Twenty years ago, I was living in west Hunan province. A very nice place. On day, shortly after I arrived, one young man asked me in English. “How to you like Fulan?” I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about and mumbled some pathetic response. Later, I discovered that what he had asked was […]
Guangxi Science and Technology Normal University (formally Liuzhou Teacher’s College) is offering special rates on its Mandarin courses for foreign students, making it among the cheapest in China. The university is fully accredited and has two campuses – one in Liuzhou and one in Laibin, the next city heading south towards Nanning. The Mandarin courses […]
Among other calligraphy and scenic paintings in a recent temporary exhibition in Liuzhou Museum were these “found” Chinese characters. They are bits of plant roots – trees, bushes etc. which are thought to resemble characters. The tenuousness of some of these is demonstrated by the the fact that the museum still had to label each […]
A couple of nights ago, I took a short taxi trip home. The relatively young driver and I had a maybe 15 minute conversation. The usual questions. Where are you from? How long have you been in China? 18 years! You are joking! Where do you work? Blah! Blah! Blah! As we approached my destination […]
Rongshui Miao Autonomous County (融水苗族自治县) lies to the north of Liuzhou city, but is under Liuzhou’s jurisdiction as part of Liuzhou Prefecture. It is a poor area, with around a 70% non-Han ethnic minority population. 40% are Miao. There is no real autonomy, of course. As with Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, autonomy just means that […]
I’ve seen a number of articles in the media asking what Chinese year it is this time. “Is it the Year of the Goat? The Sheep? The Ram?” they ask. The problem, they explain, is one of translation. They say that 羊 (Yang) is the Chinese for all three. So 羊年 (Year of the Yang) can […]