User Comments - jennyzhu
jennyzhu
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day
April 7, 2008 at 5:13 AM清明 was traditionally for honoring and remembering dead ancestors. But now, many people mostly honor their most immediate relatives, not the entire family ancestry. For example, in my family, we only visit my grandpas' tombs. When they were alive, there weren't any special memorial rituals for their parents. We'd pay respects to them more in the form of paying emotional homage, instead of going to their burial places, because they passed away rather early on, and most of the family members had very little personal contact with them. In addition, they were buried in their hometowns quite far from Shanghai. So logistically, it was very difficult to arrange such a trip every year. That's my family's 清明节, not to generalise for the entire population. But it's quite representative of how people observe this festival in large cities.
Posted on: Detroit
April 6, 2008 at 4:43 PMMany 底特律朋友/Detroitans? out there. The city series has turned out to be a great glue that brings people together and prompts first time comments. Thanks for sharing your experiences! PS The Pistons/活塞队/huo2 sai1 dui4.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day
April 5, 2008 at 4:55 PMThe fresh green colour of 青团/qing1 tuan2/green rice balls symbolizes spring, which is the time of 清明节. That's one of the origins of this tradition.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day
April 5, 2008 at 4:38 PMI went to 扫墓 today, my grandpas. There were countless bouquets of 菊花/ju2 hua1/chrysanthemum, the flower of choice for condolences and remembrance.
Posted on: 六一儿童节
April 5, 2008 at 4:29 PM同事的口音各有特色，很真实。 henning, 你去过花果山吗？孙悟空的地盘。
Posted on: April Fool's
April 3, 2008 at 6:52 AMadamb, 番茄和西红柿都是tomato. Only these 2 names, phew. Potato always has 2 names, 土豆/tu3 dou4 and 马铃薯/ma3 ling2 shu3. Interestingly, Chinese learners of English always confuse the words tomato and potato. But in Taiwan, 土豆 is peanuts.
Posted on: Can you Speak Chinese?
April 3, 2008 at 2:42 AMhitokiri6993, Lesson is 课/ke4. 我喜欢这课。/I like this lesson. triphazard, Add 真的/zhen1 de/really might help. 我的中文真的不好。/wo3 de zhong1 wen2 zhen1 de bu4 hao3./ My Chinese really isn't good. And I guess it will become self-evident after a few exchanges that you are not just being modest.
Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Math class
April 3, 2008 at 2:30 AM我很喜欢这个系列。A great way to learn specialised language and topics, combined with interesting interpersonal and cultural observations.
Posted on: April Fool's
April 1, 2008 at 3:11 PMI thought the free baseball T shirt promo on the homepage was our April Fool's joke...
Posted on: 阶级意识
April 8, 2008 at 3:03 AM现在的中国是阶级交叉。 许多人经历巨大的阶级变化，从底层到上层，就是几年的时间。