User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Renting an Apartment through an Agent

China has a long history of successfully building in earthquake zones. But I am sure that there is always something to be learnt from American town planners and engineers. One thing I have observed in China is a willingness to look around the world for best practice (my own city has a relationship with European cities). During the devastating 2008 earthquake Chengdu was subjected to multiple quakes and tremors that continued for many months - as far as I know no substantial building failed. I am not sure what California's record is like but I would be surprised if the Chinese haven't had a good look and adopted anything useful.

Posted on: Wrong Way on the Subway

Hi barbs

You may have worked this out by now but for the record:

- the numbering refers to metro and 'light rail' lines; inter-city lines, the old heavy rail, are not numbered (coloured grey in the map, with stations at 火车站，南站，西站，etc.)

- metro is usually or mostly underground but not necessarily - being entirely underground is not a necessary characteristic of metros around the world

- 'light rail' in China is a kind of Chinese special - it does not mean exactly the same as the term 'light rail' used in the West. In the Western world this is more like a tram and almost always runs above ground and sometimes on the road used by cars and buses. Light rail in China looks rather like metro but often has overhead sections. Some overhead sections of the network in SH are referred to as light rail. This may also refer to trains using fewer cars, and therefore shorter station platforms. Beijing also has a 'light rail' that is more or less integrated with the metro.

PS. In Kunming a network is under construction that is referred to as a metro in some sources and light rail in others. It will have underground and above ground sections (but not overhead as far as I can work out.)

Posted on: Chinese Fruits

Two things:

1. You are a master Googler. :)

2. That Chinese title for Civilization & its Discontents has me spinning - it is so plain yet .. poetic. Love the character 满 。。

Posted on: Chinese Fruits

Is there a comic version?

Sorry - graphic novel. :)

Posted on: Wrong Way on the Subway

okay, now you press me for detail. Yes, in SH there is potential for confusion particularly because (I think I am right in saying) SH 火车站 and 火车南站 are both on the one line. 火车南站 has been nicely upgraded just a few years back so more inter-city trains terminate there now. If not a local you may mistakenly refer to 火车南站 as 火车站. If you were on this metro line you would probably need to be specific (either side of the conversation). But this is an Elementary lesson as you say.

Incidentally, when travelling to and from any city you need to be very clear about which station a train leaves from and which station it arrives at. The 火车站 rarely handles all services.

Posted on: Chinese Fruits

姑娘和小姐一样的意思差不多。

“你喜欢佛洛伊德吗？“

哈哈 - 我很喜欢他 - 昨天我买了一本书叫‘Civilization and its Discontents' .. to replace a copy I have in storage somewhere. I loved reading it first in 1983 and want to revisit it. I plan to bring some of it into my classes this semester.

Posted on: Wrong Way on the Subway

Hi Barbs, the writer of this lesson was no doubt thinking of Shanghai so THE train station is the SH 火车站, the main train station a little north of the centre of town. This is the station where a number of inter-city services terminate, and it is on a few of the subway lines. In any Chinese city the 火车站 means the main train station.

Some cities including SH have more than one 'main' train station but even in these situations one is usually dominant and that is the 火车站. If in doubt, you do have to be more specific - eg. the east station, the south station, the north station etc.

Jen_not_jenny refers to the typical situation where a metro system has been grafted on to an older all above-ground system (sometimes misleadingly referred to as the 'heavy rail' system).

Posted on: Wrong Way on the Subway

According to Wikipaedia China currently has metros operating in 11 cities; the 12th metro (Chengdu) will commence 1 October 2010, in about seven weeks time.  

Posted on: Chinese Fruits

I'm not sure about your 娘 break down in fact - 姑娘 is I think more formal than 娘. I think 娘 by itself does actually denote 'young woman', at least in some parts of the country, or more colloquially. What is really cool is that from 娘 to 娘娘 you can go from mere girl to actual goddess. :)

I am also not sure of your assessment that this would cause a loss in status. From a sample of admittedly just 2 or 3, Chinese women have told me that they like to be flattered this way - eg. being called 小姐 when they should perhaps be 阿姨. But I don't put myself forward as an expert on how to address women in any culture.

Posted on: Chinese Fruits

I agree, nice post. I can't help thinking that the Chinese would think that our ramblings on this topic are kind of weird. I really don't know if it pertains more to 'mother' than 'young woman' but I would be surprised if any Chinese person (other than the really nerdy) even thinks about it. It is mainly a foreign addiction this de-constructing the language. Fun too. People actually address both the man and wife as 老板, I have never heard 老板娘 'on the street' but I will keep an ear out for it. Then when I hear it I will inquire:

你说‘娘’，对吧？ 老板娘的娘？ 很有意思。 在这个词，这个词句，这是姑娘的意思，还是妈妈的意思？

还有‘老板’是不是礼貌的话？ ‘老板娘’是不是礼貌的话？ 都是礼貌的话？