Maybe the Chinese just don’t want to tell anyone what’s going on inside the country.

Just 3 days have passed since I wrote this (see here, last paragraph). Yesterday I watched the news and what happened? Tada, it happened again! Journalists got their asses kicked for taking videos and images, but let’s start with the beginning of another sad story about the Chinese policy.

Some years ago, the Chinese applied for hosting the Summer Olympics. Some nice day they got approved, and now in Summer 2008 it is their great time to show the world how international, open and friendly they are. Things didn’t go well so far, foreigners got kicked out of the country, their health standards are still questionable, their pollution is incredible, human rights there are questionable as well and other things could be a bit better.

Yesterday was the day when a lot of the last available tickets were sold to the public in Beijing, a lot of people were fighting for them. However the police didn’t or couldn’t stop them. Their main concern was the media taking pictures…. and made themselves into fools.

Now everyone can see the stupidity of the Chinese police, uncensored and worldwide. The journalists have been beaten, their equipment has been broken just because they peacefully took some pictures and videos. Then I’m a strong believer in learning. It might take a while, maybe more incidents, but finally China’s government and their police will learn how to act. The Summer Olympics 2008 are more of a Chinese Olympics, foreigners seem to be more and more unwanted, they might even be seen as disturbance. But then I have to say, that Chinese people in general are nice and friendly. Just the Chinese government should go back to school. They should have a look at the freedom that is available in Hong Kong.

People will take photos of You. Sometimes they pretend to take a photo of a tree that is behind You, however they want You on their photo.

We had been at some mountain near Chengdu (sorry forgot the name of that quite impressive hill), when we encountered this scene. An ordinary unsuspicious family….

Let’s have a closer look….

Now it becomes clear, they are taking photos of us. Yeah, we must be really strange or famous movie star? Who knows.

Then we gave them a sign to come over to us. They did and we took a photo together. They were totally happy afterwards. 10 more fans! Yehaw!

Here is a picture from the inner part of Chengdu. You can see a boat which is used as a restaurant today. I haven’t been there, but a friend told me the food there is very delicious, but also expensive. Speaking about food. Chengdu, like Chongqing, is home of many hotpot restaurants. You can find small restaurants in Chengdu all over the place. The food is cheap and delicious.

This picture is from inside Wen Shu Temple (文 殊 院 – wén shū yuàn). It’s a well-kept Buddhist temple, quite a nice place to relax. There is a small forest and some small buildings. A few of them You can even enter. Entrance fee is just 5 yuan. You can buy the tickets a few meters besides the entrance. There is a tiny hole in the wall, which You could miss, however it’s written in large letters on the wall that there is the ticket office.

Shopping is one of the main attractions of Chengdu. 春熙路 – chūn xī lù is the main shopping area and it is quite huge and there are many shops from cheap local ones up to expensive Gucci stores. You will have lots of opportunities to waste Your hard earned bucks. There’s also an underground fake market below 盐市口 – yán shì kǒu. 盐市口 very loosely translated means Salt Market Entrance. It’s not far from Tianfu Square (府广场 – tiān fǔ guǎngchǎng). Not far from 盐市口 You can find the 美高美 club which is one of the oldest clubs in CHengdu. It features great techno and house music and is a neat nightlife hangout spot in Chengdu. South of 春熙路 the more modern part of Chengdu starts. You can find Western restaurants and lots of bars for evening entertainment there. Also check out Ba Bi Yi club or Ba Bi Er club (sorry don’t have the characters and tones on these) if You want to dance to some house music.

If You want to make business in Chengdu, there are some opportunities. The south of the city is booming and many international electronics and IT companies have set up some large outposts. Well know names like SAP and Microsoft are on this list. The climate is hot in the summer and okay in the winter. If You want to visit a big modern Chinese city, Chengdu might be Your place.

About Jiaotong Daxue in Chengdu

Here is a picture of the campus lake of Jiaotong Daxue (Campus website) in Chengdu. They have a nice Chinese learning program there for students. I took their summer course for 4 weeks. The learning speed is quite high and the teachers are motivated and helpful. Unfortunately the university is in the northern part of the city, while all the locations to go out in the evening are in the south. If have a specific question about learning Chinese in Jiaotong Daxue Chengdu, just write a comment.

New words for You

Maybe You want to know how I came up with these. My Chinese textbooks only have this typical stuff like “Introduce Yourself”, “What’s Your job”, “Where is the supermarket” so I wanted something different:

基地组织 jī dì zǔ zhī – al-Qaeda group

主持人 zhǔ chí rén – anchorperson

条码 tiáo mǎ – barcode

选美 xuǎn měi – beauty contest

避孕套 bì yùn tào – condom

沿海城市 yán hǎi chéng shì – costal city

下载 xià zài – to download

电子商务 shāng wù diàn zǐ – e-business

火墙 huǒ qiáng – firewall

猎头 liè tóu – headhunter

Yea, I must be pretty bored to come up with such words. Anyway, learn them by heart if You want to master Chinese.