Related to my “Tone up” blog post, I want to share this little nugget of Chinese character trivia too. The word for “good” in Chinese is “hao (tone 3)”. You hear this word all the time. I think it must be the most common word in Chinese. The story behind the character is innerestin’…

Here’s the character for “good”, aka “hao3″:

好

This character is made up of two components. The character on the left is “Nu (tone 3)”. Here it is in it’s non horizontally squished form:

女

The character on the right is “Zi (tone2)”. Here it is:

子

The first character, “Nu (tone2)”, means “Girl”. The other, “Zi (tone 2)”, means “Son”, or “Male”. So, put “girl” and “boy” (essentially) together and that equals “good”. So, any time anybody who speaks or reads Chinese sees the word “good”, they’re reminded of “girl plus boy”. I doubt, actually, that that is what goes through a native speaker’s head every time they see or hear “hao3″, but obviously everyone who reads the characters is aware of this. My opinion is that this is a great example of how a language influences culture. I can’t think of anything equivalent in English like this, can anyone? There are plenty of other examples of this sort of character combination or culture influencing device, but this is the most accessible. As soon as I think I’ve figured out the more complex ones, I’ll be sure to share them.

I’ll sign off with 好的 (“Alright…” )

Here’s more oddities of the Chinese language as heard by the ears of a Westerner. By the way, I get questions about why I use the term “Westerner” as opposed to “American”. The reason is that you hear that term so much more often here in China than “British”, “American”, “Dutch”, “German”, etc. We all look the same anyway, at least to the Chinese. Also, once you begin learning a tonal language like Mandarin, you might as well use a much broader group like “Westerner” or “Speaker of an Indo-European” language since that’s much more inclusive than “English Speaker”. I suspect just about all Indo-European language speakers will have the same difficulties with Mandarin. The number one, of course, for oral Mandarin is…the tones! Here’s a quick review: Chinese has four tones (there’s a 5th neutral, but it doesn’t really count):

1) A high even tone (tone 1)
2) A tone that starts low and rises high (tone 2)
3) A tone that starts medium, dips down, then returns to the medium tone (tone 3)
4) A quick tone that starts high and moves forcefully down to a low tone (tone 4)

You can hear a cupla examples on this weird website (you mouse over rows in the table).

One of my favorite examples:

1) Yu (tone 1) – Means “mud”
2) Yu (tone 2) – Means “fish”
3) Yu (tone 3) – Means “rain”
4) Yu (tone 4) – Means “jade”

See, this all really does makes sense; it’s like music. A “C” two octaves above an “A” sounds a lot different, right? Following non-tonal language rules (like English), you’d say that they sounded the same because the notes both lasted one second long and were played on a piano. You wouldn’t say they were different until they were really different, like when played on different instruments.

So the key is to be able to think of the word “fish” not as “Yu”, but as “Yu” at a certain pitch and inflection. We English speakers are hardwired to not count the pitch and inflection as part of what determines the uniqueness of the word. So, we have to do our best to unlearn this, hence all the difficulties.

Here’s an example that happened just yesterday. I was listening to colleagues talk (I get lots of practice with this) and was able to recognize the word “Li Zhi”, which in the Western world is pronounced “Lee-chee” (because we generally can’t say “Zhi”). So, I immediately thought, “Oh they’re talking about the Lychee fruit.” Afterwards, I asked and got a bit of a laugh. “No, we were talking about someone quitting work!”

Oh.

See, “Li Zhi”, the fruit, is “Li (tone 4) Zhi (tone 1)”. “To quit work” is “Li (tone 2), Zhi (tone 2)”. So, I started explaining about how to a Westerner’s ear, those sound almost identical, especially when spoken fast. Two of my colleagues immediately suggested that as I learn new vocabulary, I should also learn the character as well, because the character will help you remember the word. I didn’t really see that logic and learning the characters is another battle probably worse than the tones to fight. But, I took that under advisement.

Later on that day, I asked someone else the difference in the two, and they too suggested that I learn the character. So, as a test, I challenged, “OK, why don’t you draw me the characters for Li4 Zhi1 and I’ll see how easy it is to remember based on that.” Here are the characters for the fruit Lychee:

荔栉

So, of course my response was, “How is that supposed to look like fruit???” The answer was quite telling:

The first character represents the berries of the Lychee. See that the first character is composed of three “Li4″ characters at the bottom?

Li4:

力

That’s supposed to look like three berries. “Li4″ by the way, means “strength”. I don’t get the connection between strength and berries though. The next character has another primary character appearing on the left side, the character “Mu4″ which means “Wood”. In this case, “Zhi1″ means “Branch”. Pretty neat, eh?

Mu4:

木

Now, the dirty little secret is that once you’re fluent in Chinese, tones don’t really matter because it’s the context of a sentence that determines what a word means. When you’re speaking your Chinese at 100mph, you don’t really put in all the different tones perfectly; you let the context do the work for you. So, imagine this sentence:

“Oh, guess what. Our colleague, Bill, quit work today. He went to work at QQ.”

No native speaker will think:

“Oh, guess what. Our colleague, Bill, lychee fruit today. He went to work at QQ.”

So, that’s another insidious reason that the learning curve for Mandarin is so steep. You have to pay attention to tones early on because you don’t know enough words to establish a context!   不好！

To avoid expensive fines for overstaying my visa, I decided that I’d visit Hong Kong at least every three weeks. Saturday was the day to visit and I had a few to-do items to accomplish: visit the public library, visit one of the large music stores, discover the locations of some of the pretty churches that I saw during one of my early visits, find a store that sells Indian spices, and take some nighttime photographs. I able to achieve all of these goals to one degree or another. I popped out of the subway stop just beyond Causeway Bay on the main island (I don’t recall the name now) and met a colleague. We decided to get something to eat so I requested those Hong Kong barbecued I had a few months ago. Unfortunately, I don’t speak any Cantonese (and am not interested in learning any since that would totally confuse me with trying to learn Mandarin). But, Jonathan’s a native Hong Kongian (Kongian?) so problem solved.

We then went to the public library. It’s an impressive eight story building with modern interior and is totally wired digitally. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the sheet music I was looking for. I left Jonathan behind who was studying for the GMAT. I went off questing for my other errands. As the sun started to drop, I decided to make my way to the tram station. It was totally packed and I didn’t feel like waiting in line; it would have been a minimum of 40 minutes to wait. So, instead I hopped a cab. The driver offered to take me to the top for 80 Hong Kong dollars. Like an idiot, I forgot to counter offer him, so at around ten US dollars, it was a bit of a rip off. But, I got up fast and along the way I saw bus line #15 and realized that this must also go to the same spot. It did and I took the bus on the way down. At one tenth the price, I cut my overall cost to an acceptable level and learned a good nugget of info for the next time. Unfortunately, I was one of the last on the bus, and I had to stand. We picked up more and more people and it was uncomfortably crowded and hot and the man next to me stunk of cigarettes. I was starting to feel dizzy and ill from being so cramped for so long, but immediately perked up when I saw the central subway station. I hopped the subway towards Kowloon where I’d ask my favorite Indian restaurant about a good store for spices.

OK, back to the view from Victoria Peak…

They were even better at night than they were during the day and naturally there were hoardes of people scittering about. But I was about to receive another surprise treat. Instead of walking the subway to the KCR train station, I decided to get some fresh air and views by walking along the Avenue of the Stars. The avenue was jam packed with people admiring the stunning view of Hong Kong island across Victoria Harbor. When I heard the announcement for the “Symphony of Lights”, I knew why this area was especially crowded. I found a good vantage point and a spot to place my camera to take long exposure shots and waited five minutes for 8 o’clock to arrive. The music started and the lights from the more prominent towers on the other side of the harbor started to flash in sync with the music. Then the spotlights lit up the sky and later on the lasers. I got lots of pics of the show. As soon as it stopped, I visited the Indian restaurant, got the address, and then decided to try the new train stop that arrived in Huang Gang, instead of Luohu. This was a great find – unlike Luohu, which is jam-crowded with people, is a maze of confusing shops, and stinks, Huang Gang was brand new, clean, safer, and not crowded. Plus, this is closer to where I live than Luohu.

(above) Superb views. See them lasers? 很票亮！

Friday, we had a fire drill at work.   It was fun to experience; there are more actors involved here.   It all started around 4pm when I was in a 1:1 meeting and we realized that it was now time for the scheduled fire drill.   When we left the meeting room, we heard the fire alarm – barely.   That might be something to address.   There were still a few stragglers heading down the eight floors to the ground.   On arrival, there were lines of firefighters running together with a drill sergeant barking orders at them.   They even simulated putting out the fire by turning on the water and spraying the buildings.   The whole thing took about 30 minutes and I put together a short movie of the event.

I’m looking for a permanent place to live. This time, I won’t be staying in an international service apartment, but a real Chinese apartment. Cool! The last place I lived, Portofino, or “Bo Duo Fei Nuo” in Chinese (Get it?   That’s as close as Chinese comes to pronouncing “Portofino”), was enjoyable, but pricey and too far removed from the action of Shenzhen. My requirements for an apartment to live in were simple: 1) Near a subway station, 2) Close to work (tempered with requirement #1) and 3) a good view. Being close to work meant that I’d end up on the western side of the subway. Of course, all the really fun and local stuff is most concentrated on the east side where Hua Qiang Bei, Dong Men, and Luo Hu are located. But, within anywhere along the subway corridor, you have good access to the fun stuff. I ended up looking around three or four subway stops: Shi Jie Zhi Chuang (or the “Window of the World”, near where I lived last time), Hua Qiao Cheng (near the Wal-mart, Theater, and good selection of massage spots), Qiao Cheng Dong (boring residential area east of Hua Qiao Cheng), Xiang Mi Hu (where I live now), or Gou Wu Gong Yuan (one of the new shopping areas, sorta popular with expatriates).

Hua Qiao Cheng was ruled out because there were no apartments newer than 1998. My relocation assistant ruled this out. Apparently, in a country as old as China, anything older than 1998 is just “too old”. I ruled out Qiao Cheng Dong out quickly because there wasn’t anything there but large apartment buildings…no restaurants or reasonable shopping nearby. Nothing much turned up in Xiang Mi Hu. The one place in Gou Wu Gong Yuan didn’t have that good of a view (only into the interior of the gardens). Shi Jie Zhi Chuang had the best stuff.

(above, l-r) A view of Portofino from one of the apartment complexes near Shi Jie Zhi Chuang, these are the apartment towers

There was also a wide variety of quality in the apartments. Some were downright filthy, with huge buildups of dust in areas and a disgusting amount of mildew and mold in the bathroom. My relocation assistant looked embarrassed about a couple of them and told me that many of the landlords simply just inform potential tenants that the places are just messy and dirty now, but that they’d clean them up for you when you moved in. Aw, thanks. Well, I pretty much walked out of those within five minutes, taking that to be an indicative sign of the quality of the landlord. Most of these apartments in Shenzhen are privately owned and privately rented out to tenants. Many people from Hong Kong have bought property in Shenzhen, which is one of the reasons for the boom in real estate. If you thought Seattle was a hot market, you should come check out Shenzhen. So, with a myriad of private owners, you run the gamut of landlord quality. I’ve been warned about this by multiple people.

(above) Some typical Chinese kitchens. You’ll never find an oven.

On top of the landlord quality, I’ve also been warned that the Chinese believe that foreigners basically have the word “sucker” stamped on their forehead. It’s quite common for landlords to double the price when a foreigner comes around. Others are so stubborn that they’ll offer the prices that they want to rent it for to everyone. Whether the market can supply a buyer at that price is another matter and if no renter comes a knockin’, they’re content to just sit on that price with the apartment vacant. Maybe that has something to do with “saving face”. I saw quite a wide range of prices, anywhere from about 7000 RMB, or $930, to 12000 RMB, or $1600. The price usually had nothing to do with quality. These prices seem quite outrageous to the local Chinese. Many of my colleagues rent apartments costing in the neighborhood of $250.

(above) The entrances to apartments are fashioned after Alcatrazz.

(above) Snazzy interior with blue lighting

Some of the apartment complexes have nice “gardens” or a guarded interior area that residents can enjoy. The grounds are usually spotless and well groomed (groundsmen are numerous and cheap in China). Here’s a shot of the area in the apartment complex I visited in Gou Wu Gong Yuan:

(l-r) This reminded me of a bigger version of the “Great Wall”, the pools always are appealing and big…see the larger section behond the trees?, These are typical well-kempt grounds.

I went to my first classical (Western classical, to be precise) concert in China on Friday evening. The city had recently finished building the concert hall and the opening concert was in early October. I really wish I could have arrived in Shenzhen earlier and attended this one, although I’m sure the tickets must have been expensive and hard to get. It was a concert featuring Lang Lang playing the Rachmaninov second Piano Concerto, my favorite by Rachmaninov. The one I was fortunate enough to attend though was just as world class: a piano quartet recital led by the violinist Gidon Kremer (I have some of his recordings). It was an excellent concert, top-notch. They performed mostly modern works, the oldest being a movement from Mahler’s Piano Quartet in a minor. I think that was the first time that I saw part of a piece being performed (outside of a student concert).   Not sure why that choice was made, except maybe to lead into a Quartet by Alfred Schnittke based upon a sketch by Mahler.

(l-r) Shenzhen’s concert hall exterior (pretty snazzy), The auditorium, Concert headliners (Lang Lang is on the far right, Gidon Kremer is just to his left)

What I was mostly curious about was how western concerts were received in China, how the audience behaved, and so on.   As usual, there are plenty of attendants politely opening doors and showing you to your seat.   There’s a warning bell indicating that the concert is about to begin and attendants hold up illuminated placards for the audience to say reading (in both Chinese and English):   “No Photographs” and “Keep Quiet”.   I have to hand it to the audience.   They were sophisticated.   There was no out of turn applause.   In fact, it was dead silent between movements of a piece, except for a muffled cough here and there.   I never would have guessed that from China.   The program also didn’t print information about the individual movements so I was never 100% sure when a piece ended, but someone was always began clapping at the precise time.   They could have been strategically placed, I suppose.   This was at least a pleasant change from places like Denver, Colorado, which has a great orchestra, but a clueless audience who tend to clap between every movement.   The most embarrasing example of that I have was during a Mozart Piano Concerto where the performer, seeming to anticpate what was coming and without looking, thrust his arm with upward facing palm into the audience indicating, “Shut up, this is only the first movement!” He had to emphasize the thrust two or three times before the audience finally stopped clapping.   The audience in Shenzhen was the most proper I’d seen anywhere, including Europe and South America.   If anything, there was more of a mix of clothing styles.   Some people didn’t dress up, including me though I did my best.   Oh, and the final applause at the last piece, a rousing Piazzolla Tango for Violin and Piano, drew two encores from the performers.   There was no standing ovation.   If anyone deserved it, it was these guys, but after a standing ovation after every single performance I attended in Colorado, this was refreshing.

I was flattered to recieve lots of requests to continue the English presentations that I started when I first came to work in China. Michael sent out the invitation with the top of “Summer in America”, basically a simple recap of my activities in the summer of 2007, there were many responses and we had a full house. I copied about 70 pictures to my work laptop and put them in a rudimentary order in preparation for the presentation. I ended up talking about some climbing trips (Sir Donald, Prusik, and Vestal), trips around Seattle with colleagues from China, and my trip to Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. I was provide the attendees with many new English word from “slug” (my picture of a typical giant slug native to the Cascades) to “enchanted” and “gnome” (both gleaned from my trip with Robert to the Enchantments in Central Washington). Also, it sounds like there is a lot of demand for a recap of popular presentations like “Western Table Manners” and “Body Language Basics”, all fun topics.

(l-r) Talking about Michael at the shootin’ range (got lots of inquiries), the audience is listening