User Comments - John

Profile picture

John

Posted on: Yang Jie's Diary: Everyone Is Dating
September 19, 2007 at 3:30 AM

Grammar Guide entry: 除了

Posted on: Arrival in Jizhou
September 19, 2007 at 2:11 AM

changye, 你这个猜测是因为“空落“两个字，是吗？空=太空，落=落地？ 猜得有道理，但我们暂时保密……

Posted on: Arrival in Jizhou
September 19, 2007 at 2:06 AM

mark, Just in case you didn't follow wildyaks' explanation, 空落族 (Kōngluò-zú) is the name of the fictitious minority group which populates the town of Jizhou. (It's not a word you need to memorize!)

Posted on: Arrival in Jizhou
September 19, 2007 at 2:02 AM

wildyaks, I think you're totally right to bring up these points. I've lived in China long enough to know that minority peoples are normally characterized as "singing dancing colorful people." One need only watch the 春节联欢晚会 every Spring Festival (or countless other similar shows all year long) to notice this. Does anyone really believe these people and their cultures are that one-dimensional? The issue of how the minority people are treated in their own homeland by Han is a more difficult one, since very few of us can directly observe what goes on. We'll try to be more careful about what "facts" we present in the story. Let me just say that we have no bad intentions toward any minority people, and the reason we made it a fictitious minority people in a fictitious town is that we didn't want to be unfair to any specific minority group. In the end, we're just trying to tell a story, and we are trying to be fair about it.

Posted on: Yang Jie's Diary: Everyone Is Dating
September 19, 2007 at 1:22 AM

tucsonmichael, Oops, I never meant to imply that diaries are a waste of time or anything like that. I was just sharing a funny little diary experience from my childhood. I had a much better diary/journal/scrapbook experience from the year I spent in Japan.

Posted on: Death by Ninja
September 18, 2007 at 7:27 AM

Jump the shark? No, I think that was the Alien Abduction lesson. And then the ninja disemboweled the shark and carved it up into sushi. Hmmm, maybe we also need a lesson on sharks...

Posted on: Personal Questions and Bargaining
September 18, 2007 at 4:21 AM

TaiPan, If 和气生财 (héqì shēng cái) means "amiability will make you rich," then 残酷生财 (cánkù shēng cái) means "ruthlessness will make you rich." It's not a real saying. go gators

Posted on: Beauty Pageant Registration
September 18, 2007 at 4:20 AM

山医生, Glad you like it, and we're always happy to see a new face in the comments! (Go to your profile to personalize your username. There's a direct link in the footer, directly under "Conversations.")

Posted on: Beauty Pageant Registration
September 18, 2007 at 4:18 AM

darylk, Glad you enjoyed. Let's hope that two college students' meager allowances are not enough to hire a ninja's services. :)

Posted on: Beauty Pageant Registration
September 18, 2007 at 4:16 AM

luobinzhenmei, If the females ever seem catty, it's done in the interest of drama. We're not misogynists over here, trust us!