Entries from October 2006 ↓

I always hold the view that Chinese language teaching to foreigners in China falls short of professionalism and training. The authoritarian political system constrains the sort of teachers trained.

Another reason is probably because the emerging Chinese language schools do not want to pay attractive salaries to recruit good teachers.

Do you have any idea how much a teacher earns in a Chinese language school? If the teacher is a fresh graduate from a teacher college, say in Hangzhou, a wealthy coastal city near Shanghai, their monthly salary is less than 2,000 RMB - about 1,800 RMB. And the schools are happy to hire these fresh graduates rather than more experienced teachers. The reason is obvious. Fresh graduates’ salary is low and they will work hard just to keep the jobs offered - after all there are not many vacancies in the field of teaching Chinese to foreigners yet.

Well, to keep the school’s reputation, the school will also hire some experienced teachers. But I can assure you, there must be some fresh graduates as teaching staff just to keep the cost down and the profit high.

I know in person some school management lie to foreign students about the qualities and experience of their teachers. And as foreign students, you tend to just listen and trust what is being told.

I have known and experienced so many lies living in China. Maybe you are more lucky than me. 

If you plan to travel to Hangzhou and from where explore some sightseeing places, there is a good place you can start - the govenment sponsored tourist service centre near Yellow Dragon Sports Centre.  

Day tours depart from the Centre every day to surrounding scenic spots, such as the water towns ZhouZhuang and Wuzhen, or the historic and cultural city Shaoxing, or the thousand-island lake. Tour price ranges from 200-300 RMB (inclusive of entrance ticket, transport fee and guidance fee).

They also organize 3-day tours to Yellow Mountain. The tour also departs every day. Price, inclusive of main entrance ticket, transport fee, guidance fee and hotel accommodation, ranges from 540-900 RMB, depending on the kind of accommodation you choose.

Be prepared that the tour groups accommodate mostly local Chinese. If you can’t speak Chinese, it is hard for you to mingle with them. But if you want to make use of the opportunity to observe the local custom or interact with the local Chinese, it may well be worth it. In particular, if you come to China to learn Chinese, it will be a good opportunity for you to practice Chinese and listen to lots of Chinese, as the tour guide will speak in Chinese only.

Also take note that the staff manning the information counter or ticket office can hardly speak English. Be prepared for a tough time if you can’t speak Mandarin.

It is reported that organizers for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will change the collective English name of the mascots from “friendlies” to the Pinyin variant “Fuwa”, to arrive at “a more accurate translation of its Chinese equivalent”- using the words of a Chinese official. As a result, the Chinese government has to spend millions to replace posters and other franchised products just to get the name right.

I am perplexed as to how “friendlies” came to be adopted as the English name for the mascots - some cuddly toddlers.  If you look up the Oxford dictionary, “friendly” (friendlies-plural) means “a game of football, etc. that is not part of an important competition”. Could it be that “friendlies” be mistaken for “friendliness”?

That fact that usage of English can be so careless and incorrect on such an important occasion reflects the scale of misuse of English in China. I recall many “funny” and “inventive” English names Chinese people give to themselves. For instance, “Satellite Chen”, “Auditorium Wang” and “Coca Cola Lee”. Or this one “Jellito Tang”.

These names are meant to surprise and to stand out. And no doubt the owners of these names are very successful in achieving the aim.

Lately, Chinese director Jia Zhangke was awarded the top prize of Venice Film Festival, whose winning film is “Still Life”. Relocation of families as a result of the largest-scale water engineering project “Three Gorges Dam” in the history of China and the world, has provided the backdrop for the film story to unfold. I am yet to see the film - this does not stop me from tipping my hat to director Jia Zhangke for his choice of the film subject.

You may not be aware that the construction of the three gorges dam has forced at least one million families - some said two million - relocated and displaced, not to mention the geological hazards and the environmental threat the US$70 million and 17-year long project has caused. Could you imagine the extent of consequence and tribulations for those affected just by imaging the sheer number of one million or two million? I can’t, to be honest. The scope is simply too grave for me to imagine, for each number represents a human being with his or her own life.

These people suffered in silence, for the sake of the economic growth of their country, in whose increasing prosperity they hardly can share. It is saddening that so many people in China, who have neither money nor power, are forced to relocate and be displaced because of rapid development of the property market and the over-heating economy. New buildings pop up everywhere. When the middle class or the super rich move into these buildings, the poor are forced to leave their homes to make way for demolition and re-development. Some get minimal compensation, some none. If you want to appeal to the local government, you can be beaten up by the police or sent to labour prison for being “reformed”.

It was just disclosed in a Hong Kong newspaper that more than 200 residents in Shanghai - China’s largest city and financial centre - lately appealed to the Beijing ruling elite, depicting their sufferings at the hands of the corrupt officials who ordered their homes be torn down and they be punished after repeated appeals. 

It shouldn’t be forgotten that China’s economic growth is achieved at the expense of those at the bottom rungs of the social ladders and I simply do not know when China can be more of an equalitarian society, or if one day it can.

If you are looking to study Chinese in China for a few months, consider not to enrol in a Chinese language school, but in a university programme. I raise this issue here because I was asked about the topic and think it may be helpful to weigh in on the topic a little bit more.

The rational is, speaking from my experience and observation, the Chinese language schools in China are mostly very new, meaning that a constructive and customized curriculum for short-term study is far from ready, not to mention a carefully designed curriculum for long-term study. On the other hand, the university programmes have much longer history and are better developed, especially for long-term study.

Onto curriculum - to know more about the quality of chinese programmes at the Chinese school or uinversity, it is important to enquire about their curriculum in details, and how they implement it. Well, most likely they will just tell you they are following this or that book - if you know of one school/university which says they are developing their own curriculum by combing materials in an appropriate and creative way, it might just well be worth your attention.