Yunnan

So where does the sun go for the other 6 hrs? :)

hehe, mate, you should get a job running their tourist bureau. You'd do a sterling job. At any rate, they should be paying you already. :)

I've just withdrawn Changye's job offer .. the job is yours. :-)

可以说一胖儒艮，或一丑儒艮。。

或者又胖又丑的。。

I'm kidding BTW. I thought I should provide a product warning because it was beginning to look like Chinese.

If we let the Japanese eat dugong there would be none left! ;-)

Actually, eating the dugong is not the problem; the problem is what to do with the leftovers (think of a small sea-borne elephant.)

I like to eat whale, but don't have the heart to eat dugong. Is that tasty?

"They deserve their own purpose-built measure word, that applies to 'ugly objects'. "

哈哈。I suppose 啤酒瓶的眼镜 is too long for a measure word.Do you think just 啤 for short could work [on an understood basis]?

比如说：“哇，你看在那边八啤儒艮”..here 8 is not referring the number of dugongs though...rather the requisite number of 啤酒...a very special type of measure word.How to indicate the number then?..maybe good old reduplication.

哇，你看在那边三啤八啤儒艮。。。wa,look yonder at those 3 dugongs

儒说胡说...they do have whiskers btw

I try not to discriminate against any of God's creatures but the dugong could possibly be the ugliest animal alive. They deserve their own purpose-built measure word, that applies to 'ugly objects'.

And yet the Chinese award the dugong a distinguished word like 儒艮 rúgèn; sounds very auspicious. A transliteration I think, 差不多。 But an alternative word, according to Bill Gates, and here's a link to the mermaid story, is 人鱼 rényú ... LOL! (人鱼 is also the word for mermaid.)

You know, I wonder if our Changye moonlights as a Chinese dictionary consultant! He has the right sense of humour for the job.

hehe, yeah changye is a classic,and great answer bodawei. Your "greater legal access" comment reminded me of an article a while ago about their legal right to hunt dugongs [reputedly the origin of the mermaid story....those sailors really must have been on the turps ,hehe]...don't think they'd qualify for a 条 measure word though [although mermaids might]

Ha ha, you're a classic, Changye. The aboriginal population have greater legal access to the wildlife than other Australians and they seem to prefer grubs, snakes and the goanna, which is a big lizard. (Maybe there is a pattern with things that take the measure word 条.) And the tail of the kangaroo, which also uses 条. Oh, ... and turtles.

Which is most tasty? This is important when your try to export animals to China.

I wonder if Chinese zoos are interested in other Australian fauna - kangaroos, echidna, wombats, dingos, taipans, flat-tailed dunnarts. Eastern water dragons (they almost sound Chinese), kookaburras, butcherbirds. The birds are what I miss here - none of the bird calls are familiar.

'Australians' are held in high regard in mainland China I think (like many people many Chinese do not hold back on stereotyping). Well, apart from a certain mining executive. And I'm sure that warm fuzzy feeling would extend to animals, specially warm fuzzy animals.

PS. Which zoo are they in, do you know?

天啊! ...yeah,I've heard too that what you get at restaurants isn't always exactly what you've ordered...sometimes near enough is good enough.I believe though that when the koalas were transferred about 5 years ago there were some pretty strict guidelines put in place about how they were to be treated,so I think there'll be none o' tha'.

The word “考拉” (kao3la1) just reminds me of “烤鸭” (kao3ya1, roast duck).

lol ,

I think they'd chose 考拉 because it has the least syllables and they wouldn't want their sleep disturbed by 3 syllables,they're pretty lazy [and so wouldn't wanna bother with 3 syllables nor would they like to learn something too distant from the English koala so I think a transliteration would suit them best],and because a koala is not a bear...we even have a song about that.

Absolutely - reputedly they have grumpy natures, so don't argue with them.

Hi bodawei

Let koalas pick the one they like best!

Hi Changye

Actually, like in the case of 'potato' the Chinese cannot seem to settle on a word for 'imports.' The dictionary will give you the choice of 树袋熊, 无尾熊 and 考拉 ...

In practice 考拉 kao3la1 is how a Koala is usually referred to.

Koala bear is “树袋熊” in Chinese. It's very graphic and explanatory, as is often the case with Chinese words.

yep;to zoos of course.I knew one of the guys that helped transport and advise them.

Did they imported koala bears from Australia too?

Hi Changye

Quite right, it's very dry - some crops have been hit hard. Attempts at cloud seeding have not been too successful. But they do not have public water conservation campaigns like we have in Australia - they could do a lot more. (I mentioned elsewhere a campaign in our university to save water.) There are no published limits to water use here in the city.

Of course the province is widely planted with eucalypts (gum trees) from Australia - so at least the vegetation is used to the dry conditions.

There was great excitement last night, someone rang and told us it 'was raining' but we didn't get any at our place, just a big wind.

You're right (ever on the ball); I made a couple of errors in my pinyin - it is 香格里拉 xiang ge li la.

oh right,sorry I didn't realise that was the pinyin for it.Hang on,I should look up the Hanzi then.Here it is:

香格里拉....is what I've found.

I can't find the hanzi equivalent of your pinyin.I presume that it starts with 山。

Hi Barbs

I wrote the pinyin for Shangerila (that is, Shangri La in English). I had the opportunity to visit a few years ago when in the general area but the roads were impassable because of snow; I've never been. I'm less attracted now it has become a major tourist destination with many people flying in. There are many other Tibetan destinations in Yunnan and Sichuan that compete in a way with Shangerila if it is Tibetan culture that is your interest.

There is a gay scene in several cities - as far as I know, even though it is quite obvious, the bars are strictly speaking illegal (someone may correct me here.) When the Dali bar opened it was widely reported as the first legal gay bar. As you say I think enforcement is light at best. Mostly the police turn a blind eye. (I am bound to be corrected with particular examples.) What I can say is that gay culture seems to flourish in some places and the general population tolerate or ignore it. It is not something that most people like to talk about.

Awesome post bodawei!! Highly informative and entertaining as usual.I've learnt a lot.

"only legal gay bar"

..I read a book that seemed to suggest there were heaps of them in Beijing..the section described the "gayjing" scene,but I s'pose it wasn't clear on whether any of them were legal.Come to think of it,I think it was a case of being tolerated/blind eye as long as they didn't make too much noise,so I guess officially they must have been illegal.

btw I would add Shangri la county...a place in north west Yunnan as a place that has tried to claim to be the location of the fictional Shangri la,as an interesting tourist attraction.Anyone been there?