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Your Questions
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Your Questions |
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This page is where we answer YOUR questions about our life in China. Anyone is welcome to submit a question! Thankyou to Elgol Primary School, Skye for submitting these first ones... Language Is it hard to speak to other people? (Patrick) The first thing that struck us when we arrived in China was that we couldn't begin to read the majority of signs, notices, newspapers, packaging, etc. Sometimes you can go to a country and at least READ the letters, even if you don't understand the meaning. In China, however, thanks to the written language taking on a form VERY different to English, it seemed to be impossible to comprehend. After living here for 9 months, we understand a little more but our learning is slow....
Our feelings change almost daily with regards to the spoken language. Sometimes it seems remarkably straightforward - there are no genders like in French (un/une) and the verb tenses seem easier. Then on other days we notice that even the way that a Chinese person would express a thought or feeling is very different from us. This means that you can know all the Chinese words for something but when put together they make absolutely no sense at all! Anyway, why don't we teach you some expressions and you can see what you think? Ni hao (pronounced "knee" "how") means Hello Ni jiao shenme mingzi ("knee" "jow" ....) means What's your name? Wo jiao ......("wo" as in how you ask a horse to stop...) means My name is... Ni hao ma? means How are you? Hao means Good Xie xie (pronounced she-e she-e [second e as in egg])means Thank you There are 4 tones in operation in Chinese Mandarin and the same word, with a different tone, can means something completely different. This can cause problems! For instance, in Simao the local people pronounce the word for 4 (si) the same as the word for 10 (shi) but they have different tones. This has led to a few misunderstandings when shopping - we thought we were getting a real bargain and the shop keeper was waiting for another 6 yuan. Freda is picking up a lot more of the language now that she goes to school three mornings a week. Her teacher doesn't speak English so Freda is learning quickly what different expressions mean. Lesley has a Chinese teacher with whom she meets once a week. Otherwise, we all just practise when we can (or when we have to), carry a dictionary with us at all times and use a lot of sign language. ¡¡ Food What is your favourite food out there? (Domhnall Iain and Hannah) Favourites: Stangest: More details and photos of most of the above can be found on our Food page... Music What instruments do the Chinese play most commonly? (Anni)
The instrument we see the most - particulary played by men in parks - is the Er Hu - meaning Two String, because it has two strings! It is played using a bow and is often accompanied by a type of banjo and a very high-pitched female singer. I tried to play the one owned by a barber (above right) we met and it sounded truly terrible - even worse than a beginner playing the fiddle. As Lesley plays the tin whistle she has been trying to play a Chinese equivalent - a bamboo pipe with a pear-shaped gourd at the top. Seems quite easy to get a note but difficult to produce a Chinese-like melody and it's very tiring on the cheeks. Ali went to see and listen to the Naxi Orchestra in Lijiang (above left) and was treated to a wide variety of traditional "Temple Music" instruments - 2-stringed fiddles (erhu); 4-striged banjos (yueqin); piccolos (bangdi); flutes; zithers; gongs; bells - poetry and singing. Otherwise, young people are into pop music, as in any country. But not Western stuff - they have their own local favourites - popular at the moment are "Supergirl", Li Yu Chun and a Taiwanese singer called Zhou Jie Lun. The Chinese are also seriously into karaoke. As well as doing karaoke in a park at a booth you can rent a room with a screen, microphones and nibbles to have a kind of karaoke party. We did this once when some friends were visiting and it was hilarious. Pets
What sort of animals do people in China most commonly keep for pets? (Zoe ) What kind of pets do they have there? (Domhnall Iain and Hannah) As you can see from the pictures below, there are many different kinds of pets. Older people (usually men) like to keep birds in wooden cages. During the day they take them to the park and display them on wires (below) so that all can admire their plumage and bird song. We find it quite sad to see the birds in cages and are always really happy when one escapes - followed by frantic men running round the park.
Birthdays How do the Chinese celebrate birthdays? (Anni Mackay) Chinese people celebrate birthdays in much the same way we do in Scotland - with parties, presents and CAKES, but not cards. Below you can see a picture of Lesley's birthday cake. We don't make these ourselves. We order them at the local bakery and cakes usually come with a candle-cum-firework for the top. This was a bit scary the first time as we couldn't read the instructions. We ended up melting the candles all over the cake. We have now mastered the art of indoor explosives! Sometimes parents will hold a banquet to celebrate a significant coming-of-age for their child (important ages are 1 month, 1 year, and 10 years). This is an opportunity to receive money as gifts from friends and relatives. It is preferred that the amount of money received is greater than the amount spent on catering! Edie's birthday, alternatively, was a modest picnic by the College pond. We drank water, ate cake (of course) and played with water pistols as it coincided with the Dai people's water-splashing festival in April.
School How long do the Chinese schools get for holidays? (Zoe) Well Patrick, most children start their classes at 7.30 am. They stop for a long lunch break at about 11.30 and afternoon classes start at 2 o'clock. In this time students (school children) have lunch, a nap and do their homework. In the afternoon they have classes until 5.30 and then again from 7 to 10. This can vary by half an hour, depending on the school. Basically, their is very little free time to play. Children are expected to study all the time, even at weekends sometimes. For younger children the timetable is a little different. At Freda's nursery school (aged 2 to 7 years) the children sleep after lunch for 2 hours and start activities again at about 2.30. What do you think? Would you like to try the Chinese school routine? In primary schools, Sara, children can normally wear whatever clothes they like, unless going on a school trip. Quite often the uniforms consist of a track suit and sometimes a red neck scarf (like Cubs/Scouts/Brownies wear). The schools are ENORMOUS here, with hundreds and hundreds of pupils. One of our local schools (the children are pictured below, leaving for lunch) is about 4 times the size of Portree High School. Also, because the schools serve such a wide area around Simao, the majority of children are boarders. They stay in dormitories of 6 to 8 children and they are not allowed to leave the school grounds without special permission. Is this different from Portree?
School holidays, Sara, are quite good - much the same as you get I suspect. The main difference is that instead of a Christmas and Hogmanay holiday, they have a break for the Chinese Spring Festival - a little later in January, as you already know. They also have a short break in May to celebrate Labour Day and they also have a summer holiday in July/August. Clothing What do Chinese people wear? (Sara) Well Sara,it's difficult to know where to start to answer your question. Yunnan Province, where we live, is renouned for it's large number of ethnic groups. That means that there's a fantastic variety of music, food, language and clothing. So, were are giving you a sample of the different outfits we have seen. Day-to-day, people wear largely the same as in the UK. Having said that, the fashion does vary. What's in at the moment are diamond shaped mini skirts worn over below-the-knee nylon leggings covered with fish-net stockings! Is that the current fashion in Elgol? Ankle-length, tan coloured pop socks are also very popular, for men and women. These can be worn under trousers (turned up to the knee in hot weather), long or short skirts and with any kind of footwear. We have not yet converted to this fashion although we have tried out some others, as shown below....
During the Spring Festival we spent some time with one of Lesley's students (Joy) and her family. They are Bai nationality and live in a village near Dali. On Chinese New Year's Day Freda, Edie and Lesley were dressed up in the Bai costume (above left) to attend the village dance and music celebration. Another fabulous costume is worn by the Yi people (above centre). This Yi woman was pictured at a market near Lugu Lake, having just bought her chicken. Despite that area experiencing VERY windy weather, many of the women wear these incredible hats. We called them, "table top hats" as they were just like a small coffee table with a velvet tablecloth draped over. Do you recognise the next outfit? Freda was pictured with these two monks at a temple near Lugu Lake. Most of the monks' robes we have seen have been this colour, brown or saffron. They also wear some interesting hats sometimes although the smaller monk in this picture just has a woolly hat on because it was so cold there!
Here are some children living on a nearby tea estate. Are they dressed like you might expect? The man on the right is dressed very typically for an older man in China. Sometimes these suits are lighter blue and resemble the outfits that everyone used to wear during the days of Chairman Mao. Many older people in Simao still dress like this, if not a 'minority'/traditional costume. Transport What is the most common form of transport? (Sara) The most common form of tansport in China is bicycle or bus! In Simao we can get nearly everywhere we want to go by bus. There is no real timetable, we just stand at the stop and wait for the next one to come along. They are usually small minibuses that take about 20 people sitting (below left). The buses can be very busy around market time, with passengers carrying on sacks of rice, big tea-picking baskets, chickens and vegetables. A ride within Simao costs 1 yuan (about 7p) and passengers hand the money to the driver, who puts it in a plastic bucket, when getting off. The door is pulled open by a rope and is shut by the closest person to it! Sometimes we take a pedal rickshaw (below right) - especially coming back fully-laden from the supermarket. The men who cycle them seem so small and are usually pedalling away in flip-flops and I feel terribly guilty. So, we usually use our own bikes. If we cycle into town we leave them at a bike park so they are less likely to be stolen.
In the countryside these "puffa-trucks" (below left) are very common. They can make it over the roughest, muddiest, rockiest of ground are are owned by the better-off farmers. They often have lots of people piled in the trailer part, hitching a lift to the next village or the main road. In river areas we have also seen these low canoes. This one was photographed on the River Min, near Chengdu. To be honest, we're not quite sure what they're used for in this location, perhaps fishing or for travelling between the main town and the small river islands. General What is there to do in China? (Patrick) In China we can do many of the things we used to do in Scotland - cycling, swimming, painting, reading, playing in the sand (lower right) eating nice food and meeting people. Of course, all of these things are a LITTLE different. For instance, our bikes don't have gears, the traffic is crazy, the weather is very hot, it's difficult to get English books and the food...well, you already know that is different. There are, also, some things that we didn't really see in Scotland, such as fan dancers in the park (upper right) and hundreds of paper kites being flown from the town square (lower left). In the College grounds there are ALWAYS people playing basketball - well, except during tropical downpours.
People in China do spend a lot of time 'hanging out' on the streets. Even shop keepers, who are not busy, sit playing cards or Ma Zhong at miniature tables and chairs on the pavement. Older people meet in the parks to dance, sing, do Tai Chi and play musical instruments. The weather in this part of China is very mild, which makes an outdoor life very enjoyable. At weekends people like to shop, go for walks, picnics and, if we're around, gawk at the foreigners in town. This is now a favourite hobby of the people of Simao. If we're not in the mood for being surrounded and stared at, we just stay at home! So, now that you've got more of a taste for China, would you like to come and visit us? If you have any more questions, please send them our way and we'll see what we can do! Meantime, remember to visit The Giant Panda page. ¡¡ |
