jī = video game console
手柄 : Shǒubǐng = game pad
卡匣 : kǎ xiá = cartridge
光碟 : guāng dié = optical disc
记忆卡 : jì yì kǎ = memory card
Followed by Chinese vocab for some old school items that will surely bring back memories!
This is the craziest shit I’ve seen in, I don’t know, a long, long time. I was introducing craigslist to a Chinese friend of mine and found out that there are “international” craigslists, even in China. We looked at the Beijing one for cars and trucks and found this—apparently a Vietnamese person showing support for Japan in the Senkaku islands (尖閣諸島) / 钓鱼岛 debate. So let me repeat that. We found a supposed Vietnamese person engaging in a debate between China and Japan on a Beijing craigslist for selling cars and trucks. How does this even happen?
Finally, dinner in the clouds. A top floor 火锅 (hotpot) restaurant, full of people and steaming-hot food. Great fun! An awesome day!
