User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Sleepy

You're correct, the speaker says 玩儿 but the 'correct' answer is 玩. The exercises are all linked to each other and the expansion sentences, so you can check in the multiple choice section what the answer is in the dictation section that will be deemed correct.

They are interchangeable although 玩儿 is more natural.

You have the satisfaction of knowing that you detected the 玩儿 regardless of what mark it gave you.

Posted on: Rainbow

It does have a bluish tinge to me - pure black (and white) are very rare in real life, hey?

Posted on: Rainbow

ROYGBIV - one of the few things that has stuck in my brain from primary school. 

That comment about oranges not from China: I counted once about 12 different words for the fruit we call orange in Chinese. I think that maybe they haven't settled on a way to express it yet, although 橙子 is the most common. (cf. 'potato' - about 20 or so different expressions for an imported food.) 

In China they do not differentiate between tangerine and mandarin as far as I can tell - they are both 橘子。 They are different fruits with distinctive tastes but this is apparently not important enough to warrant separate words. The mandarin is more commonly available than tangerine. Imported mandarins (from places like Qld) compete with local mandarins. 

Some colours from Yunnan: 

碧 bì (blue-green) [cf. 青 green-blue] in 金马碧鸡坊 (Golden Horse Green Chicken Square)

翠 cuì (green) in 翠湖 cuìhú (Green Lake)

Posted on: 相声

búyào tiāo lǐwù de máobìng! (Can't get my pinyin input to work.)

Posted on: 相声

Hey Baba,

ha ha (sorry your question was to Connie and I'm certainly going to be a disappointment) but I think he's giving you a preview of 大笑的笑, starting to say 笑 when he wants to say 大笑的笑. I like it that these discussions are not perfect sentences - that's how people speak in real life. A s-s-stuttering start to the sentence (no disrespect at all meant to David.)

Posted on: The Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism

'Iron man suit'

Very droll indeed - I'm sitting here giggling, maybe it is the sight of the oh-so-white Australian sand that made me emotional. You know first glance at the link .. Holmes-Ironman-..I was sure I was going to get a photo of Robert (I don't do drugs) Downy Jr. in some shape or form, possibly being ripped apart by a hairy animal. But no, yet again you surprised me. Thanks Baba for brightening up an otherwise wintry day in China (where I'm sure the temperature in my house did not get above about 3 degrees.) :)

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

Sounds delicious - that was in Sichuan right? I have eaten 锅贴 in 乐山 but they were all bread (as I remember) with that golden brown bottom and steamed on top, so sweet. Now I can't eat wheat so I just have the memory.

Posted on: The Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism

'dont forget the terror monkeys'

Ha ha, I was giving everyone a rest from monkey stories. But now you raise it, Buddhism itself is thought to be the root problem here: the monks apparently resist any attempts to rein in what is a serious risk to humans. Respect for (monkey) life has the unintended consequence of risking the life of people who choose to visit these mountains. If I go back to E'mei Shan I can imagine equipping myself with one of those Iron Man suits would be useful.

Posted on: The Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism

Hi veronique

The link from toianw gives you one answer to the question about folk religions (about 1/3 of the total are not included in the five registered religions), in particular reference to worshipping legendary figures:

'the five official religions account for 67.4 percent of religious adherents in China. Many of the unregistered believers were said to worship legendary figures such as the Dragon King or God of Fortune. According to a report from the U.S. State Department, groups that the Chinese government classifies as "cults" (such as the Falun Gong, Zhong Gong, and a variety of Christian sects) account for many of the unregistered believers as well.'

This more or less accords with my suggestion that the largest group is to be found in folk religion, but I have seen an academic source drawing on research in SE China that suggests that the extent of folk religion has been greatly under-estimated by official sources. These folk religions do not fall into a neat category because the practices vary widely from place to place.

Posted on: The Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism

' What is the most important "religion"?'

A few years ago I would have assumed that Buddhism had the numbers in China (even though Daoism is the home-grown religion) but now my vote goes to indigenous folk religions. Of course this depends on your definition of 'important'.

Why do people go to the Sacred Mountains?

I think all of those reasons you mention are important. In my case I have been to a few mountains because they are such an important part of Chinese mythology and culture. You should go to at least one, just for the experience! :)