Just what you’ve always wanted: Dora the Explorer (爱探险的朵拉 ài tànxiǎn de Duǒlā) and SpongeBob SquarePants (海绵宝宝 hǎi mián bǎobǎo) in Chinese!
Watch Chinese cartoons Sponge Bob & Dora the Explorer
I can’t decide if Chinese SpongeBob or English SpongeBob is more obnoxious. Either way, if anyone knows of any good Chinese kids shows for learning Mandarin (or good iPhone apps), please let us know!
China’s a very interesting place right now in terms of sex education, sexual behaviour, and tenacious, strong taboos surrounding discussion of sex.
When we first landed in Tianjin (2007) we walked to Chinese class, and noticed that the walls lining the sidewalk outside of residential and school compounds had condom boxes affixed to them. The anonymous (though still public) nature of the transaction made sense to me, given that sex talk was still very much taboo and buying condoms at a convenience or grocery store risked a scowl or scolding from the cashier if the customer looked young.
Here’s a picture of one kind (they didn’t all come with cute posters and fancy framing):
关注生殖健康，共建和谐家园
Pay Attention to Reproductive Health, Together Build a Harmonious Home
关注生殖健康，构建和谐社会
Pay Attention to Reproductive Health, Construct a Harmonious Society
安全套售货机
Condom Vending Machine (They chose “safety cover” 安全套 rather than “contraception cover” 避孕套。)
Contraceptive Social Marketing
I was reminded of these things by a recent e-mail from the author of this article: “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Didn’t Learn Because You Grew Up in China): Despite the one-child policy, millions of Chinese citizens don’t know how to have sex without getting pregnant”, and much of it rings true to what we’ve seen volunteering with a sex ed. project in Tianjin — for example, the practical difficulty of implementing sex ed. directives:
his teacher forced an assistant—who until then had not taught a single lesson—to lead the class. The younger instructor stood in front of the students red with embarrassment, unable to broach the subject. Eventually, the students were told to read the chapter themselves.
The article makes for a decent introduction to the current sex ed. situation in China, tying together the state of Chinese sex ed., cultural taboos surrounding sex talk, traditional Chinese patriarchal gender roles, the rampant, uninformed sexual activity among students, the lack of birth control use and China’s abortion epidemic.
Here’s more on sex ed., cultural taboos, and current sexual behaviour in China, including stuff about the university sex ed. project we’ve volunteered with:
Even an untrained, inattentive eye will notice evidence of the pervasive prostitution industry in Tianjin. If you’re clued in to the typical indicators, you’ll see that it’s a flourishing open secret, hiding in plain sight. Study some Chinese and read up on Chinese society, and it will ooze all the more out of your increasingly legible and intelligible surroundings. In the especially attuned gaze of a group of local women who are actively reaching out to the girls and trying to provide them with alternatives, prostitution in Tianjin is like an advanced form of malignant cancer, metastasized deep into the cultural and economic fabric of the city. And Tianjin is certainly not special in this regard.
Prostitution is so ubiquitous that the clueless can accidentally find themselves in very, shall we say, unintended circumstances. It needs no red light district. Walking along the nicely treed side street to our former apartment complex, with the WèiJīn canal (卫津河) and ZǐJīnShān Rd. (紫金山路) on your right and buildings on your left, you’ll find, in order: a first-floor window converted into a sex toy shop, a bar with prostitutes, a restaurant, a bath house with prostitutes, a karaoke club with prostitutes, a preschool, our apartment buildings, and a foot-massage parlour with prostitutes.
I’m reminded of all this because I’m reading Factory Girls and came across this bit describing the garbage-strewn side streets of a factory city in the south [p.111]:
the walls of the buildings were plastered with ads for gonorrhea and syphilis clinics; in China these flyers broke out like rashes wherever prostitution thrived.
But this actually describes our second Tianjin apartment complex, which is full of retired university professors and their families, with an elementary school across the street, and is, I want to emphasize, a normal Tianjin neighbourhood; we weren’t living in a migrant worker ghetto. And it’s saturated with these kinds of ads. There are six of them just on one side of the main gate, and we accidentally ended up broadcasting three more all over North America when we announced our second pregnancy via a photo taken outside the entrance to our stairwell, which was also plastered with them. Basically no matter where you look in our neighbourhood, if you can read Chinese you see “VENEREAL DISEASE, GONORRHEA, SYPHILIS” in big bold black font. Here’s a closer look at one ad, with a partial translation (mouseover the Chinese for pronunciation):
Venereal Disease One-shot Effectiveness
性病一针灵
Imported Western medicine, one shot gives the desired effect, will never recur
进口西药 一针见效 永不复发
Gonorrhea (specialized outpatient service) syphilis
淋病[专科门诊]梅毒
Inflamed glans, prostatitis, spermiduct pus, painful and difficult urination,
龟头红肿、前列腺炎、精管流脓、尿痛尿难、
syphilis buds, pubic lice and itching, acute viral genital warts, vaginal odor
梅毒花蕾、阴虱阴痒、尖锐湿疣、白带恶臭
Acute viral genital warts (cauliflower-shaped granulation/anal warts) removed then
尖锐湿疣[菜花状肉芽/肛门湿疣]当时脱落
Chlamydia, mycoplasma, non-gonococcal urethritis
衣原体 支原体 非淋菌性尿道炎
So you can imagine how becoming partially literate in Chinese can change the feel of a place.
In the months before we temporarily left Tianjin for the second time, Jessica was volunteering with a group of women who reach out to local women in prostitution. Originally, part of the idea was to help these girls find other jobs, but it was difficult finding people willing to hire them. So the group created jobs by starting a jewelry workshop as a viable first big step out of prostitution.
Related stuff on sex and Chinese society:
The children’s story 鸭子农夫 (Farmer Duck) is fun to read out loud, usefully repetitive for language learning, and contains some interesting vocab. And as a special China-related bonus, it’s ominously, vaguely Orwellian. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t let your kids watch The Smurfs for political reasons, then you probably won’t like this book.
You can mouseover the Chinese text below to see the pronunciation and translation, or download a PDF that has the Chinese, pinyin, and back-translated English.
Download: Yazi-Nongfu.pdf
从前有只鸭子，和一个农夫一起生活。鸭子要干所有的活儿，农夫只管整天赖在床上。
鸭子到地里把牛牵回来。
农夫嚷嚷：“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
鸭子回答：“嘎嘎！”
鸭子到山上把羊驮回来。
农夫嚷嚷：“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
鸭子回答：“嘎嘎！”
鸭子把鸡赶回鸡舍。
农夫嚷嚷：“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
鸭子回答：“嘎嘎！”
农夫从早到晚躺在床上，胖得不成样子。
鸭子没日没夜辛苦干活，累得快要崩溃了。
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎！”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎！”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎！”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎……”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎……”
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
“嘎嘎……”
可怜的鸭子又困又累又伤心。
牛、羊和鸡很爱鸭子，他们都为朋友感到难过。
于是大家趁着月色，精心安排起第二天一早的行动。
“哞哞！”牛说。
“咩咩！”羊说。
“咕咕！”鸡说。
好，就这么定了！
天还没有亮，农场静悄悄。
牛、羊和鸡从后门偷偷溜进农夫的房子。
大家轻手轻脚进了走廊，踩得楼梯吱吱作响。
他们一起挤到农夫的床下，使劲往上顶啊顶，床开始摇晃。
农夫被惊醒，又嚷嚷起来：“活儿干得怎……”
“哞哞！”
“咩咩！”
“咕咕！”
大家拱起床，农夫叫嚷着。
大家挤挤撞撞把床掀，
农夫轱辘轱辘滚下来，
重重得摔到地板上。
农夫拔腿就跑，牛、羊和鸡紧追不舍。
“哞哞！”
“咩咩！”
“咕咕！”
一直追到小路上……
“哞哞！”
穿过田野……
“咩咩！”
翻过小山……
“咕咕！”
农夫再也没有回来过……
清晨，鸭子疲惫不堪地晃进院子里，
等着听那句——
“活儿干得怎么样啦？”
咦，竟然没有人说话！
牛、羊和鸡回来了。
“嘎嘎？”鸭子问。
“哞哞！”牛说。
“咩咩！”羊说。
“咕咕！”鸡说。
大家把事情的经过告诉了鸭子。
“嘎嘎” “哞哞” “咩咩” “咕咕”
从此以后，农场里充满了欢乐的声音。
And they all lived happily ever after:
“Four legs good, two legs better!”
Download: Yazi-Nongfu.pdf
Other children’s story Chinese translation read-alongs:
We’ve also given some popular Chinese songs similar treatment (plus guitar chords!):
It’s fun when you can get a joke in another language, even if it is middle school potty humour. I’ve come across this joke before, and it’s a funny demonstration of the pronunciation differences between Chinese and English.
The dialogue in English and Chinese (with mouseover pinyin) is below the video clip:
Kid: [Mouth] 猫屎！ Cat poo!
Teacher: 对！ Correct!
Kid: [Earth] 耳屎！ Earwax!
Teacher: 好！ Good!
Kid: [Bees] 鼻屎！ Snot!
Teacher: 最后一个！ Last one!
Kid: [Last] 拉屎！ Go poo!
Teacher: 全答对了！ 拉完屎之后呢……？ All answered correctly! And after going poo…?
Kid: [Yes] 爷死！ Grandpa dies!
Kid: [Nice] 奶死！ Grandma dies!
Teacher: OK!
Kid: [Bus] 爸死！ Dad dies!
Teacher: 哦，好！ Oh, great!
Kid: [Knees] 你死！ You die!
Teacher: 嗯 Mmm-hmm.
Kid: [Was] 我死！ I die!
Teacher: 好！
Kid: [Does] 都死！ All die!
Teacher: 都死之后？ After everybody dies?
Kid: [One dollar] 完蛋了！ (We’re) doomed! [lit. "The egg is done"; fig. "We're done for/doomed/finished/toast".]
Teacher: 全答对了！ All answered correctly!
Nankai Rob has some insightful reflections on the differences your choice of language makes when doing friendship in China:
“Anyone who has made relationships that utilize no English at all will back me up when I say they’re immensely rewarding, but also immensely difficult.
“Why? You can carve this in stone: it’s hard because I no longer have control. And I don’t just mean control over what I say, but rather control over interpretation, culture, meaning, the whole bag. When you’re used to having control, when you’re used to everyone wanting to converse in English and thereby putting you at the reins of everything that happens, switching into Chinese is not simply a change in language; it’s a hierarchical shift.” [Link: Taiwan, part 7: What You Can Learn When You Don’t Understand]
We found more than one Chinese version of Eric Carle‘s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” online, and together with our tutor tried to combine the best parts of each. Here’s our most recent draft. Mouseover the Chinese text to see the pronunciation and definition. Suggestions for improvement are welcome!
月光下，一个小小的卵躺在树叶上。
一个星期天的早晨，暖暖的太阳升起来了——啪！——从卵壳里钻出一条又小又饿的毛毛虫。
他四下寻找可以吃的东西。星期一，他啃穿了一个苹果。可他还是觉得饿。
星期二，他啃穿了两个梨子，可他还是觉得饿。
星期三，他啃穿了三个李子，可他还是觉得饿。
星期四，他啃穿了四个草莓，可他还是饿得受不了。
星期五，他啃穿了五个桔子，可他还是饿呀。
星期六，他啃穿了一块巧克力蛋糕、一个冰淇淋甜筒、一条酸黄瓜、一片瑞士奶酪、一截萨拉米香肠、一根棒棒糖、一小角樱桃派、一段红肠、一只杯形蛋糕、还有一块甜西瓜。到了晚上，他就胃痛起来！
第二天，又是星期天。毛毛虫啃穿了一片嫩嫩的绿树叶，这一回他感觉好多了。
现在他一点儿也不饿了——他也不再是一条小毛虫了。他是一条胖嘟嘟的大毛虫了。
他绕着自己的身子，造了一座叫做“茧”的小房子。 他在那里面呆了两个多星期。
然后他就在茧壳上啃出一个洞洞，钻了出来……
他变成了一只美丽的蝴蝶！
Download the text (汉字/pīnyīn/English): HaoEdeMaomaochong.pdf
More Bedtime Stories in Chinese:
One of the first signs I remember being able to read was a moon-landing inspired slogan posted above the urinals in a bathroom in Tianjin. Sinoglot is collecting similar examples from around China and East Asia: Signs in Bathrooms
| Chinese folk religion | Learning Mandarin | Meta-narratives | Photo posts | Propaganda | Tianjin | We often take our daughter for walks around here because it’s the neighbourhood right next to ours:
This month, the right half of the notice board is filled with what are probably the most colourful and, um, educational propaganda posters we’ve seen so far, compliments of the Tianjin City Anti-Evil Cults Association (天津市反邪教协会) and the Tianjin People’s Government Guarding-Against-and-Dealing-With-the-Evil-Cults-Problem Office (天津人民政府防范和处理邪教问题办公室). Click either picture for a bigger view:
Here’s what the posters say (mouseover the Chinese text to see the pronunciation and definition). Translation corrections welcome.
To Guard Against and Resist Evil Cults, Must Do the “Five Musts”
防范和抵制邪教要做到“五要”
Left image:
Right image:
Uphold Science, Oppose Evil Cults, Build Harmoniousness Together
崇尚科学，反对邪教、共建和谐
What an Evil Cult is 什么是邪教
An evil cult organization fraudulently uses religion, qìgōng or the name of other kinds of established things, deifies the ringleader, exploits and uses methods like creating and spreading superstitious rumours and heresy (etc.) to seduce and deceive people, and to expand control of their members and their illegal harmful-to-society organization.
邪教组织是指冒用宗教、气功或者其他名义建立，神化首要分子，利用制造、散步迷信邪说等手段蛊惑、蒙骗他人，发展控制成员，危害社会的非法组织。
Image:
The Characteristics of Evil Cults 邪教的特征
The Dangers of Evil Cults 邪教的危害
Image:
Evil Cults’ Mass Deception Scam Tricks 邪教欺世骗人的伎俩
Image:
The Main Differences Between Religions and Evil Cults 宗教与邪教的主要区别
Bottom bar:
Image:
Five Reasons the Common Masses Mistakenly Enter the Evil Cult Wrong Road
普通群众误入邪教歧途的五种诱因
Methods for Exposing and Reporting the Discovery of Evil Cults’ Illegal and Criminal Activities 发现邪教违法犯罪活动的揭发检举手段
Image: (A man turns over some evil cult materials that he found in his mailbox to the Anti-Evil Cults Committee 反邪教委员会。)
Left image:
Right image:
Left image:
Right image:
Image:
These posters most definitely have a specific “evil cult” in mind; they name it repeatedly in the pictures, just not in the main text. In the picture on the right, this group’s name is written on the “faithful running dog” (忠实走狗) of Uncle Sam (山姆大叔), who isn’t directly named but is clearly insinuated by the tall skinny legs and striped pants. In other words, they’re insinuating that the U.S. uses this group to try and destabilize China.
This group is among the top three most hated/least tolerated groups in China, and were one of the biggest China stories of the 90′s. They’re the people who were outside the Chinese consulate in Vancouver when my parents went to get their visas, who my mom didn’t know about and almost walked in to apply for a Chinese visa with their material in hand (my dad made her leave it in the lobby). I didn’t translate the parts of the posters that identity this group specifically because those terms are just too sensitive for the Chinese internet.
I’m not blogging this for the politics so don’t go writing or linking about them explicitly in the comments. I’m blogging it for the Chinese practice and to show what normal people in one average Tianjin neighbourhood like ours are getting propagandized with (each neighbourhood seems to choose its own posters; I’ve only seen this particular kind of poster in two or three different neighbourhoods; it’s not a city-wide thing). If you want to know more about this particular “evil cult”, read the third chapter of Ian Johnson’s Wild Grass: Three Portraits of Change in Modern China. I do, however, wonder if this kind of “evil cult” rhetoric will begin to appear in the increasingly tense on-going showdown in Beijing. There are alarming similarities between both situations, but also crucial differences.
And if you just can’t get enough of translated propaganda posters, here’s one more:
A while back the news said some Chinese cities had started using web cameras to shame citizens into better public behaviour. I have no idea if this is directly related or not, but today we discovered these signs on the side of our building:
“Warning: Up and to the side there’s a web cam. Your defecation behaviour will be uploaded to the internet and displayed!”
警告：侧上方有摄像头，你的排便行为将会被传上网络展示！
and
“Warning: Up behind there’s a web cam. Your defecation behaviour will be uploaded to the internet and displayed!”
警告：后上方有摄像头，你的排便行为将会被传上网络展示！
And sure enough, two cameras have been installed:
We’ve seen signs before about cleaning up after your dog/self…
“Civilizedly lead your dog. Don’t bring your dog to in front of the window to take a dog poo.”
文明迪狗：不带狗到窗前拉狗屎
and
“Defecating is strictly prohibited”
严禁大便
… but this is the first time we’ve seen them threaten to put offenders’ pictures online!
And, for the record, I’ve never noticed any conspicuous amount of… evidence of bad behaviour on this side of our building. And our daughter wanders around back here several times a week. But apparently someone is fed up! Too bad they didn’t list the website.
You can see pictures and translation from the last major campaign to curb undesirable public behaviour here: Behaving yourself… with Tianjin characteristics.
(P.S. — Blue sky day!!!)
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Learning Mandarin
We both write, but Jessica only writes when I bribe her. See all of her posts here.
Pronounced: guó bǎo
Literally: National Security/National Treasure
Means: The two terms are homophones, and "national treasure" often means "panda". A writer at Seeing Red in China explains the rest: "how panda becomes the symbol for Chinese security thugs: Chinese national security (more like secret police) is called 国保 (guó bǎo) for short, and it’s pronounced exactly the same as 国宝, national treasure. Netizens sometimes refer 国保 as 国宝, jokingly, hence Panda, China’s national treasure. Kungfu Panda movies provided the basis for Panda to be a martial character."
With the recent confrontation between Batman actor Christian Bale and some infamous Chinese security thugs, online Chinese are been passing around "Pandaman vs. Batman" jokes, and photoshopping "Pandaman" into all kinds of scenarios, including movie posters and images from other security embarrassments and scandals. See here, here and here for more.
- 2011/12/19
Those aren't Chinese New Year's fireworks; they're "recreational munitions"
From Nankai Rob's Chinese New Year 2012 post "Spring Festival Time. . .Lock and Load":
"...parties are held on a scale so massive that Caligula would have nodded in approval, and enough recreational munitions are set off to make the Battle of Waterloo feel like a suburban bar mitzvah. You’ll notice my careful word choice here: “recreational munitions” rather than “fireworks.” “Fireworks” as a term carries with it more celebratory, even innocent connotations, but you can’t define Chinese celebratory fireworks by the intent behind them. Certainly they’re set off with great excitement and joy, but you can, after all, also lob a grenade into a dumpster with great excitement and joy, and most of what is being set off these days qualifies for inclusion in the dumpster-grenade category. So: recreational munitions."
For more about the genuinely stunning Chinese New Year fireworks phenomenon with photos and video, see:
Happy Chinese New Year!
- 2012/01/22
Tension rising with Mainland students in American universities
Interesting observations at China Law Blog about how Mainland Chinese students studying in the USA -- in contrast to Chinese from other countries -- are apparently generating a lot of anger among the American students: Chinese Students In America. It's Bad Out There.
It seems that Mainland Chinese attitudes toward education don't play well among their American classmates. For example:
"They cheat all the time. It is pretty unbelievable how often I have seen them cheating. I am always complaining to my professors about this, but they usually just act like they are too important to deign to deal with something like this. Just come watch a test being adminstered and it will be obvious. They are allowed to get away with it because they pay the foreign tuition rate."
"One student told me of how all the students not from China agreed not to speak one day to see what would happen. There was no class discussion and the teacher asked them not to do it again."
- 2012/01/11
A brief introduction to Watchman Nee & the Little Flock Movement
You've maybe heard the name "Watchman Nee" before. That's because he founded one of the largest Christian groups in Chinese history before dying in a Chinese labour camp. Here's a summary of a longer article on him and his work, with a link to the PDF of the original article: Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Maoist China
A basic understanding of the place of Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Chinese history adds some helpful nuance to understanding the relationships between the Party, Chinese Christianity, the TSPM, and Chinese patriotism and anti-foreignism.
- 2011/12/29
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