Beijing Opera

Beijing opera (Jing Ju) is a purely Chinese opera form which dates back to the year 1790. Jing Ju absorbed the tunes of Kun Qu, Qin Qiang, Bang Zi and other local operas.
	For the roles, different colors of the faces represent different characters and personality. Yellow and white represent cunning, red stands for uprightness and loyalty, black means valor and wisdom, blue and green indicate the vigorous and enterprising character of rebellious heroes and gold and silver represent mystic or super-natural power.
	In general, there are four different roles. positive male role, positive female role, supporting male role and clown. Jing Ju fans call themselves "piao you". Everybody loves Jing Ju, rich people and poor people. In Chen Kai Ge's movie "Ba Wang Bie Ji"(Farewell My Concubine), you can see how hot Jing Ju is among fans. In China, especially in Beijing, sometimes you come across with people singing in a street corner.

The Fifth Week

We entered the fifth week of Mag's Mandarin lessons. She had one two hours lesson per week and study on her own the rest of the time through online lessons. She travels quite some time and has heavy work load.

It works out really well. We have done eight weeks work in five weeks, and judging from her pronunciation, her vacabulary pool, and the ability to use what she has learned, the over all result is really good.

A new member of Mandarin Express Family

Basic Level A Work Book finally rolled out.

From the first scratch to the finial production, it took about nine months. Grace did the most writing and I added some and did the editing. E book version will be available probably next month.

So now I feel pretty good.

'A' Stands for Arabic

I have come across this interesting article in Newsweek. Americans have been urged to take up the language. For many, it's a lucrative choice. (of course, the article is talking about Arabic)

You can read the whole article here.


There are other talks about an increasing number of high paying jobs in China or in Chinese companies. It might be another lucrative choice.

wo shi xin huiyuan

jintian wo ganggang canjia le zhe ge boke, hen gaoxing.
shangge zhoumo wo ganggang cong Nanjing hui Xianggang, Nanjing shi wo de laojia, wo yijing chabuduo sannian meiyou huiqu le, zhe ci huiqu, wo faxian le yi ge xin de wanyir. wo de pengyou dai wo qu le yi ge difang, jiao QingQiuYu, women zhi fu le 40 kuai RenMinBi.
Jinqu yihou, keyi xizao, chi zizhucan, shangwang, kan dianshi huozhe dianying, da pingpang qiu, baoling qiu, jianshen, da MaJiang dengdeng. Wo de pengyou shuo , 40 kuai qian keyi dai zai limian 12 ge xiaoshi, birushuo, zaoshang 9 dian jinqu, keyi zai wanshang 9 dian huozhe yiqian chulai jiu keyi le, ruguo wanshang 6 dian jinqu, name di'ertian zaoshang 6 dian huozhe yiqian chulai jiu keyi le. suoyi you yitian, wo he wo de jiaren ye qu le, women zaoshang 8 dian jinqu xile zao, ranhou yi qi qu chi zaofan, ranhou yiqi qu da majiang,ranhou.... yizhi dao wanshang 8 dian women cai huijia, nage shihou, women yijing chi le wanfan, xile zao, huijia jiu keyi shuijiao huozhe zuo shenme bie de le. zhen shi ting you yisi!
ni zhidao shenzhen huozhe xianggang you zheyang de difang ma?

A good start

Mag is a busy person. Recently she started her Mandarin lessons with the new option: private lessons + online lessons. She is the first to do this. Let's see some facts:

We have had two lessons, total 4 hours. And she spent time listening to the audio lessons at home or on the ferry and learn the meaning of the words and pronunciation. So when we were in our lesson, the focus is on maximum practice. So, in these 4 hours, she has accomplished at least 6 hours of usual class time.

I shall say it's a good start!


www.msllearningcenter.com

Learning through songs

Learning songs are a great way in learning a new language.

I remember when I was learning English, I learned lots of Carpenters songs. I really like Yesterday Once More. For people who know me, they all know I can't sing. But that doesn't stop me learning quite a few English songs for self entertaining and for a better pronunciation. I tried some rock stuff, but that really doesn't work for me at all.

Now in my lessons, sometimes I used Deng Li Jun's songs. Her slow while clear and beautiful singing is really perfect for learning Mandarin. That's probably why her Yueliang Daibiao Wo de Xin is super popular among Mandarin learners.

Although Deng Li Jun is long gone, her beautiful voice remains.

What to learn first?

There are lots of (a lot more than before) kids are taking Mandarin at school. Lucky them! They won't have as much difficulty as grown ups do. For adult learners, a great deal effort need to be made, especially when they don't have as much time and energy as children do.

Some people are willing to quit their jobs and take full time program, while some people take lessons after work. No matter which way you go, it's good to have some basic guidelines when you first start, and some dos and donts.

Here's the donts:
1. At the beginning, don't learn too many new structures (or grammar rules).
Learn too many new rules only make you choke and too self-concious. Know some general rules, and maximumly use them can boost confident. People tend to understand confident speakers more.

2. At the beginning, don't jump start to listen to news.
You really don't get much out of listening to news at the beginning. It's really waste of time. The experiment goes that even baby couldn't learn anything from watching TV. Listen to something approperiate. You can ditch anything contains more than 10% new vacab or new structure.

Here's the dos:
1. Learn relevant stuff.
It makes more sense if you learn "zhe tai diannao bi na tai diannao gui." (This computer is more expensive than that computer.) than "zhe gen qianbi bi na gen qianbi jian." (This pencil is sharper than that pencil.)

2. Be resourceful.
It works better if you can maximumly use what you have learned than constantly adding new vocabulary to your flash card. For example, you want to ask "how did you meet Susan?". But you don't know how to say "how". Instead, you have learned "when" and "where". So you can voice you question this way: ni zai nar renshi le Susan? ni shen me shihou renshi le Susan? (where did you meet Susan? When did you meet Susan?) You can quickly develop fluency only by being resourceful.

Practice with Children

If you are around with some children aged between 5 to 10 years old and their native language is Mandarin Chinese, you should practice your Manarin with them.

They are really good pals, and will never laugh at you if you make a mistake. They will be all heartedly trying to communicate with you! Real communications, and it's fun and you get to know more about Chinese people.

Once I was at a beach in Hainan , (there are many beautiful beaches there, by the way.) and saw a family of three, dad, mum and their about 7 or 8 years old daughter, sitting there. There was a white man walking on the beach, and was passing them. And this little girl saw him and she handed a sea shell to him and ask:" ni cong nali lai a?" This white man took the shell, but didn't answer the little girl for a very obvious reason: he didn't understand her at all! So this sweet little girl kept asking the same question several times until the white man murmured something back. Eventually they had a nice little conversation using two languages. The little girl's parents sitting there, also joined the conversation. But it didn't last long, and the white man's friend came and got him away.

Next time, be prepared. If there is a sweet little Chinese girl handing you a sea shell, talk to her and practice your Mandarin!

They are not only demo lessons; they are real stuff.

After several weeks of harding working, I am pleased to complete the last test for Chinese Reading and Writing 2. That means, there are over 60 lessons available for Chinese Reading and Writing 1 and 2.

That, for a complete new beginner in Chinese reading and writing field, means three to six months study.

Now time will tell if this can be truely helpful for people who take interests in Chinese characters and show them some very interesting and exciting part of being able to read and write. The real exciting part is the first two books only deal with 120 characters, however, these amazing 120 characters are extremely powerful to form passages.

It has been fun doing it. I hope people will have fun learning it!

New Feature! - online demo lessons

I am putting lessons together with a really cool software, and the result is some cool online lessons. Now you can watch two short demo lessons on how to set up Chinese input method in Windows XP operating system, and how to use pinyin to input Chinese characters.

These two demo lessons are available at Freebie Center.

The technology is indeed advancing fast!

Seminar: Learning Chinese Characters Using eStoke.

Learning Chinese Reading and Writing is fanscinating. It's also challenging.

The first task is to get familiar with Chinese characters system and stroke orders. Then to proceed to words, sentences and paragraph will be quite easy.

With the new software eStroke, learning Chinese characters has never been easier! This software is designed for non-Chinese people. The features include:

• Animated characters stroke order.

• Support copy and past; drag and drop; and other Chinese input system.

• Show Pinyin and English meaning of each character.

• Produce speech.

• Displaying radical stroke.

• Pronouncing strokes name.

• Support both simplified characters and traditional characters.

• Control animation speed.

• Thousands of registered users.

• Free upgrade.

• Free technical support.

We invite you to come to our seminar to see the demonstration of how to use this software!

Schedle: June 16, 2005 (Friday)
Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Admission: HKD50 per person

Please register by or before June 13 at MSL Learning Center.

Summer Great Fun - Party On The Boat

It’s time to dip into the water, avoid city stress, relax yourself, and refresh yourself! Bring someone!!

Our next activity is a boat trip:

Date: June 4, 2006 (Sunday)

Time: 10 am – 5pm

Sign up Fee: HKD 300 / person

Including:

Boat trip! Water skiing!! Speed boat!!! Banana boat!!!

Buffet Lunch and more!

Come on, seat limited, register in a hurry!!!

Register before May 30 (Tuesday) at MSL Learning Center.

* We must have at least five participants.

The Freebies

A new page was recently published to the site www.msllearningcenter.com . This page contains some free stuff that you hardly come across in your mandarin lessons. Not that you will use it often, but sometimes it's good to know! It's free! So feel free to download!

Here's the link freebies.

Easter Weekend

A fantasic view from Kowloon.
This is about everywhere in Hong Kong, isn't it?





Lantau's misty mountain. The weather during Easter is actually quite cold and wet.



Lantau's crowded, busy and fun camp site.

Trip to Yunnan

I recently spent a week in Yunnan. The first place I visited was Kunming, which is known as the "Spring City" because of its year-round warm weather. Kunming is a modern city, with a friendly and relaxed feel to it.

My hotel in Kunming was next to a lake (the Green Lake) where the locals like to hang out on the weekends. Around the edge of the lake were cafes and bars, and various hawkers selling food and other things. It is a great place to wander around.

From Kunming, I took the train to Dali. The train trip usually takes about 7 hours. Dali is an old town surrounded by city walls. Inside, many of the traditional buildings have been converted to shops, guest houses and cafes. At night, the town is lit up with lights, giving it a festive atmosphere. The major ethnic group of the Dali region are the Baizu people, who have their own language, traditional dress and dance. They are very friendly people.

From Dali, I headed off to Lijiang (about 3 hours away by bus). Like Dali, Lijiang retains its traditional buildings. The old town is, however, much bigger than Dali and is a maze of winding streets and canals. It is very pretty.

The major ethnic group of the Lijiang area are the Naxi people. Like the Baizu people, the Naxi have their own traditional language, dress and dance, and are very friendly. In the main town square, the old people gather each day and perform dances for the tourists. At night, the town lights up with red lanterns and many of the restaurants and bars have performers singing Naxi songs and dancing Naxi dances.

There are a variety of short trips that can be done from Lijiang. These include visits to Baisha and Shuhe (both old Naxi villages), Yulong Xueshan (a nearby mountain) and Tiger Leaping Gorge. From Lijiang, it is a short 40 minute flight back to Kunming.

If you are ever contemplating a trip to Yunnan province, I would seriously recommend you go!

Learning for living

Aygul Keyoumu has come a long way to earn her doctorate in Moscow.
Aygul is originally from Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Province in China. Located in the middle of the Eurasian continent, Ürümqi is the most inland city in the world, located 1,400 miles from the nearest coastline.

Read more on The University of Idaho Argonaut.

A Great Night

Winning team's drawing when we were playing pictionary. Did you know what these things are?











Only these two people didn't like the movie much.







Mar 25th was such a fun night.

The only problem was that it was kind of difficult to find Gloria's bar at the first time, at least for me and Tim. But once you know where it is, it's just right there.

We watched the movie Yi Yi. It was a nice movie. You can listen to how people liked it through our podcast. We had a drink, and later on played a board game Pictionary. It was hilarious. What you see here was the drawing from the winning team, Paul, Tim and me.

It was such a great time! The plan for the future is that we will have a Mandarin night every Monday. Gloria will be your host and she is very happy to speak Mandarin with you!

Please pass around the words. Let's help each other and creat more opportunities to practice your Mandarin outside of classroom, and also meet some interesting people.

Basic Level B Audio Lessons Now Available!

Check out our online catalog for the newly released Basic Level B Audio Lessons!

Basic Level A audio lessons now available

There are ten audio lessons in total covering the entire Basic Level A.

If you are interested, check it out at our online catalog.